DOM In the News
Read about how the Department of Medicine is responding to the outbreak of the coronavirus respiratory illness COVID-19. See related COVID-19 publications.
Geri Spotlight: Edgar Pierluissi and Bocheng Jing
The Geriatrics Spotlight initiative fosters community building within the Division, especially during this age of hybrid/remote work where it can be challenging to find ways to interact with colleagues outside of your immediate teams. This is a way for Division members to learn more about all the wonderful work we’re doing!
This week, we get to know our division faculty, Dr. Edgar Pierluissi (pictured left) and staff, Bocheng Jing (pictured right).
Role: Director, Acute Care for Elders (ACE) Unit
Joined Division: 1999 as a VA scholar, and returned in 2006
Work site: Zuckerberg SF General Hospital
Email: Edgar.Pierluissi@ucsf.edu
Interviewed by Bocheng Jing over Zoom
About Edgar’s Role/Ongoing Projects
Edgar works closely with the nursing staff to maintain function of patients on the ACE unit. He is partnering with the Bridges program to improve sleep and sleep quality. He has recently started a billing project for ACE consultations.
What is a professional goal you would like to accomplish by the end of this year?
By the end of the year, Edgar aims to increase the billing for said ACE consultations.
More about Edgar
What is a “fun fact” about you that not many people know?
Edgar owns a table tennis robot to aid in his practice.
What are you happiest doing in your free time?
Edgar has a passion for fly fishing and delights in catching trout in various California rivers.
What is the best advice you’ve ever heard?
“Always make time for family dinners, especially with the kids.”
What are some causes you care about?
Edgar has a profound concern for homeless families and is also a strong advocate for affordable college education.
What would your backup career be?
If not in his current profession, Edgar envisions himself as a high school teacher or a fly fishing coach.
Who is someone you admire and why?
Edgar channels Allan S. Brett when caring for his patients. Dr. Brett taught him how to thoughtfully engage with, learn from, and care for his patients with compassion and respect while in medical school.
What else would you like us to know about you?
Edgar is a self-proclaimed cocktail mixologist. He crafts a killer Manhattan!
Role: Senior Statistician
Joined Division: September 2021
Work site: SFVAHCS and Northern California Institute for Research and Education (NCIRE)
Email: Bocheng.Jing@ncire.org
Interviewed by Edgar Pierluissi over Zoom
About Bocheng’s Role/Ongoing Projects
As creative researcher statistician, Bocheng supports researchers with their biostatistical needs and, increasingly, leads his own research developing new ways to analyze data and discover important relationships. Among his many projects, he is working on two important projects related to potentially inappropriate prescribing: one, captures the role of hospitalization in polypharmacy among patients with dementia; and, the second, measures the effect on cognition of deprescribing anti-hypertensives among nursing home residents.
His favorite aspect of his work is developing or inventing new methods to address tough statistical analytical problems.
What is a professional goal you would like to accomplish by the end of this year?
Bocheng has set a high goal for this year to write and submit 4-5 first-author publications related to statistical and epidemiologic methods. He is currently on track having one accepted and three publications in preparation.
More about Bocheng
What is a “fun fact” about you that not many people know?
Bocheng has won (if you can call it winning) the Big Texas Steak House Challenge in Amarillo, TX. To do this, he consumed 72 ox. Steak, 3 shrimp, a roll, a baked potation, and a salad in 60 minutes; Bocheng did it in 51.
What are you happiest doing in your free time?
Bocheng is a die-hard Premier League football fan, especially of Manchester United. He never misses a game.
What is the best advice you’ve ever heard?
“Be diligent in cleaning your home. The reward is instantaneous.”
What are some causes you care about?
Bocheng cares about discovering new ways to treat big problems in healthcare such as dementia.
Who is someone you admire?
It is hard for Bocheng to choose one person he admires. Rather, he admires people from different groups. Srinivasa Ramanujan, Leonhard Euler, Isaac Newton, Leonardo da Vinci, Nikola Tesla– absolute talent group; Jobs, Musk, Howard Schultz, Ben Wolowitz – extreme work ethics and strong execution group.
What would your backup career be?
Bocheng would be an astrophysicist, a sports analytics guru, owner of Manchester United, a businessman, and a college statistics professor in another life.
What else would you like us to know about you?
Bocheng plays pickup soccer 2-3 times a week. He plays in the local Coed league.
Dr. Nynikka Palmer elected to serve on the Board of Directors for the Academy of Communication in Healthcare
Congrats to Dr. Nynikka Palmer!
Nynikka Palmer, DrPH, MPH was elected to serve on the Board of Directors for the Academy of Communication in Healthcare, the premier research education and advocacy organization whose mission is to improve communication in contemporary healthcare.
Nynikka will serve as Expert in Communication Research to Promote Health Equity.
Find out more about the Academy of Communication in Health Care
Nynikka Palmer, DrPH, MPH is an Assistant Professor at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), in the Division of General Internal Medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, with secondary appointments in the Departments of Urology and Radiation Oncology. Her research program focuses on unraveling multilevel mechanisms of cancer disparities – particularly inequities in quality of care among African American men with prostate cancer, cultural influence, patient-centered communication, and strategies to enhance delivery of high-quality cancer care. She currently has a National Cancer Institute K01 career development award to bridge the divide between low-income African American men and equal prostate cancer treatment by anchoring the evidence-based intervention of peer navigation in the relational concept of African American brotherhood as a means to foster trust and empowerment, and optimize patient-centered communication and quality of care. She is also quantitatively examining the communication patterns between newly diagnosed African American prostate cancer patients and their providers in the context of treatment decision-making and patient-centered communication, using the Roter Interaction Analysis System. Additionally, she has established a support group for African American men facing prostate cancer to promote survivorship and empowerment, which has been thriving since September 2014. She is also co-leader of the Prostate Cancer Task Force of the San Francisco Cancer Initiative (SF CAN) – a city-wide initiative to eliminate prostate cancer disparities through community outreach and education, targeted early detection and appropriate follow-up of aggressive disease, navigation and support services, and institutional partnerships that ensure high-quality care across healthcare institutions.