Biography
Dr. Alexis Colley is a General Surgery resident at UCSF. Dr. Colley was raised in Santa Cruz, California and attended Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA, for her undergraduate studies in Biology and Spanish. In medical school in the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program (JMP), she earned a Master of Science from UC Berkeley in Health & Medical Sciences with a focus on patient-physician communication and ethics. Her research in medical school was focused on patient engagement with decision making about chemotherapy.
Dr. Colley is currently a clinical fellow in Palliative Medicine at UCSF. She completed a 2-year NIH T32 research fellowship in Surgical Oncology. Her research is focused on the use of Advance Care Planning (ACP) for surgical patients, surgeon-patient communication, and expanding the role of palliative care education for surgical trainees. Dr. Colley is mentored by surgeons Drs. Elizabeth Wick and Emily Finlayson, as well as geriatrician and palliative care physician Dr. Rebecca Sudore. Dr. Colley will return to surgical training in June 2024 and plans to pursue additional fellowship training in Colorectal Surgery after finishing residency.
Dr. Colley has also collaborated with members of the Department of Surgery, including Drs. Lan Vu, Lucy Kornblith, and Mika Varma, to improve support for surgical trainees who are starting a family.