Faculty Profiles

Eric Widera
MED-GERIATRICS
Associate Professor of Clinical

4150 Clement Street
415-221-4810x4614
Eric.Widera@ucsf.edu

OVERVIEW:
Eric Widera is a clinician-educator in the Division of Geriatrics. His main goal is to improve the care provided to elderly patients with severe chronic and/or terminal conditions through program development and educational innovations. Eric accomplishes this through various leadership roles, including Director of the Hospice & Palliative Care Service at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and Program Director for the Geriatrics Fellowship at UCSF. Eric received his medical school training at UCSF and his internal medicine training at Mount Sinai Hospital. He returned to UCSF to complete a fellowship in Geriatric Medicine. He joined the faculty at UCSF in August of 2006. Since then, Eric has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards including a Geriatric Academic Career Award (GACA) and the Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Award. He has also been selected by the Hartford Foundation as a Center of Excellence Faculty Scholar.

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 inpatient palliative care consults in the acute hospital setting and the VA Community Living Center (CLC). The Hospice and Palliative Care Service also provides primary care for a 10-bed hospice unit located within the CLC, as well as serves veterans living in the community through a half-day a week outpatient Palliative and Symptom Management Clinic. Eric's other clinical responsibilities include attending on the internal medicine inpatient ward service at the San Francisco VA and supervising geriatrics fellows in caring for veterans residing in the Community Living Center.

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. He oversees 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. Eric is also the Program Director for the Geriatrics fellowship at UCSF. His other interests include how the use of social media sites, like GeriPal.org, can influence medical education and clinical practice.

Recent Articles (16)

Calton BA, Widera E. Teaching serious illness communication through an innovative workshop. Med Educ. 2013 May; 47(5):533.

Hauer KE, Soni K, Cornett P, Kohlwes J, Hollander H, Ranji SR, Ten Cate O, Widera E, Calton B, O'Sullivan PS. Developing Entrustable Professional Activities as the Basis for Assessment of Competence in an Internal Medicine Residency: A Feasibility Study. J Gen Intern Med. 2013 Apr 18.

Cruz M, Covinsky K, Widera EW, Stijacic-Cenzer I, Lee SJ. Predicting 10-year mortality for older adults. JAMA. 2013 Mar 6; 309(9):874-6.

Widera E. What's to Blame for Falls and Fractures? Poor Sleep or the Sleeping Medication?: Comment on "Nonbenzodiazepine Sleep Medication Use and Hip Fractures in Nursing Home Residents" JAMA Intern Med. 2013 Mar 4; 1-2.

Fischberg D, Bull J, Casarett D, Hanson LC, Klein SM, Rotella J, Smith T, Storey CP, Teno JM, Widera E. Five things physicians and patients should question in hospice and palliative medicine. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2013 Mar; 45(3):595-605.

Widera EW, Block SD. Managing grief and depression at the end of life. Am Fam Physician. 2012 Aug 1; 86(3):259-64.

Yourman LC, Lee SJ, Schonberg MA, Widera EW, Smith AK. Prognostic indices for older adults: a systematic review. JAMA. 2012 Jan 11; 307(2):182-92.

Widera EW, Rosenfeld KE, Fromme EK, Sulmasy DP, Arnold RM. Approaching patients and family members who hope for a miracle. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2011 Jul; 42(1):119-25.

Gonzales MJ, Widera E. Nausea and other nonpain symptoms in long-term care. Clin Geriatr Med. 2011 May; 27(2):213-28.

Widera E, Covinsky KE. Fulfilling our obligation to the caregiver: it's time for action: comment on "Translation of a dementia caregiver support program in a health care system--REACH VA". Arch Intern Med. 2011 Feb 28; 171(4):359-60.

Widera E, Steenpass V, Marson D, Sudore R. Finances in the older patient with cognitive impairment: "He didn't want me to take over". JAMA. 2011 Feb 16; 305(7):698-706.

Smith AK, Cenzer IS, Knight SJ, Puntillo KA, Widera E, Williams BA, Boscardin WJ, Covinsky KE. The epidemiology of pain during the last 2 years of life. Ann Intern Med. 2010 Nov 2; 153(9):563-9.

Widera E, Chang A, Chen HL. Presenteeism: a public health hazard. J Gen Intern Med. 2010 Nov; 25(11):1244-7.

Widera E, Pantilat SZ. Hospitalization as an opportunity to integrate palliative care in heart failure management. Curr Opin Support Palliat Care. 2009 Dec; 3(4):247-51.

Widera, E, Smith, AK. . Geriatrics and Aging. Pain Management in Moderate and Advanced Dementias. 2009; 7(12):353-356.

Widera E, Sulica R. Pulmonary artery sarcoma misdiagnosed as chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. Mt Sinai J Med. 2005 Nov; 72(6):360-4.

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