Rena Fox, MD
Professor of Clinical Medicine
Dr. Rena Fox is a Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine since 2001. Dr. Fox was an undergraduate at Stanford, got her MD at UC San Diego and did her internal medicine residency at University of Washington. She was a general medicine clinician-educator fellow at UCSF with an interest in hepatitis C virus (HCV) during which time she was trained by UCSF hepatologists. Since then, her research has focused on improving the care of patients with liver disease. She studied the prevalence of HCV in the California prisons and was awarded the Jan Albrecht Award from AASLD. Her work includes studying electronic medical record strategies for improved HCV screening in primary care, cost-efficacy of DAA treatments, outcomes of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and algorithms for primary care providers to detect and risk stratify patients with NAFLD and advanced fibrosis. She worked with the VA for over a decade on creating HCV educational tools, national policies, and curriculum as medical editor for the VA Viral Hepatitis Website. As part of the CDC and DHHS Hepatitis Action Plan, she served as an editor for Hepatitis C Online, a curriculum for HCV education. She was a co-author and panel member of the clinical practice guidelines for the VA regarding the use of DAAs from 2013-2021. Dr. Fox is currently a voting panel member and the Chair of California Technology Assessment Forum (CTAF), a partner of the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER). CTAF is an independent panel of medical experts who works with ICER to evaluate the clinical and economic value of new drugs, across all fields. She also proves telemedicine consultation on HCV management for providers in underserved and rural areas for the UCSF Hepatitis C ECHO clinic. Dr. Fox is currently a member of the AASLD Foundations in Liver Disease Committee. She is Co-Chair of the SFCAN Liver Cancer Task Force, through the Cancer Center, bringing together multiple entities working to reduce the incidence and mortality of HCC and she is on the Executive Advisory Board for End Hep C SF. Examples of her university service include the UCSF and System-wide Committee on Committees (Chair, UCSF), the SOM Faculty Council, the DOM Promotions Subcommittee and the UC Primary Care Residency Selection committee. She was also asked to chair two UCSF Task Forces regarding the affiliations between UCSF and faith-based hospitals. Since then she has served as the Senate representative on the UCSF Health Leadership Council. She will serve a 3 year term as the UCSF representative for the UCOP Joint Clinical Advisory Committee on Covered Affiliations (2022-2025). In clinical practice, she maintains a busy and large primary care panel in General Medicine Practice at the Mt. Zion campus and for 19 years she was also the sole generalist practicing in the UCSF Viral Hepatitis Clinic. As an educator, she works with medical students and internal medicine residents and lectures nationally on liver disease, especially for primary care audiences.