Leah Witt Gaspard, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine

Dr. Leah Witt is a pulmonologist and geriatrician based in San Francisco, California. She completed her fellowship in Geriatrics at UCSF in 2018. She completed her Pulmonary fellowship at the University of Chicago in 2017 following her residency in Internal Medicine at the same institution from 2011 to 2014. Dr. Witt is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Medical School and holds a BA in Anthropology from Northwestern University. From 2019-2023 she was a HRSA Geriatric Academic Career Awardee for her work on interprofessional geriatrics education for chronic lung disease care. In 2024, she was inducted into UCSF's Academy for Medical Educators. Since 2021, she has served as the Pulmonary Associate Chief for Ambulatory Affairs. In 2022, she was selected to be a Fellowship Coach for the Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Program at UCSF.

Education
2018 - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training, University of California
06/2018 - Geriatrics Fellowship, University of California-San Francisco
06/2017 - Pulmonary Medicine Fellowship, University of Chicago
06/2014 - Internal Medicine Residency, University of Chicago
MD, 05/2011 - Medicine, University of Minnesota
BA, 06/2007 - Anthropology, Global Health, Northwestern University
Honors and Awards
  • Academy for Medical Educators, UCSF, 2024
  • Geriatrics Teacher of the Year, UCSF, 2022
  • Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society, University of Minnesota, 2010
Websites
Publications

  1. Myers LC, Quint JK, Hawkins NM, Putcha N, Hamilton A, Lindenauer P, Wells JM, Witt LJ, Shah SP, Lee T, Nguyen H, Gainer C, Walkey A, Mannino DM, Bhatt SP, Barr RG, Mularski R, Dransfield M, Khan SS, Gershon AS, Divo M, Press VG. A Research Agenda to Improve Outcomes in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Cardiovascular Disease. An Official American Thoracic Society Research Statement. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 2024. PMID: 39133888


  2. Iyer AS, Wells RD, Bechthold AC, Armstrong M, O'Beirne R, Byun JY, Coffee-Dunning J, Odom JN, Buhr RG, Suen AO, Kotwal AA, Witt LJ, Brown CJ, Dransfield MT, Bakitas MA. Identifying priority challenges of older adults with COPD: A multiphase intervention refinement study. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2024. PMID: 39215557


  3. Witt LJ, Heath JK. Ambulatory Blocks in Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship Reprioritize Outpatient Medicine. ATS Scholar 2024. PMID: 38957488


  4. Suen AO, Cenzer I, Iyer AS, Witt LJ, Smith AK, Kotwal A. The National Prevalence of Supplemental Oxygen Use in Persons with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Comparison of Claims-based and Self-reported Supplemental Oxygen Use. Annals of the American Thoracic Society 2024. PMID: 38330174


  5. Wang E, Wroblewski KE, McClintock MK, Witt LJ, Pinto JM. Examining the Longitudinal Relationship Between Olfactory Dysfunction and Frailty in Community-Dwelling, older US Adults. Otolaryngology--head and neck surgery : official journal of American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery 2024. PMID: 38660882


  6. Wang E, Wroblewski KE, McClintock MK, Pinto JM, Witt LJ. Olfactory decline develops in parallel with frailty in older US adults with obstructive lung diseases. International forum of allergy & rhinology 2023. PMID: 37747949


  7. Expert Panel on Thoracic Imaging, Sandler KL, Henry TS, Amini A, Elojeimy S, Kelly AM, Kuzniewski CT, Lee E, Martin MD, Morris MF, Peterson NB, Raptis CA, Silvestri GA, Sirajuddin A, Tong BC, Wiener RS, Witt LJ, Donnelly EF. ACR Appropriateness Criteria® Lung Cancer Screening: 2022 Update. Journal of the American College of Radiology : JACR 2023. PMID: 37236754


  8. Jain S, Witt LJ, Ferrante LE. Clin-STAR corner: Recent practice-changing studies at the interface of pulmonary and critical care medicine and geriatrics. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2022. PMID: 36536494


  9. Santhosh L, Witt L. Jane (or Dr Doe?) Will Reply to Your Patient Portal Message Now. JAMA network open 2022. PMID: 36197669


  10. Witt LJ, Wroblewski KE, Pinto JM, Wang E, McClintock MK, Dale W, White SR, Press VG, Huisingh-Scheetz M. Beyond the Lung: Geriatric Conditions Afflict Community-Dwelling Older Adults With Self-Reported Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. 2022. PMID: 35237627


  11. Bischoff KE, Choi S, Su A, Cohen E, O'Riordan DL, Oettel E, Blachman M, Meister S, Zapata C, Lindenfeld P, Calton B, Witt L, Pantilat SZ, Shah RJ. Better Together: A Mixed-Methods Study of Palliative Care Co-Management for Patients with Interstitial Lung Disease. Journal of palliative medicine 2021. PMID: 34115958


  12. . Weak Handgrip at Index Admission for Acute Exacerbation of COPD Predicts All-Cause 30-Day Readmission. Frontiers in medicine 2021. PMID: 33898475


  13. O'Leary EM, Tian Y, Nigdelioglu R, Witt LJ, Cetin-Atalay R, Meliton AY, Woods PS, Kimmig LM, Sun KA, Gökalp GA, Mutlu GM, Hamanaka RB. TGF-ß Promotes Metabolic Reprogramming in Lung Fibroblasts via mTORC1-dependent ATF4 Activation. American journal of respiratory cell and molecular biology 2020. PMID: 32668192


  14. Farrell TW, Ferrante LE, Brown T, Francis L, Widera E, Rhodes R, Rosen T, Hwang U, Witt LJ, Thothala N, Liu SW, Vitale CA, Braun UK, Stephens C, Saliba D. AGS Position Statement: Resource Allocation Strategies and Age-Related Considerations in the COVID-19 Era and Beyond. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2020. PMID: 32374440


  15. Farrell TW, Francis L, Brown T, Ferrante LE, Widera E, Rhodes R, Rosen T, Hwang U, Witt LJ, Thothala N, Liu SW, Vitale CA, Braun UK, Stephens C, Saliba D. Rationing Limited Health Care Resources in the COVID-19 Era and Beyond: Ethical Considerations Regarding Older Adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2020. PMID: 32374466


  16. Venado A, Witt LJ, Kallianos K, Wolters PJ. Diaphragmatic Atrophy May Limit Progression of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 2019. PMID: 31825660


  17. Leah J. Witt, Carolyn J. Presley. Respiratory Organ Aging and Cancer. 2020. PMID:


  18. Hamanaka RB, O'Leary EM, Witt LJ, Tian Y, Gökalp GA, Meliton AY, Dulin NO, Mutlu GM. Glutamine Metabolism is Required for Collagen Protein Synthesis in Lung Fibroblasts. American journal of respiratory cell and molecular biology 2019. PMID: 30973753


  19. Hamanaka RB, Nigdelioglu R, Meliton AY, Tian Y, Witt LJ, O'Leary E, Sun KA, Woods PS, Wu D, Ansbro B, Ard S, Rohde JM, Dulin NO, Guzy RD, Mutlu GM. Inhibition of PHGDH Attenuates Bleomycin-induced Pulmonary Fibrosis. Volume 58 of Issue 5. American journal of respiratory cell and molecular biology 2017. PMID: 29019702


  20. Oldham JM, Witt LJ, Adegunsoye A, Chung JH, Lee C, Hsu S, Chen LW, Husain A, Montner S, Vij R, Strek ME, Noth I. N-acetylcysteine exposure is associated with improved survival in anti-nuclear antibody seropositive patients with usual interstitial pneumonia. Volume 18 of Issue 1. BMC pulmonary medicine 2018. PMID: 29422061


  21. . Respiratory Organ Aging and Cancer. 2018. PMID:


  22. Adegunsoye A, Oldham JM, Chung JH, Montner SM, Lee C, Witt LJ, Stahlbaum D, Bermea RS, Chen LW, Hsu S, Husain AN, Noth I, Vij R, Strek ME, Churpek M. Phenotypic Clusters Predict Outcomes in a Longitudinal Interstitial Lung Disease Cohort. Volume 153 of Issue 2. Chest 2017. PMID: 28964798


  23. Wu D, Huang RT, Hamanaka RB, Krause M, Oh MJ, Kuo CH, Nigdelioglu R, Meliton AY, Witt L, Dai G, Civelek M, Prabhakar NR, Fang Y, Mutlu GM. HIF-1a is required for disturbed flow-induced metabolic reprogramming in human and porcine vascular endothelium. Volume 6. eLife 2017. PMID: 28556776


  24. Adegunsoye A, Oldham JM, Valenzi E, Lee C, Witt LJ, Chen L, Montner S, Chung JH, Noth I, Vij R, Strek ME, Husain AN. Interstitial Pneumonia With Autoimmune Features: Value of Histopathology. Volume 141 of Issue 7. Archives of pathology & laboratory medicine 2017. PMID: 28467213


  25. Nigdelioglu R, Hamanaka RB, Meliton AY, O'Leary E, Witt LJ, Cho T, Sun K, Bonham C, Wu D, Woods PS, Husain AN, Wolfgeher D, Dulin NO, Chandel NS, Mutlu GM. Transforming Growth Factor (TGF)-ß Promotes de Novo Serine Synthesis for Collagen Production. Volume 291 of Issue 53. The Journal of biological chemistry 2016. PMID: 27836973


  26. Oldham JM, Lee C, Valenzi E, Witt LJ, Adegunsoye A, Hsu S, Chen L, Montner S, Chung JH, Noth I, Vij R, Strek ME. Azathioprine response in patients with fibrotic connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease. Volume 121. Respiratory medicine 2016. PMID: 27888985


  27. Daly B, Hantel A, Wroblewski K, Balachandran JS, Chow S, DeBoer R, Fleming GF, Hahn OM, Kline J, Liu H, Patel BK, Verma A, Witt LJ, Fukui M, Kumar A, Howell MD, Polite BN. No Exit: Identifying Avoidable Terminal Oncology Intensive Care Unit Hospitalizations. Volume 12 of Issue 10. Journal of oncology practice 2016. PMID: 27601514


  28. Witt LJ, Curran JJ, Strek ME. The Diagnosis and Treatment of Antisynthetase Syndrome. Volume 23 of Issue 5. Clinical pulmonary medicine 2016. PMID: 27594777


  29. Oldham JM, Adegunsoye A, Valenzi E, Lee C, Witt L, Chen L, Husain AN, Montner S, Chung JH, Cottin V, Fischer A, Noth I, Vij R, Strek ME. Characterisation of patients with interstitial pneumonia with autoimmune features. Volume 47 of Issue 6. The European respiratory journal 2016. PMID: 27103387


  30. Witt LJ, Demchuk C, Curran JJ, Strek ME. Benefit of adjunctive tacrolimus in connective tissue disease-interstitial lung disease. Volume 36. Pulmonary pharmacology & therapeutics 2016. PMID: 26762710


  31. Oldham JM, Ma SF, Martinez FJ, Anstrom KJ, Raghu G, Schwartz DA, Valenzi E, Witt L, Lee C, Vij R, Huang Y, Strek ME, Noth I. TOLLIP, MUC5B, and the Response to N-Acetylcysteine among Individuals with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. Volume 192 of Issue 12. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 2015. PMID: 26331942


  32. . Safety and Efficacy of Tacrolimus in Connective Tissue Disease-Related Interstitial Lung Disease. 2013. PMID: