Molecular Biology Lab Graduates
Director: Ralph Marcucio, PhD, Assistant Professor

Erik Hansen - Medical Student
Erik Hansen grew up in San Francisco, California. Erik's senior year at Stanford University culminated in a thesis entitled, "The Interface Between Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Practitioners and Modern Medical Research." In addition, he worked at the National Institute of Health (NIH)-sponsored Complementary and Alternative Medicine Program at Stanford (CAMPS) where he did research on both physician attitudes towards Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), and the current state of insurance coverage for these modalities. Erik co-authored a paper with Dr. William Haskell and Dr. Kenneth Pelletier, entitled, "A Review of the Incorporation of Complementary and Alternative Medicine by Mainstream Physicians" published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in 1998. Erik received a Bachelor's degree in Human Biology with Honors in 1998. Following graduation, Mr. Hansen traveled to Mainland China for a year to study acupuncture and further his interest in the field of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). As a volunteer translator at_CMQ_Hospital in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Erik developed fluency in his medical Spanish.

In 2000, Erik matriculated into the University of California at San Francisco Medical School. During his fourth year clerkships, he collaborated with Michael Ries, MD on a study entitled, "Revision Total Hip Arthroplasty for Large Medial (Protrusio) Defects with Rim-Fit Cementless Acetabular Component" which was accepted by The Journal of Arthroplasty. Erik and Kevin Bozic, MD produced two additional research projects related to the field of arthroplasty including the first prospective, randomized study comparing the effectiveness of two minimally-invasive surgical approaches for total hip arthroplasty. An additional paper, which analyzes minimally invasive orthopaedic surgery internet sites for the quality of their subject matter, will be presented at the annual American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) meeting later this year. Mr. Hansen was selected to participate in a UCSF/ Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba (MEDICC) to study the country's unique health care delivery system.

In 2004, following successful completion of his clinical rotations, Erik was awarded UCSF quarterly research grant to study angiogenesis and skeletal repair using a murine model of stable and unstable fractures in the UCSF/SFGH Orthopaedic Surgery Research Laboratories with Theodore Miclau, MD and Ralph Marcucio, PhD. During his year in the laboratory, Erik has initiated and coordinated the weekly journal club. Mr. Hansen will receive his Medical Degree in June 2005.