Patrika Tsai, MD
Professor
Pediatrics
School of Medicine

She is director of the pediatric celiac disease clinic and pediatric obesity clinic at UCSF known as the WATCH clinic (Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health).

A native of Chattanooga, TN, she completed her undergraduate studies at Harvard University. After receiving her medical degree from the University of Tennessee, she completed a pediatrics internship and residency at Emory University in Atlanta. Through a fellowship at Harvard, Dr. Tsai received training in pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition at Children’s Hospital Boston and Massachusetts General Hospital. She earned her Master’s degree in Public Health from Harvard University. Her interests include general pediatric gastroenterology, celiac disease, aerodigestive disorders and childhood obesity. With one in three children and adolescents affected by overweight or obesity, she believes this is one of the most important health challenges facing our nation's youth.

• Targeted hepatic sonography during clinic visits for detection of fatty liver in overweight children: a pilot study.
  Journal of ultrasound in medicine : official journal of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine 2013 Perito ER, Tsai PM, Hawley S, Lustig RH, Feldstein VA
• Childhood obesity for pediatric gastroenterologists.
  Journal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition 2013 Huang JS, Barlow SE, Quiros-Tejeira RE, Scheimann A, Skelton J, Suskind D, Tsai P, Uko V, Warolin JP, Xanthakos SA, NASPGHAN Obesity Task Force
• Encyclopedia of Human Nutrition, Eds. Caballero B, Allen L, and Prentice A
  Malabsorption Syndromes 2013 Tsai PM and Duggan C
• Nutrition Toolkit Series: How to Incorporate Pediatric Adolescent Obesity Management into Clinical Practice
  Nutrition Toolkit Series: How to Incorporate Pediatric Adolescent Obesity Management into Clinical Practice. 2012 Huang J, Tsai P
• Targeted MRI contrast agents for pediatric hepatobiliary disease.
  Journal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition 2012 Courtier JL, Perito ER, Rhee S, Tsai P, Heyman MB, MacKenzie JD
• Relative growth hormone deficiency and cortisol excess are associated with increased cardiovascular risk markers in obese adolescent girls.
  The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism 2009 Russell M, Bredella M, Tsai P, Mendes N, Miller KK, Klibanski A, Misra M
• Increased carbohydrate induced ghrelin secretion in obese vs. normal-weight adolescent girls.
  Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) 2009 Misra M, Tsai PM, Mendes N, Miller KK, Klibanski A
• Lower growth hormone and higher cortisol are associated with greater visceral adiposity, intramyocellular lipids, and insulin resistance in overweight girls.
  American journal of physiology. Endocrinology and metabolism 2008 Misra M, Bredella MA, Tsai P, Mendes N, Miller KK, Klibanski A
• Uncoupling of cardiovascular risk markers in adolescent girls with anorexia nervosa.
  The Journal of pediatrics 2006 Misra M, Miller KK, Tsai P, Stewart V, End A, Freed N, Herzog DB, Goldstein M, Riggs S, Klibanski A
• Nutrient intake in community-dwelling adolescent girls with anorexia nervosa and in healthy adolescents.
  The American journal of clinical nutrition 2006 Misra M, Tsai P, Anderson EJ, Hubbard JL, Gallagher K, Soyka LA, Miller KK, Herzog DB, Klibanski A
• Role of cortisol in menstrual recovery in adolescent girls with anorexia nervosa.
  Pediatric research 2006 Misra M, Prabhakaran R, Miller KK, Tsai P, Lin A, Lee N, Herzog DB, Klibanski A
• Elevated peptide YY levels in adolescent girls with anorexia nervosa.
  The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism 2005 Misra M, Miller KK, Tsai P, Gallagher K, Lin A, Lee N, Herzog DB, Klibanski A
• Encyclopedia of Human Nutrition, Eds. Caballero B, Allen L, and Prentice A
  Malabsorption Syndromes: Nutritional Management 2005 Tsai PM and Duggan C