Jorge Kizer named chief of the VAMC Division of Cardiology

Dear Colleagues:

We are thrilled to announce that Jorge R. Kizer, MD, MSc has accepted the position of Chief of the Division of Cardiology for the San Francisco VA Health Care System and Professor of Medicine in the UCSF Department of Medicine. He will have a secondary appointment in our Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Dr. Kizer is currently Director of Clinical Cardiovascular Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and an attending cardiologist at Montefiore Medical Center. He will begin at UCSF in August.

Jorge received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania and his masters in epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. Following his internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and cardiovascular fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, he joined the faculty of Weill Cornell Medical College before moving to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 2012.   

Jorge is an internationally renowned expert in the identification and management of cardiovascular risk factors – focusing particularly on obesity, the aging process, and HIV infection. His research explores how bioactive factors secreted by adipocytes and cardiomyocytes promote the development of cardiovascular diseases. He is an investigator in several NIH-funded population-based studies, including the Women’s Interagency HIV Study, the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, the Hispanic Community Health Study / Study of Latinos, and the Cardiovascular Health Study. He has had over 150 peer-reviewed publications, and his work has been funded by the funded by the National Institute on Aging, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and the American Heart Association. He has also won two teaching awards.

We are deeply grateful to the members of the SFVHACS Division of Cardiology Search Committee, chaired by Dr. Ken Covinsky, Professor of Geriatrics, as well as a prior search committee chaired by Dr. Mary Whooley, Professor in our Division of General Internal Medicine. These committees have reviewed many outstanding candidates and put in countless hours in interviews and deliberations. Their steadfast commitment to this recruitment was critical to its ultimate success. A particular word of thanks to Drs. Jeff Olgin and Peter Ganz, our cardiology division chiefs at UCSF Health and ZSFG, respectively, for their help in their recruitment and their commitment to growing collaborative ties among our three cardiology divisions.

Finally, we wish to thank Dr. Cara Pellegrini, who has provided extraordinarily leadership in her role as Interim Chief of the SFVAHCS Division of Cardiology for the past three years. Among her most important achievements are the recruitment of three new junior faculty members to the division: Drs. Laura Flink, Sanket Dhruva, and Joseph Yang. We truly appreciate Cara’s service, commitment, and professionalism. 

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Jorge Kizer to UCSF, to the VA, and to our Department.

Kenneth R McQuaid, MD                                               
Chief, SFVAHCS Medical Services                               
Professor of Clinical Medicine                     
Marvin H. Sleisenger Endowed Chair                       
Vice-Chair, Department of Medicine

Robert M. Wachter, MD
Professor and Chair, Department of Medicine
Holly Smith Distinguished Professor in Science and Medicine