John Devine, MD, a much beloved and highly esteemed clinician-educator who spent more than two decades with the UC San Francisco Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and San Francisco VA Medical Center (SVFAMC), passed away suddenly on Oct. 7, 2024.
John Devine, MD
Devine received his medical degree in 1988 from the Robert Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont. Following a residency in psychiatry at UCSF, he joined the university as a faculty member and SFVAMC as a staff psychiatrist in 1993, where he served as an integral part of the psychiatry service's identity and education efforts until his retirement in 2015.
As an educator, Devine taught fundamental psychotherapy skills to residents as part of their outpatient rotation at SFVAMC. He was renowned for his engaging and entertaining teaching style, and quickly became a favorite among the residents and his fellow colleagues. He also served as the Residency Training Program's associate site director for SFVAMC from 1997 to 2002.
Devine was also among the first psychiatrists at SFVAMC to dive deeply into the care of veterans with HIV and AIDS. He led the SFVAMC HIV Psychiatry program from 1993 to 1999.
"John's compassion for, and interest in, those around him were remarkable," said longtime colleague Rob Daroff, MD. "He was a model physician and teacher who made an indelible mark on his hundreds of former patients, trainees, and colleagues."
A celebration of life is being planned for friends and colleagues in the near future. Please contact Rob Daroff for additional information at [email protected].
About UCSF Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
The UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute are among the nation's foremost resources in the fields of child, adolescent, adult, and geriatric mental health. Together they constitute one of the largest departments in the UCSF School of Medicine and the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, with a focus on providing unparalleled patient care, conducting impactful research, training the next generation of behavioral health leaders, and advancing diversity, health equity, and community across the field.
UCSF Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences conducts its clinical, educational, and research efforts at a variety of locations in Northern California, including the UCSF Nancy Friend Pritzker Psychiatry Building; UCSF Langley Porter Psychiatric Hospital; UCSF Health medical centers and community hospitals across San Francisco; UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals in San Francisco and Oakland; Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center; the San Francisco VA Health Care System; UCSF Fresno; and numerous community-based sites around the San Francisco Bay Area.
About the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences
The UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, established by the extraordinary generosity of Joan and Sanford I. "Sandy" Weill, brings together world-class researchers with top-ranked physicians to solve some of the most complex challenges in the human brain.
The UCSF Weill Institute leverages UCSF’s unrivaled bench-to-bedside excellence in the neurosciences. It unites three UCSF departments—Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Neurology, and Neurological Surgery—that are highly esteemed for both patient care and research, as well as the Neuroscience Graduate Program, a cross-disciplinary alliance of nearly 100 UCSF faculty members from 15 basic-science departments, as well as the UCSF Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, a multidisciplinary research center focused on finding effective treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and other neurodegenerative disorders.
About UCSF
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is exclusively focused on the health sciences and is dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. UCSF Health, which serves as UCSF’s primary academic medical center, includes top-ranked specialty hospitals and other clinical programs, and has affiliations throughout the Bay Area.
