Dr. Eric Widera is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Division of Geriatrics, the Director of the Hospice & Palliative Care Service at the San Francisco VA Medical Center, and the Associate Program Director for the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship at UCSF.
Dr. Widera received his medical school training at UCSF and his internal medicine training at Mount Sinai Hospital. He then returned back to UCSF to complete a fellowship in Geriatric Medicine. Dr. Widera joined the faculty at UCSF in August of 2006 as a clinician-educator. Dr. Widera is a recipient of a Geriatric Academic Career Award (GACA) which focuses on his main clinical and academic interest of improving the care of elderly patients with severe chronic and/or terminal conditions.
Clinical Activities
Dr. Widera's clinical activities are primarily based at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. He attends on and is the director of the Hospice & Palliative Care Service at the VA. This is a busy and growing service that performs palliative care consults in the acute hospital setting and the VA Community Living Center (CLC). Our palliative care team also provides primary care for a 10 bed hospice unit located within the CLC. Dr. Widera's other clinical responsibilities include attending on the internal medicine inpatient ward service at the San Francisco VA.
Academic Focus
Dr. Widera's academic focus is on improving the care we give to elderly patients with severe chronic and/or terminal conditions through program development and educational innovations. Dr. Widera helps oversee a host of interdisciplinary learners who rotate on the Hospice and Palliative Care Service at the San Francisco VA, including internal medicine residents, social work interns, and nursing students. Dr. Widera is also the Associate Program Director for the new Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship at UCSF, which will be accepting its first fellows in July 2009.
Selected Presentations
- 2006 UCSF Department of Geriatrics Grand Rounds, "Complimentary and Alternative Medicines used in Chronic Venous Insufficiency"
- 2007 UCSF Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, What Families Need to Know about Delirium
- 2007 UCSF Department of Geriatrics Grand Rounds, Burnout Syndrome
- 2008 UCSF Anesthesia Grand Rounds: Autonomy in the Setting of Amnesia: An Ethical Dilemma
- 2008 UCSF 36th Annual Advances in Internal Medicine: Hospital Care of Elders
- 2008 UCSF GME Grand Rounds: Don't Compound the Fracture: Anticipating and Preventing Complications in Elderly Hospitalized Patients
Selected Educational Products
Geripardy: an interactive learning tool for small group facilitators used for teaching geriatric syndromes. Published on POGOe, 2007.
