Mission, Integrity, and Excellence
The staff at ZSFG Neurology is committed to fostering a culture of kindness and compassion in support of ZSFG Neurology's mission to deliver world-class neurological care at the sanctuary of sanctuaries for the underserved of San Francisco. Each staff member has a role that contributes directly to each of the four pillars of the Division: clinical care, education, research, and equity.
We are comprised of research and administrative teams.
Research Staff
The ZSFG Research Program seeks to improve the integration of the CRCs into the clinical team, increase familiarity with our research team and protocols, and develop support across the division for this research—which often informs improvements to clinical care for our patients. A few of our current studies at ZSFG include: StrokeNet; MOST, ARCADIA; SIREN: BOOST3, and others. Past studies include RAMPART, ESETT, POINT, and DEFUSE3.
Learn more about our research and specific programs.
The team’s clinical research coordinators are experts in acute care setting research, with a wide range of observational and interventional protocols.
The Neuro-Emergency team is comprised of CRCs Kate Peterson and Derby Gill.
The Coma Neuroscience Research Program is managed by Edilberto Amorim, MD, and comprises Siddharth Narula, Kate Peterson, Adeline Hayman, Rajanikant Panda, Xiaojue Zhou, and Ziyuan (Zack) Yin.
The Chow Research Group and Neuroinfectious Diseases Research Program is managed by Felicia Chow, MD. The team comprises CRCs Elana Farrell and Piper Chase.
Administration Staff
The ZSFG administrative team consists of Catharine Freyer, MBA, as Division Administrator, Liz Kong, Office Manager, Carolina Gonzalez, who oversees Administrative Operations, and Locus Yuen, Clinical Revenue Analyst. This team is committed to ensuring that every aspect of our service is seamlessly integrated, thoroughly supported, and aligned with our core values and mission.
- Education and Trainees. The ZSFG administrative team collaborates closely with the Neurology Education Division, faculty, and hospital administration to support residents, fellows, and medical students in their learning and delivery of patient care at ZSFG.
- Facilities. ZSFG Neurology is in the new UCSF Pride Hall building next to ZSFG.
DPH Hospital Partners: Stroke Program
We have many DPH partners in delivering excellence in teaching and patient care at ZSFG Neurology. Sara Cole, NP, manages our Stroke Program. ZSFG is a designated Advanced Primary Stroke Center with Joint Commission certification. This certification signifies that it effectively meets the special needs of stroke patients and is very important to our teaching mission. Maintaining this certification requires a partnership across the entire hospital, tracking of critical metrics, and demonstrating progress against Performance Improvement Projects (PIPs), some of which originate from the San Francisco Health Plan and are crucial to a portion of our Medi-Cal revenue. Sara’s database of clinical and historical data is useful for feasibility studies and other kinds of research.
Sara also organizes the monthly Stroke Simulation, an in-person training simulation of stroke activation, and works to improve the delivery of stroke care in hospital workflows through EPIC order sets and with leadership. The Stroke Program also coordinates a monthly neurovascular peer review meeting for nursing, radiology, and the neurocritical care faculty.