Emergency Medicine

UCSF Fresno Names Jim Comes, MD, as Chief of Emergency Medicine

After a nationwide search, UCSF Fresno Medical Education Program appointed Jim Comes, MD, FACEP, as Chief of Emergency Medicine at UCSF Fresno and Vice‐Chair of Emergency Medicine at UCSF. Dr. Comes provides visionary leadership for the clinical,educational and research components of emergency medicine at UCSF Fresno.

As Chief of Emergency Medicine, Comes also has been named the Gene W. Kallsen, MD, Endowed Chair in Emergency Medicine at UCSF Fresno. Endowed chairs are associated with the most prestigious educational institutions and are held by distinguished faculty. To establish an endowed chair, monies are raised and invested for the purposes of funding the position in perpetuity. The purpose of this endowed chair is to support the teaching, research and service activities in the Department of Emergency Medicine at UCSF Fresno.

Comes will continue to serve as Chair of the Emergency Department at Community Regional Medical Center, one of the busiest emergency departments in the state and home to the only Level 1 trauma and comprehensive burn center from Sacramento to Los Angeles. He also will continue his academic appointment as UCSF Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine at UCSF Fresno.

Comes has dedicated his career to graduate medical education, serving in an educational leadership role for the past 23 years. He was program director for the transitional‐year internship and assistant residency director prior to serving as program director of the UCSF Fresno Emergency Medicine Residency Program from 2006 to 2017.

He earned bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and biology from the University of California, Irvine and his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He completed residency training in emergency medicine at UCSF Fresno at the former Valley Medical Center.

Comes has received letters of commendation from Sen. Barbara Boxer, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office and other elected officials for his service to the community. He is the recipient of the Haile Debas Academy of Medical Educators UCSF Excellence in Teaching Award. In addition to being a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians, he serves as an examiner for the American Board of Emergency Medicine.

Dr. Comes replaces Greg Hendey, MD, as chief of the UCSF Fresno Emergency Medicine Department and as endowed chair.

We are happy to announce that Stacy Sawtelle, MD has been appointed as Program Director for the UCSF Fresno Emergency Medicine Residency.

Dr. Sawtelle arrived here as faculty in 2010 after completing an Emergency Medicine Residency at UCLA.  To date, she has done transformative and innovative work in the areas of our educational curriculum and medical simulation.  She spearheaded and developed the intern boot camp that has become a UCSF Fresno staple for newly arriving PGY1s.  She was inducted into the Haile Debas Academy of Medical Educators and was a recipient of the excellence in teaching award from the Academy.  Her collaborative work in the areas of EM milestones and inter professional safety curriculum have been presented and recognized at the national level.

Prior to becoming PD, she served as the Associate Program Director.

Congratulations to the UCSF Fresno EM Program 2017 Award Winners:

Senior Resident Teacher of the Year Award
Steve Riccoboni, MD

Faculty Teacher of the Year Award
Geoff Stroh, MD

Resident Research Award
Steve Riccoboni, MD

Faculty Research Award
Mike Darracq, MD

Robert Knopp Gold Humanism Award
Bryan Kaye, MD

Melissa Dowd Community Service Award
Jimmy McCue, MD

MEDICAL STUDENT AWARDS
Jeremy Salsberg, MD
Medical Student Resident Teacher of the Year

Brian Chinnock, MD
With Medical Student Faculty Teacher of the Year