Dr. Tina Desai received her BA and MD (1991) from the Brown University Medical Education Program in Providence, Rhode Island. She then completed a surgical residency in General Surgery at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics, including a 2-yr research fellowship studying mesenteric ischemia. She completed her Vascular Surgery Fellowship training at the University of Chicago Hospitals (1999). Upon completion of her fellowship, Dr. Desai stayed on to serve on the surgical faculty at the University of Chicago as Assistant Professor of Surgery and Director of Endovascular Services until 2010. She has additionally completed a year-long fellowship in medical ethics at the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago (2008) and subsequently served on the faculty at the MacLean Center.

After joining joining a busy clinical practice at NorthShore University HealthSystem in the Division of Vascular Surgery in 2010, she served as Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Chicago. She started a vascular fellow rotation at Northshore (in conjunction with the University of Chicago vascular fellowship) and was site director for the fellowship during her tenure there. She also represented the Department of Surgery on the system-wide Ethics Committee and developed a structured clinical documentation system for vascular surgery in the Epic EMR. From July 2015- November 2019, Dr. Desai served on the faculty of Stanford University Division of Vascular Surgery and during that time, began the first vascular surgery resident rotation at Marin General Hospital. Since Dec 2019, she was employed by UCSF Health and maintains a primary practice at Marin Health Medical Center. She joined UCSF Department of Surgery as a faculty member on October 1, 2021.

Dr Desai has a special interest in endovascular and surgical treatment of abdominal aortic pathology, carotid artery occlusive disease, peripheral vascular disease, and dialysis access. She also has an interest in visceral ischemic syndromes. Dr. Desai’s academic interests include medical ethics, mesenteric ischemia, vena cava filters in deep vein thrombosis, and the development of structured clinical documentation systems. She maintains an interest in resident and fellow education and in developing this for UCSF vascular trainees at Marin Health Medical Center. In her free time, she is an oenophile, plays competitive tennis, and enjoys travel.