H. John Blossom, MD, associate dean of the UCSF-Fresno Medical Education Program since 1992, has announced his resignation effective July 2.

Blossom will remain with the Fresno program as professor of clinical family and community medicine and will lead new primary care and community-oriented programs that are being established.

Chancellor Haile Debas, who is also dean of the UCSF School of Medicine, praised Blossom for his accomplishments and said his expertise in family and community medicine will be invaluable to the program and of service to all residents of the Central San Joaquin Valley.

"Dr. Blossom is a visionary and I am confident he will keep the University on the cutting edge in the extremely important area of training our physicians to provide the best quality primary care that is available anywhere," Debas said.

In his new role, Blossom plans to explore the possibility of establishing a primary care/psychiatry residency program and developing new educational activities in preventive medicine and epidemiology.

Blossom said he is proud of the accomplishments he has made in streamlining the program's academic structure and the new resources that have been committed to UCSF-Fresno in 1998.

Blossom's UCSF career is in its third decade, beginning in 1970 when he earned his medical degree at UCSF. He served his residency in family practice at the then-Valley Medical Center, now the University Medical Center, and in 1973 was named chief resident of the family practice department.

From 1974 to 1976 Blossom served as medical director of the Firebaugh-Mendota Health Center. He then was appointed family practice residency program director at Valley Medical Center, a post he held until being named to his current position as associate dean.

In the UCSF-Fresno program, Blossom founded the Selma and Sequoia resident training sites and co-founded the Alzheimer's Disease Center and the Latino Center for Medical Education and Research.

By Joe Rosato

1st appeared 1/09/98

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