Message from the Chair
Nancy L. Ascher, MD, PhD
Professor and Chair
UCSF Department of Surgery
Allen Johnson, MD
Former Clinical Professor of Surgery at UCSF
Read about his life »
Nancy L. Ascher, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor and Chair, Department of Surgery
Isis Distinguished Professor in Transplantation
Contact Information
(415) 353-1888 Clinical, Liver
(415) 353-1550 Clinical, Kidney and Pancreas
(415) 476-1236 Academic
aschern@surgery.ucsf.edu
Education
- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, B.A., 1967-70
- University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, M.D., 1970-74
- University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, Ph.D., 1974-85
Residencies
- University of Minnesota, Department of Surgery, Minneapolis, MN, Surgical Internship, 1974-75
- University of Minnesota, Department of Surgery, Minneapolis, MN, Surgical Residency, 1975-77
- University of Minnesota, Department of Surgery, Minneapolis, MN, Surgical Residency, 1979-81
Fellowships
- University of Minnesota, Department of Surgery, Minneapolis, MN, Transplant Fellowship, 1981-1982
Postdoctoral Training
- University of Minnesota, Department of Surgery, Minneapolis, MN, Research Fellowship, 1977-79
Board Certification
- American Board of Surgery, 1982, renewed 2002
Clinical Expertise
- Liver Transplantation
- Live Donor Liver Transplantation
- Kidney Transplantation
- Fulminant Hepatic Failure
- Hepatocellular Carcinoma
- Viral Hepatitis
Research Interests
- Hepatocyte Immunogenicity
- Mechanisms of Allograft Rejection
- Clinical Transplantation
- Transplantation Biology
- Disease Recurrence After Liver Transplantation
- Transplant Policy
- Transplant Ethics
Biography
Dr. Nancy Ascher, chair of the UCSF Department of Surgery, has devoted her career to organ transplants and transplant research. Dr. Ascher completed her undergraduate and medical education at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She then went on to complete a general surgery residency and clinical transplantation fellowship at the University of Minnesota. She is board-certified by the American Board of Surgery.
Dr. Ascher joined the faculty of the Department of Surgery at the University of Minnesota in 1982 and was named Clinical Director of the Liver Transplant Program. She was recruited in 1988 by the UCSF Department of Surgery to build a liver transplantation program. In 1991, she was appointed Chief of Transplantation, an expanded role that included liver, kidney and pancreas transplants. In 1993, she was appointed Vice-Chair of the UCSF Department of Surgery, and in 1999 was appointed Department Chair. Today, Dr. Ascher also serves as Director of Tertiary Care for the UCSF Medical Center.
Dr. Ascher has had a distinguished career of public service that includes appointments to the Presidential Task Force on Organ Transplantation and the Surgeon General's Task Force on Increasing Donor Organs. She also served as Chair of the Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation for the Secretary of Health and Human Services from 2001 - 2005.
Dr. Ascher is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and holds memberships in numerous other medical societies. She has taken an active leadership role in American Society of Transplant Surgeons activities and was its past-president. Dr. Ascher has published over 425 articles in medical and scientific journals. Her research interests are in hepatocyte immunogenicity, mechanisms of allograft rejection and clinical transplantation.
Selected Publications
- Painter P, Krasnoff J, Paul SM, Ascher NL. Physical activity and health-related quality of life in liver transplant recipients. Liver Transpl 7(3):213-9, 2001.
- Yao F, Ferrell L, Bass N, Bacchetti P, Ascher NL, Roberts J. Liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma: comparison of the proposed UCSF criteria with the Milan criteria and the Pittsburgh modified TNM criteria. Liver Transpl 8(9):765-74, 2002.
- Yao FY, Bass NM, Nikolai B, Davern TJ, Kerlan R, Wu V, Ascher NL, Roberts JP. Liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma: analysis of survival according to the intention-to-treat principle and dropout from the waiting list. Liver Transpl 8(10):873-83, 2002.
- Stock PG, Roland ME, Carlson L, Freise CE, Roberts JP, Hirose R, Terrault NA, Frassetto LA, Palefsky JM, Tomlanovich SJ, Ascher NL. Kidney and liver transplantation in human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients: a pilot safety and efficacy study. Transplantation 76(2):370-5, 2003.
- Shergill AK, Khalili M, Straley S, Bollinger K, Roberts JP, Ascher NA, Terrault NA. Applicability, tolerability and efficacy of preemptive antiviral therapy in hepatitis C-infected patients undergoing liver transplantation. Am J Transplant 5(1):118-24, 2005.