1. < Message from the Chair

Our faculty and trainees care for hundreds of patients each day, with passion and commitment for improving the lives of those who entrust their lives to us. I have been told by many of you that, despite being incredibly busy, an important reason why you choose to be a part of our department is a desire to be in an environment where scholarship and discovery are integral to our identity. As a department in a major academic center, our faculty are required to demonstrate creative work to advance their academic careers at UCLA. To facilitate this goal, the UCLA Department of Medicine (DoM) established two online journals under the leadership of Editor in Chief Michael E. Lazarus, MD and Senior Editors Dianne S. Cheung, MD, MPH, Ramya R. Malchira, MD and Tyler Larsen, MD.

Learning does not end after training; it is a lifelong commitment. Our department’s strategic plan recognizes this imperative in our education pillar which details our goal to create a culture of learning that empowers faculty and staff to reach their full potential, while developing leaders who will drive the future of medicine and health sciences. Our physicians, researchers, educators and staff all contribute to an environment where innovation and continued growth are valued. As we work together to care for some of the most complex illnesses, we continue to challenge ourselves to not only apply current medical and scientific knowledge, but to also create new knowledge that will advance our field.

Support for this culture of learning was the rationale for expanding our department’s scholarly publishing opportunities. In November 2024, we launched Proceedings of the UCLA Department of Medicine on Cureus, a platform that allows our faculty to share their clinical expertise and document creativity in support of their professional development. Proceedings of the UCLA Department of Medicine accepts case reports, original research articles, review articles, technical reports and editorials. To offer our faculty an additional venue to publish their creative work, in November 2025 we launched the UCLA Department of Medicine Clinical Insights (DoMCI), a companion to Proceedings of the UCLA Department of Medicine, which is accessible on the UC eScholarship platform. DoMCI is a home for diverse content types that inform and educate, including visual diagnosis pearls, narrative medicine essays, quality improvement (QI) summaries and clinical reasoning cases.

Together, these journals have now published over 250 articles.

As we celebrate the continued growth of Proceedings and DoMCI, we highlight three recent publications that demonstrate the many ways that scholarship contributes to medical education and patient care. From rare diagnoses that challenge us to think beyond the ordinary, to personal reflections that deepen our understanding of the patient experience, these articles capture the expertise, curiosity and commitment to lifelong learning that define the UCLA Department of Medicine.

Recognizing Plastic Bronchitis: Lessons from a Rare Pulmonary Diagnosis

In Plastic Bronchitis: A Case Presentation and Review, Samuel P. Haslam, MD, from the UCLA Pulmonary Division, shares a rare lung condition called Plastic Bronchitis, that includes the formation of bronchial casts that can obstruct the airway, and in severe cases, be life-threatening if not recognized promptly. Despite practicing as a pulmonologist, Dr. Haslam shared that he had never seen such striking bronchial casts firsthand and was compelled to learn more about this uncommon condition and share those lessons with our peers through DoM Clinical Insights.

When a patient presents with bronchial casts, Dr. Haslam encourages clinicians to evaluate for underlying conditions such as asthma, bronchiectasis, infection, recent cardiopulmonary surgery or malignancy that may contribute to cast formation. For Dr. Haslam, this case underscored the importance of remaining curious and maintaining awareness of uncommon diagnoses.

Beyond the clinical lessons, Dr. Haslam shares, “presenting case reports helps to educate and prepare clinicians for rare or challenging diagnoses, broaden clinician knowledge base and provide recommendations for challenging or rare situations, which may not yet have an evidence-based approach. It can also stimulate ideas for future treatment options.”

Read the case report and view the striking images on DoM Clinical Insights.

When the Physician Becomes the Patient

Throughout his career, Internist Jeffrey S. Goldsmith, MD, has listened to patients describe experiences such as syncope (fainting) and presyncope (the feeling that one is about to faint) from the perspective of the bedside clinician. However, it was not until he experienced a serious cardiac event that he found himself asking the questions his patients frequently ask him. In his narrative medicine essay, Threshold Syncopal State: Preserved Awareness at the Edge of Circulatory Failure, Dr. Goldsmith reflects on the cardiac event where he experienced complete heart block and transient ventricular asystole but was still able to process the moments between full awareness and loss of consciousness. As he later evaluated the experience, he realized that what he remembered was not simply a loss of consciousness, but a series of distinct transitions in awareness that he had never encountered in medical literature. Blending personal reflection with clinical reasoning, Dr. Goldsmith’s essay explores the space between what clinicians can measure and what patients experience.

He elaborates that "narrative medicine reminds us that numbers tell us what happened, while stories often explain what it felt like to the person living through it. Personal narratives cannot replace evidence, but they can generate hypotheses, deepen empathy and draw attention to phenomena worthy of further investigation."

Dr. Goldsmith hopes the essay encourages clinicians to remain open to the possibility that patients may experience nuances that fall between the categories and definitions medicine currently employs. For anyone considering submitting narrative medicine publication to the DoM Clinical Insights, Dr. Goldsmith offers this advice:

“Write while the memory is still vivid. Do not worry initially about whether the experience seems important enough. If it changed the way you think about medicine or patient care, it is likely to resonate with others.

At the same time, approach personal experience with humility. Distinguish observation from conclusion, acknowledge uncertainty and let the story raise questions rather than claim definitive answers. Some of the most enduring contributions to medicine have begun with a careful description of a single patient's experience. Faculty members possess both the clinical knowledge and the reflective perspective to transform those experiences into meaningful scholarship.”

Read Threshold Syncopal State: Preserved Awareness at the Edge of Circulatory Failure.

A First Encounter with a Classic Diagnosis

For many physicians in adult internal medicine, chickenpox is a disease learned in textbooks rather than encountered in their clinical practice. That was the experience of Burbank based primary care physician Jarod DuVall, MD when he met a 34-year-old patient with a severe, diffuse rash that was diagnosed as adult varicella. Although he had studied chickenpox throughout his training, and experienced it himself as a child, he had never seen a clinical case.

“Something that would have been obvious to physicians decades ago was not for me. This case highlights that although uncommon now, we will continue to see chickenpox and other vaccine preventable diseases, and clinicians must be familiar with them. I hope that sharing this case helps clinicians quickly recognize and manage chickenpox,” states Dr. DuVall.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, varicella hospitalizations declined by 94% in patients younger than 50 after introduction of the vaccine program in 1995. While this is great news, it also means that clinicians may be less familiar and less prepared to recognize varicella or other vaccine preventable diseases that include the measles which, unfortunately is reaching a 35 year high in cases this year.

In Worse With Age: A Case of Adult Chickenpox with Severe Rash, Dr. Jarod DuVall, Victor Lei, DO, and Loc M. Duong, MD use this case report to highlight the importance of preventive care and diagnostic awareness. The publication not only reviews the presentation and potential complications from adult varicella but also emphasizes the importance of confirming vaccine histories and immunity status, particularly for patients who are immunocompromised or preparing to start immunosuppressive therapies. In some instances, our patients may not have access to their vaccine history and Dr. DuVall recommends checking for antibody status for diseases like varicella and MMR, and encouraging vaccination if patients are not immune.

For Drs. DuVall, Lei and Duong, this case demonstrates why visual diagnosis reports remain such a valuable educational tool. “DoM Clinical Insights and the visual vignette category is a perfect journal for cases like this where the emphasis is on physical exam findings. As an online journal, clinicians can reference it easily and quickly, whether to review a case and confirm a diagnosis or to provide teaching during rounds,” states Dr. DuVall.

The articles highlighted here demonstrate that scholarship can take many forms. Whether documenting a rare diagnosis, sharing a meaningful patient experience, improving the quality and safety of care, or exploring the clinical reasoning behind a challenging case, each publication contributes to our collective knowledge and strengthens our culture of learning.

Read Worse With Age: A Case of Adult Chickenpox with Severe Rash.

These three examples (of many) are inspiring and illustrate the power of these platforms in disseminating our experiences as physicians, in ways that will not only increase our knowledge, and improve our care, but also may lead to earlier and more precise diagnoses and improved outcomes.

I encourage you to explore the growing collection of articles published in UCLA Department of Medicine Clinical Insights (DoMCI) and Proceedings of UCLA Health and consider sharing your own work. DoMCI accepts submissions year-round and publishes quarterly issues featuring a variety of article types, including visual diagnosis pearls, narrative medicine essays, quality and patient safety project summaries, and clinical reasoning cases. Proceedings is suited for traditional case reports and includes a blinded peer review process.

To learn more about submission categories, author guidelines, editorial policies and the review process, visit UCLA Department of Medicine Clinical Insights on the UC eScholarship platform and Proceedings of UCLA Health on the Cureus platform.

Welcome to Our New DoM Research Faculty

In the same spirit of lifelong learning and discovery, we understand, value and embrace faculty members who choose to devote the majority of their effort to scientific discovery. The DoM is committed to ensuring that our faculty are supported throughout their research journey. To help new research faculty navigate the many resources available in our department and UCLA, we recently hosted our second New Research Faculty Welcome Session. The event provided an opportunity for new faculty to connect with colleagues and learn about the services and support available to advance their research and careers. We look forward to partnering with our newest faculty members and their teams as they being their journey in the DoM and to supporting their continued success.

Thank you DoM faculty and staff who made the new researcher welcome session a great success!

We also look forward to meeting with the broader research community in the upcoming Research Faculty - Community Meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, August 18, 2026 at 5 pm. RSVP by August 17 to attend.

Dale

P.S.

In case you were wondering why I posted about the historical church in Scotland, where the DaVinci code was filmed, it is because I was briefly in Scotland last June to be inducted into the Royal College of Physicians, where I was recently elected as a Fellow.

Here are some additional pictures from the ceremony.

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