Honor Dr. Gene Kallsen’s legacy as a trailblazer and leader in emergency medicine
UCSF Fresno founded its Emergency Medicine (EM) Residency Program in 1974, even before it was officially recognized as a medical specialty. Today, our residency program is one of the most sought after in the country, with residents training at one of the busiest hospital emergency rooms in California.
The department’s vision is guided by a single principle: everything we do is centered around what is best for our patients. This vision was shaped by Gene Kallsen, MD, who joined the UCSF Fresno EM Residency Program in 1979, the same year the American Board of Emergency Medicine was approved. Starting on the ground floor of EM, Kallsen became a trailblazer and leader in EM, and is known as the “father” of emergency medical services in Fresno County.
Dr. Kallsen served as chief of UCSF Fresno EM for nearly 23 years. When he retired in 2018, he had dedicated four decades to EM at UCSF Fresno. He served as professor emeritus of emergency medicine with UCSF Fresno until his passing in 2023.
Opportunities for lifelong learning enhance our faculty’s expertise and effectiveness as educators and help build a more meaningful and satisfying career.
Danielle Campagne, MD
UCSF Fresno Interim Chief, Emergency Medicine
Dr. Kallsen’s legacy continues through the Gene W. Kallsen, MD, Endowed Chair in Emergency Medicine. The ongoing, dependable funding provided by the Kallsen Endowment helps us recruit and retain outstanding faculty members, attract the best and brightest students and perform research that may someday lead to a revolutionary treatment in the ER.
Danielle Campagne, MD, UCSF Fresno Interim Chief for Emergency Medicine underscores the importance of the Kallsen Endowment in supporting faculty development. “Faculty development is essential to fulfilling our mission to advance the specialty of emergency medicine,” Campagne says. “Opportunities for lifelong learning enhance our faculty’s expertise and effectiveness as educators and help build a more meaningful and satisfying career.”
Thanks to the support of the Kallsen Endowment, Lily Hitchner, MD, assistant residency director and assistant clinical professor of Emergency Medicine at UCSF Fresno, participated in the UCSF Teaching Scholars Program. The program develops educational leaders and scholars through a seminar series, mentored projects, a network of academic colleagues, and collaborative learning opportunities.
Jessica Fujimoto, MD, assistant program director of the Emergency Medicine Residency Program, co-director of Simulation and director of Emergency Medicine Simulation Education in the UCSF Fresno Department of Emergency Medicine, attended the Advanced Simulation Education course at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Fujimoto completed our Emergency Medicine Education Fellowship in 2020 and is a UCSF Fresno Faculty Development Committee member.
With the ongoing support of donors, we can continue to grow the Kallsen Endowment and build upon Dr. Kallsen’s legacy to advance the specialty of EM through educational innovations, scholarship and state-of-the-art EM care.
Please consider making a gift to the Gene W. Kallsen, MD, Endowed Chair in Emergency Medicine. Your generosity empowers us to continuously improve our knowledge and skills to provide the best training for the next generation of EM physicians, and advance health care in the San Joaquin Valley and beyond.
For information about other ways to give, please contact Kathleen Smith, Assistant Director of Development for UCSF Fresno at 559-499-6426 or [email protected].
Video: Dr. Kallsen’s Retirement Celebration
