Jeffrey Merz-Herrala, MD
Assistant Professor
Anesthesia
School of Medicine
Dr. Merz-Herrala is a physician in the Departments of Anesthesiology and Emergency Medicine. He provides care on UCSF’s acute pain service, in the pain clinic, and in the emergency department at San Francisco General Hospital, as well as at Bayfront Urgent Care.
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He values continuity and collaboration to deliver accurate diagnoses, timely treatment, and coordinated multidisciplinary follow-up. His work integrates rehabilitation, pain pharmacy, pain psychology, and surgical teams when appropriate. He performs nerve blocks, radiofrequency ablations, epidurals, blood patches, neurolysis, and neuromodulation procedures, including placement of peripheral nerve stimulators.
Academically, he focuses on improving care quality and efficiency through system design, informatics, and the safe use of artificial intelligence. His goal is to extend evidence-based treatments to patients who would benefit most while reducing preventable suffering by supporting smooth care transitions across primary care, urgent care, the emergency department, and inpatient settings.
Awards
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- Chief Administrative Fellow, UCSF Pain Medicine Fellowship, 2024-2025
- Kay Simmons Award for Clinical Strength and Overall Contributions to the Residency, Highland Department of Emergency Medicine, 2024
- Grisham Award for Excellence in Pediatric Emergency Medicine, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital - Oakland, 2024
- Chief Resident for Education, Highland Department of Emergency Medicine, 2023-2024
- Rita Sweeney Ultrasound Resident of the Year Award, Highland Department of Emergency Medicine, 2023
- Backbone Award, UCSF Department of Emergency Medicine, 2023
- Division Winner, Clinical Pathologic Case Competition, Council of Residency Directors, 2022
- National Outstanding Medical Student Award, ACEP & EMRA, 2020
- Top Graduate in “Order of Merit" performance: academics, military, athletics, United States Air Force Academy, 2016
Education & Training
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- Fellowship Pain Medicine University of California, San Francisco 2025
- Residency Emergency Medicine Highland Hospital 2024
- M.D. Medicine Harvard Medical School 2020
- B.S. Biology and Mandarin Chinese United States Air Force Academy 2016
Interests
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- Blood patch
- CSF Leak
- Nerve blocks
- Pain Medicine
- Transitional Pain Service
- Informatics
- Emergency Medicine
- Ultrasound
- Quality Improvement
- Substance Use Disorder
- Regional Anesthesia
- Artificial Intelligence
- Anesthesia
- Opioid Dependence
Publications (9)
Top publication keywords:
Pulmonary EmbolismHospitalizationNerve BlockInternational Classification of DiseasesPainMedicareAmbulancesCardiopulmonary ResuscitationHealth Care SurveysUltrasonography, InterventionalUnited StatesReproducibility of ResultsPoint-of-Care SystemsPulmonary Disease, Chronic ObstructiveEmergency Service, Hospital
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Safety and Pain Reduction in Emergency Practitioner Ultrasound-Guided Nerve Blocks: A One-Year Retrospective Study.
Annals of emergency medicine 2023 Merz-Herrala J, Leu N, Anderson E, Lambeck A, Jefferson J, Sobrero M, Mantuani D, Mudda G, Nagdev A -
The Efficacy of Ultrasound-Guided Transgluteal Sciatic Nerve Blocks for Sciatic Radiculopathy Pain in the Emergency Department: A Multicenter Prospective Study.
Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open 2025 Goldsmith AJ, Merz-Herrala J, Gullikson J, Selame LA, Cash RE, Martin D, Schwimmer H, Shokoohi H, Duggan NM, Nagdev A -
Acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in United States emergency departments, 2010-2018.
BMC pulmonary medicine 2023 Liew CQ, Hsu SH, Ko CH, Chou EH, Herrala J, Lu TC, Wang CH, Huang CH, Tsai CL -
Pulmonary embolism in United States emergency departments, 2010-2018.
Scientific reports 2023 Hsu SH, Ko CH, Chou EH, Herrala J, Lu TC, Wang CH, Chang WT, Huang CH, Tsai CL -
High-risk Return Visits to United States Emergency Departments, 2010-2018.
The western journal of emergency medicine 2022 Ling DA, Sung CW, Fang CC, Ko CH, Chou EH, Herrala J, Lu TC, Huang CH, Tsai CL
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Annals of Emergency Medicine
Extending Harm Reduction’s Reach: Out-of-Hospital Treatment of Opioid Withdrawal via Emergency Medical Service Administered Buprenorphine 2022 J. Herrala, V. Lara, G. Hern, T. Benesch, O. Viramontes, C. Lamneck, A. Addepalli, S. Kidane, O.T. Tzvieli, A. Herring -
The State of Point-of-Care Teleultrasound Use for Educational Purposes: A Scoping Review.
Journal of ultrasound in medicine : official journal of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine 2021 Lipsitz M, Levin L, Sharma V, Herrala J, Rimawi A, Bernier D, Kimberly H, Thomson A, Soucy Z, Henwood P -
The Ultimate Medical School Rotation Guide.
Chapter: Interpersonal Skills
The Ultimate Medical School Rotation Guide. Chapter: Interpersonal Skills 2021 Stewart H. Lecker, Bliss J. Chang, Jeffrey R. Herrala -
A novel measure for characterizing ultrasound device use and wear.
Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open 2020 Shokoohi H, Goldsmith A, Negishi K, Herrala JR, Diamond E, Kharasch S, Blaivas M, Liteplo AS