Teach
Graduating UCSF Fresno Physicians to Care for Patients and Teach Future Doctors
Many staying in the region to provide primary care
By Brandy Ramos Nikaido
More than 100 medical residents and fellows, along with three oral and maxillofacial surgery dental residents and five physician assistants completed training at UCSF Fresno this year. Many are staying in the Central Valley to care for patients, teach future physicians or continue their medical education. They came from near and far to train here because of our exemplary educational programs and faculty, to care for diverse and often underserved patients and to be close to home or make new homes.
UCSF Fresno’s 2019 Commencement was held June 13 at the William Saroyan Theatre. The addition of these newly minted physicians to the health care workforce comes at a crucial time. California is facing a shortfall of more than 4,000 primary care clinicians, according to a report released earlier this year by the California Future Health Workforce Commission. The projected shortfall of primary care clinicians in the state will have a disproportionate impact on the San Joaquin Valley where a doctor shortage already exists. Physicians who look, speak like and understand the cultures of Valley patients are especially needed.
“Nearly 40 percent of physicians completing training in family and community medicine, almost 50 percent of pediatrics residents and 44 percent of internal medicine residents are remaining in the Valley to care for community members,” said Michael W. Peterson, MD, associate dean at UCSF Fresno. “This is outstanding news given the current and projected shortage of primary care clinicians in the region and state. Congratulations to these and all of our 2019 graduates.”
The 2019 graduating class includes:
Michele Maison-Fomotar, MD, originally from Cameroon, Africa, completed a three-year residency training program in internal medicine. She is continuing her education at UCSF Fresno as a fellow in the two-year infectious diseases program. Dr. Maison-Fomotar earned her medical degree in Cameroon and worked for two years in a catchment hospital in a small city at the border of the Central African Republic. There, she worked with refugees and other underserved patients in the area. Her patients often presented with complex infection-related illnesses, especially HIV-related. This prompted her to earn a master’s degree in tropical medicine and international health in London. After that, she came to California to be with her husband Marcel, who was completing a PhD at the time. She decided on UCSF Fresno for residency training because of Fresno’s unique and diverse population, which often faces challenges including limited health care access and complex medical problems like the mix of people she cared for in Cameroon. The transition from working in an area with limited diagnostics and treatment options to an environment where much more is available was uniquely challenging and enlightening. The unparalleled diversity and complexity of patient presentations, especially in infectious diseases, prompted her to stay for the ID fellowship. Afterward, she hopes to remain in the Central Valley, which has become her home. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking African food, cartoons, dancing and discovering new places with her family and friends.
Rafael Martinez, MD, completed a three-year residency program in family and community medicine. Dr. Martinez immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico with his family when he was five years old. He grew up in Visalia and went to Redwood High School. From an early age, he knew he wanted to pursue a career in health care, but it wasn’t until he worked as a health educator for Family Health Care Network that he was inspired to become a physician. The opportunity to care for patients across the life spectrum, including pregnant patients, newborns, adults and entire families, motivated him to pursue family medicine. UCSF Fresno was his top choice for residency. He conducted rotations at UCSF Fresno as a medical student and his family is in the area. After graduation, he will work at United Health Centers in Parlier where he trained as a resident and wants to continue caring for patients there. A first-generation college graduate, Dr. Martinez said the path to becoming a physician is filled with many challenges, but he is fortunate to have the support of his family and is humbled every day to care for people whose voices aren’t heard often and who don’t typically have representation. In his spare time, he enjoys reading about cars, traveling and spending time with his wife and 10-month old son.
Lynna Nguyen, DO, completed a three-year residency program in family and community medicine. Dr. Nguyen grew up in Orange County, California, where she attended Oxford Academy. She chose to pursue family medicine because it allows her to provide continuity of care for patients as well as to serve as an advocate for them. Family physicians are in the best position to provide patient education and anticipatory care for their patients, according to Dr. Nguyen. “In no other specialty can a physician implement life-changing interventions as well as follow the outcomes through each developmental milestone and generation,” she said. She picked UCSF Fresno for residency training because the family and community medicine program is known for exemplary community-based training that is well-rounded and full-scope in both inpatient and outpatient settings with large and diverse patient populations. The Southern California native is staying in Fresno to practice at Kaiser Permanente. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, hiking, and playing board games with friends and family.
H Kiran Reddy, MD, completed a three-year fellowship in cardiovascular disease and will continue his medical education at UCSF Fresno as a fellow in the one-year interventional cardiology program. Raised in Hanford, California, Dr. Reddy’s history with UCSF Fresno dates back to the late 1990s when he participated in UCSF Fresno’s Summer Biomedical Internship Program as a student at Hanford West High School. Later, he conducted clinical rotations at UCSF Fresno as a fourth-year medical student and returned to complete residency training in internal medicine. When he completes the additional interventional cardiology fellowship, Dr. Reddy will have spent seven years training at UCSF Fresno. He intends to stay in the Valley to care for patients and work closely with his father, Hanford cardiologist, Raj Reddy, MD. “We have a lot of cases of diabetes, end-stage renal disease and hypertension,” Dr. H Kiran Reddy said. “These diseases happen early in life and many patients do not have good access to health care. Coronary artery disease can occur as a result of untreated, secondary diseases.” His goal is to increase access to cardiac health care in Hanford and throughout the Valley. When not working, he enjoys spending time with his two children and wife Pooja Reddy, MD, who also completed internal medicine residency training at UCSF Fresno. Dr. Pooja Reddy is a current faculty member who works with internal medicine residents at the VA Central California Health Care System in Fresno.
Juan Rios, MD, completed a three-year residency program in family and community medicine. Dr. Rios was born and raised in Reedley and graduated from Reedley High School. As the son of a 17-year-old mom and growing up in a rural farming community, it was challenging to evolve beyond the low expectations preconceived by his upbringing, he said. But, he was drawn to the sciences as a young student. While taking Advanced Placement courses in high school, he noted the relationship between science and medicine and the idea of working in medicine and applying science to real-life situations appealed to him. After witnessing the declining health of loved ones due to limited access to health care, dedicating himself to becoming a physician was an easy decision. Family medicine was especially attractive because it allows for the unique opportunity to care for a wide variety of patients on any given day. There was never any doubt that UCSF Fresno is where he wanted to train, close to home. In fact, a significant portion of his residency training took place in his hometown. The first in his family to seek education beyond high school, Rios found it intimidating trying to navigate college and medical school with very little guidance. But, he persisted. After graduation, Dr. Rios will work at United Health Centers in Selma, California. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his wife and kids. He also enjoys regular exercise, watching baseball (Giants) and football (Cowboys) games, and his newest hobby, barbecuing.
Care
UCSF Fresno Gyn/Onc Brings Expertise in Complex Abdominal and Pelvic Surgeries to Valley
By Barbara Anderson
While driving to the San Joaquin Valley this spring to assume the directorship of the UCSF Fresno gynecological oncology services, Trung “Tim” Nguyen, DO, MBA, thought about the patients in need of care.
Dr. Nguyen was coming to UCSF Fresno from four years as a faculty member at Stanford University School of Medicine, but he had an understanding of the challenges facing San Joaquin Valley women with endometrial, cervical, uterine and ovarian cancers. As a board-certified gynecologic/oncologist with expertise in complex abdominal/pelvic surgery, he had provided care to patients from the Valley who were referred to him.
UCSF Fresno is fortunate to have Dr. Nguyen, said Carlos Sueldo, MD, chief of the UCSF Fresno Department of Obstetrics/Gynecology. “Dr. Nguyen is the only fellowship-trained obstetrician/gynecologist in the area who is fully dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer in females’ reproductive organs,” he said.
An assistant professor at UCSF and a University Centers of Excellence provider, Dr. Nguyen brings an expertise in new techniques, including sentinel lymph node mapping. The procedure involves injecting a special dye into the origin of the cancer to see what group of lymph nodes the dye reaches first and where the cancer could spread. “It can be helpful in minimizing the number of lymph nodes we remove and in some cases increase the detection rate,” Dr. Nguyen said.
Dr. Nguyen also specializes in fertility-sparing treatment for young women with cancer who may want to have children.
“As a physician and as a member of the community, I have a sense of responsibility to make sure we do a good job and that we provide up-to-date and cutting-edge care,” he said.
He emphasizes the importance of regular doctor visits for prevention and early detection of gynecological cancers. This is particularly true of cervical cancer, he said. Cervical screening is an effective way to detect the cancer early so it can effectively be cured.
Cervical cancer can be prevented. The (human papillomavirus) HPV vaccine prevents HPV infection — the root-cause of most cervical cancers, he said. Girls and boys who are 11 or 12 years old should get two shots of HPV vaccine and three shots are recommended for teens and young adults who start the series at ages 15 through 26 years.
Prevention has to be a priority, Dr. Nguyen said. Statewide, the rate of cervical cancer is 7.2 per 100,000, but the rate in Kings County is 11.4 per 100,000 – the highest in the state, according to the most recent data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Madera and Tulare counties each has an incidence rate of 10.4 per 100,000, ranking third- and fourth-highest. And Fresno County has a rate of 8.7, ranking it tenth-highest in California.
“Any woman who dies of cervical cancer is one too many,” Dr. Nguyen said.
And women are dying of uterine cancer because of delayed treatment, he said. There is no screening test for the cancer but a common sign is abnormal bleeding, especially in post-menopausal women. “When identified early, the rate of effective management is high. The rate of cure is high. And so it’s so important to recognize symptoms early and go seek care early,” Dr. Nguyen said.
Ovarian cancer does not have a screening test but doctors can identify women in certain high-risk groups and provide intervention. “And recently there are oral drugs that can be prescribed as maintenance therapy for certain women with BRCA gene mutations or certain tumors,” Dr. Nguyen said. Immunotherapy also could be promising and he is interested in bringing clinical trials to UCSF Fresno.
Dr. Nguyen, in partnership with UCSF Fresno’s Amir Fathi, MD, a liver/pancreas surgeon, hope to provide hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) for women with certain types of ovarian cancer. HIPEC is a concentrated, heated chemotherapy treatment delivered directly to the abdomen during surgery. HIPEC is available in only a few major academic centers in California, Dr. Nguyen said.
But access to care is an obstacle to prevention and treatment of gynecological cancers. Dr. Sueldo said Dr. Nguyen’s goal is to build the gynecology/oncology program so a team can efficiently cover the huge number of cases requiring their expertise.
“Plenty of data demonstrates that the patient who is treated by a gynecologist/oncologist has much better outcomes,” Dr. Nguyen said.
Research
UCSF Fresno Oncologist Leads Immunotherapy Trials, Makes New Options Available Locally for Adults with Blood Cancers
By Barbara Anderson
Immunotherapy is changing the standard of cancer treatment, and a UCSF Fresno hematologist/oncologist is in the midst of studying how the body’s immune system can help fight blood cancers in adult patients.
Haifaa Abdulhaq, MD, a UCSF associate professor at UCSF Fresno, has five immunotherapy trials for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, diffuse large B cell lymphoma, acute myeloid leukemia, and relapsed multiple myeloma. Leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma are the three most common types of blood cancer.
“Immunotherapy can produce better responses without much toxicity and through these trials we can provide this option for adult patients,” Dr. Abdulhaq said.
Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) is an aggressive blood cancer with inferior outcomes in adults compared to children. Abdulhaq said the biology of the disease may be different in children but she believes outcomes for adults could be improved by copying the treatment protocols used for children and including immunotherapy in first line treatment. The overall survival rate for adults with ALL after five years of diagnosis is about 45 percent compared to a 90 percent survival rate for children, she said.
Blood cancers occur when the normal development of blood cells is overcome by the growth of abnormal blood cells. The UCSF Fresno trials involve harnessing the immune system to work in tandem with chemotherapy drugs to stop the proliferation of cancer cells.
Dr. Abdulhaq, an expert in malignant hematology who works at the Community Cancer Institute in Clovis, has opened two trials that use immunotherapy in the frontline treatment of newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia. ALL originates from lymphocytes – blood cells that defend the body from viral infections.
One of the ALL trials — ECOG 1910 – involves bilnatumomab, a monoclonal antibody, that binds to T cells in the immune system. The T cells find invaders in the blood (in this case malignant cancer cells) and destroy them. Bilnatumomab has been shown to be an effective treatment for children and adults with relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia but Dr. Abdulhaq’s trial is for patients newly diagnosed with ALL.
“We’ve enrolled two patients on this trial so far who have done really well in terms of achieving complete response and achieving negative minimal residual disease, which is the most sensitive way that we can detect leukemia in these patients,” Dr. Abdulhaq said.
A second ALL trial incorporates the antibody-drug conjugate, inotuzumab ozogamicin, that links to a chemotherapy drug. Inotuzumab identifies a marker on the leukemia cells to let the chemotherapy drug penetrate inside the malignant cells. “So it performs target killing of the leukemia cells,” Dr. Abdulhaq said.
Another trial uses midostaurin, a multi-targeted protein kinase inhibitor, and will open soon for patients newly diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). In AML, abnormal myeloid cells develop in the bone marrow. Dr. Abdulhaq participated in research 10 years ago that showed midostaurin is effective in patients with a gene mutation in leukemia cells called FLT3. The UCSF Fresno trial will study if midostaurin can help patients without the FLT3 gene mutation.
“We’re going to make progress in treating acute leukemia through these clinical trials, these newer immunotherapies to improve the response to treatment and with better tolerability in patients,” Dr. Abdulhaq said.
For relapsed multiple myeloma patients, a trial has been approved and will open soon that utilizes nivolumab, a checkpoint-inhibitor immunotherapy drug in conjunction with daratumumab, an anti-cancer drug that targets a marker on myeloma cells. Nivolumab breaks the bond between the cancer cells and the immune cells, which unleashes the immune cells to attack the cancer cells.
Checkpoint inhibitors have proven effective in many cancers, including the skin cancer melanoma, but nivolumab has not been approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration for multiple myeloma patients. The trial also will study whether the checkpoint inhibitor works better in combination with chemotherapy. “In some cancers they require a combination to induce synergy and I think multiple myeloma is one of those,” she said.
And Dr. Abdulhaq has a trial for relapsed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, a subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The trial utilizes tafasitamab, an antibody that targets a specific marker on lymphoma cells.
Through these trials, UCSF Fresno is making new cancer research available to the area and it’s a promising and hopeful time for cancer patients.
Partner
UCSF Fresno Pediatric Faculty, Parents Establish Network to Support Children with Neurologic Disorders and Their Families
By Barbara Anderson
Parents of children with autism had an advocate and partner in Serena Yang, MD, MPH, chief of Pediatrics at UCSF Fresno, when they asked for help to start the San Joaquin Valley Neurodevelopmental Disorders Collaborative.
Dr. Yang endorses the Collaborative’s goals of supporting individuals with neurologic differences and their families through services, education and research.
“And we see working collaboratively for the betterment of our patients and families as part of our mission to improve health in the San Joaquin Valley through patient care, education, research, and community partnerships,” she said.
The two-year-old Collaborative now has more than 45 members and keeps growing. Organizations represented include parents of children with autism; UCSF Fresno Departments of Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Neurology; Community Medical Centers; Fresno State; Fresno County Office of Education; Fresno Unified School District; Central Valley Regional Center; Exceptional Parents Unlimited; Easter Seals; Central California Faculty Medical Group; speech therapists and applied behavioral analysts.
The Collaborative began with six members: Dr. Yang and John Moua, MD, a UCSF Fresno faculty member in Pediatric Pulmonology and medical director of Pediatric Subspecialties at Community Medical Centers; Kudzi Muchaka, vice president of Neurosciences, Women and Pediatric Services at Community Medical Centers; and parents Sarah and Mike Ellis of Sanger and Alissa Malakan of Clovis.
Registered Nurse Joy Troop, a nurse supervisor at Community Regional Pediatric Specialty Center, said she shares information she gathers from the monthly Collaborative meetings with her staff. “It’s helped families get services faster and with less confusion,” Troop said. “And it is just overall better care for patients in the Valley.”
The parents said their motivation for an autism collaborative sprang from delays they experienced in getting timely diagnoses for their children. Early diagnosis and intervention makes a difference in the outcomes of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a neurological and developmental disorder that begins in early childhood and affects social behavior, communication and language to varying degrees. About 1 in 59 children in the United States has been diagnosed with ASD, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Ellises have 6-year-old twins (a son and daughter) affected by ASD. “We went through a very frustrating and difficult diagnosis experience and speaking to other parents it seemed like it was a process that was pretty frustrating for everyone,” Sarah Ellis said. Malakan said it took a year and a half to get a diagnosis for her daughter, who is 6. “As a parent, I just hope no one else goes through what I went through,” she said.
Educating doctors and parents about ASD seemed a natural focus for the new Collaborative and a good fit for UCSF Fresno, Dr. Yang said. “We’re on the forefront of academic training of health professionals here in the Valley so that’s something we feel very comfortable with and can do,” she said.
On May 4, the Collaborative hosted the 2019 Autism Symposium for Primary Care Providers. The all-day meeting at Community Regional Medical Center attracted more than 65 physicians, parents and educators.
“It was really exciting to get people together with just really good intentions of improving patient care and outcomes for kids,” Sarah Ellis said.
Dr. Yang said the Collaborative made it possible to bring physicians, parents, educators and other child health providers together to improve education about autism, and disseminate information about autism resources to families and health providers in the San Joaquin Valley.
“A multidisciplinary, multi-sector approach to care is more effective at meeting the needs of children and families with autism,” she said.
Inspire
UCSF Fresno
People Spotlight
UCSF Fresno’s success and growth are a direct result of the dedication and inspiration of our faculty, staff, residents, fellows, students, alumni, partners, donors and friends. Last year in Focus, we began introducing you to the people who contribute to the greatness of UCSF Fresno through informal interviews.
This month, in honor of UCSF Alumni Month in June, please meet Professor Emeritus of Family and Community Medicine John Blossom, MD.
Where are you from originally and where did you go to medical school, residency, etc?
My family is fourth or fifth generation Californian. I was born in San Diego and raised in Sacramento. I attended UC Davis and I went to medical school at UC San Francisco. I did my internship and residency at Valley Medical Center in Fresno and I never left. I finished residency in 1974. I was the third resident in a brand new specialty called family practice. Even before UCSF had a residency in family practice, we had one in Fresno. This was before UCSF Fresno was established.
When did you know you wanted to become a physician? And why did you pursue a career in medicine?
I remember thinking I wanted to be a doctor in high school. My mother had older and younger brothers who were both physicians. I liked science, was good at it and I got along with people. I really liked the biological sciences when I was at UC Davis. When I was in college, there also was a lot unfolding nationally. It became clear that there was a whole segment of our population that was not being cared for and was disadvantaged. When I got to medical school, I remember there were people who were interested in social issues and that’s what really shaped my values system. By the time, I got to Fresno, I was really committed to serving underserved patients.
What brought you to UCSF Fresno, when did you start and in what capacity?
I came to Fresno for a clinical rotation at the county hospital before UCSF Fresno was established. It was a life-changing experience. I loved the patients who I took care of in Fresno. And I never left. I raised my family here and I’m still here.
What other positions did you hold at UCSF Fresno?
The first University of California programs in Fresno were ag-related. Then regional medical programs, funded by the federal government, followed. Those were replaced by a program called Area Health Education Centers (AHEC). One of the first projects of AHEC was to create a residency to train family practice doctors in this region. That was attractive to me, so I finished residency here and went to a farmworker clinic in Mendota for two years. With federal grants, AHEC support, we began to bring medical students and residents to Mendota. After a few years, I became head of the family practice residency that was supported by AHEC and Fresno County. About the same time, UCSF Fresno was established and I accepted a faculty appointment and I ran the residency program for almost 18 years. Then I became Associate Dean for six to seven years. After that, I took over the AHEC program, which had become a statewide program and that’s what I did until I retired in 2015.
What differences do you see in UCSF Fresno today versus when you started?
My 50-year medical school reunion will be next year. The quality of medical education and how we care for medical students has changed significantly. The quality of health care in the Central Valley in the time I’ve been here has improved so dramatically that I don’t think most people understand that it is due to the University of California’s presence here, through UCSF Fresno.
What is your proudest UCSF Fresno moment? Either for you professionally or a proud moment in UCSF Fresno history?
UCSF Fresno has been part of my life more or less since June 24, 1970. There were a lot of projects I wanted to do that did not come to fruition.
But, we did manage in the family practice residency to move chunks of our training to community health centers. That hadn’t been done before. I’m very proud of that.
In addition, I brought in between $5 and $10 million in grant funding. One of the grants I wrote while I was heading the AHEC program was right after 911 on disaster preparedness. We created a train the trainer system for disaster preparedness educators who worked with the underserved. We went all over the state. We had 20 different outposts where there was an educator associated with a community health center system whose job was to get leadership to focus on disaster preparedness. We created four television shows that were broadcast worldwide on disaster preparedness. One won an award.
Every place where I worked as a leader at UCSF Fresno, I was replaced by someone who was newer, had more energy, was smarter and uniquely suited for the job. So if you look around at UCSF Fresno, we have really, really good faculty and leaders in all departments. The thing that I really wanted to do was to get a medical school for Fresno. It has yet to come to fruition. But it keeps getting closer and closer, with the branch campus.
What would you like the community to know about UCSF Fresno that you think people may not be aware of?
The Family Medicine Residency at UCSF Fresno for many years has one of the best track records for retention of graduates in underserved areas.
Is there anything else you’d like to add (i.e. about your family, future plans, travels or hobbies, anything else about UCSF Fresno’s history or future)?
When I retired, all the people older than me in my family died, my wife, Betsy, died, all around the same time about four years ago. So, I’m living in Fresno in an empty house. I’ve been hosting medical students and nurses in my house. It’s a thrill to be able to sit and chat with them. They’re so smart. I get a window into what’s happening in medical education now. I’m an avid harmonica player. And I’m very interested in the history of UCSF Fresno and would like to see that captured someday.
Supporting UCSF Fresno
Gifts Support Physician Wellness and Education at UCSF Fresno
Leon S. Peters Foundation Supports Physician Wellness and Education at UCSF Fresno
By Barbara Anderson
The Leon S. Peters Foundation recently gifted $50,000 to UCSF Fresno to support the UCSF Fresno Resident Council, a resident clinical skills boot camp and physician wellness.
The primary goal of UCSF Fresno, a branch campus of UCSF, is to improve the health of the San Joaquin Valley through recruiting, training and retaining the brightest and most dedicated physicians to practice health care. Since 2001, the Leon S. Peters Foundation has supported that goal through its generous annual gift with a particular emphasis on resident, fellow and physician health and well-being.
The Resident Council is a committee of medical residents and fellows who are selected by their peers. The Council’s goals are to give residents and fellows a voice in their education, to foster camaraderie and promote resident learning and wellness. Residents are medical school graduates who are training under faculty physicians prior to practicing on their own. Fellows are physicians who are completing advanced training beyond residency in a subspecialty.
“Residency training is an exciting time of immense personal and professional growth,” said Michael W. Peterson, MD, associate dean at UCSF Fresno. “But it also can be stressful.”
The Peters Foundation gift provides funding for physician wellness, which is an important issue in health care. More than three-quarters of physicians reported feeling burned out, according to The Physician’s Foundation’s 2018 Survey of America’s Physicians.
The gift also allows all incoming residents to take part in a clinical skills boot camp prior to beginning their three to five years of training at UCSF Fresno. Under the direction of experienced faculty, incoming residents practice patient care skills on state-of-the art simulation equipment, including adult and pediatric simulation mannequins. Residents also train in suturing skills and communications scenarios with physicians, patients and nurses.
“The generous support of the Peters Foundation is sincerely appreciated by UCSF Fresno and our physicians-in-training,” Dr. Peterson said. “With the foundation’s generosity, we are able to provide a supportive environment to meet the needs of medical education and health care delivery while fostering a personal-professional life balance.”
Drs. William and Marilyn Likosky Leave Legacy to Support Work in Vascular Disease at UCSF Fresno
William Likosky, MD, UCSF associate clinical professor at UCSF Fresno, and Marilyn Likosky, PhD, recently made a bequest of $100,000 to the UCSF Foundation for the establishment of a permanent endowed fund for preventative vascular health.
The endowed fund will be known as Drs. Bill and Marilyn Likosky Family Endowment in Preventative Vascular Health. A bequest is a gift given through a will or estate.
The fund will be used by the chief of the Division of Neurology at UCSF Fresno to support work in the area of vascular disease, with a preference that it support an annual lecture on the prevention of stroke and heart disease in California’s Central Valley.
Dr. Likosky is a board certified neurologist with a subspecialty in vascular neurology. He obtained an MD at the University of Vermont and completed his neurology residency at Yale University. Dr. Likosky has held faculty appointments at Stanford University and the University of Washington.
Marilyn Likosky has a doctorate in classics and is author or “Representations of Women in Theocritus’ Idylls. Authenticity of the Female Voice in the Erotic and Non-Erotic Portrayals.”
The Likoskys’ planned gift is an example of a “legacy” gift, which is an option for giving to UCSF Fresno.
For information about giving to UCSF Fresno, contact Kathleen Smith, Development, UCSF Fresno at (559) 499-6426 or give@fresno.ucsf.edu or visit: https://www.fresno.ucsf.edu/give/ways/