2018 STARS Hall of Fame

Dr. Heidi Wittenberg

Attending Physician, Director Urogynecology Center of San Francisco - Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery Board Certified

El Camino High School

Heidi Wittenberg, M.D. obtained her Bachelors in Genetics at the University of California, Berkeley. Fascinated by the effects of genes, the effects of their alterations, as well as, interactions of chemical and electrical messengers, she pursued a Masters Degree in Applied Physiology from the Chicago Medical School and remained there for her Medical Degree. Her residency was completed at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland.

Growing up as an Air Force brat and in pursuit of her education, she lived and learned in many locations. In 1999, Dr. Wittenberg returned to California, the state she primarily grew up in and loved, where she  continued to pursue urogynecologic advances. In 2000, she developed and directed the Comprehensive Pelvic Medicine and Continence Center for the California Pacific Medical Center. She went on to develop and direct the pelvic medicine center at Pacific Gynecology & Obstetrics Medical Group, then Urogynecology Center of San Francisco. She is one of the few San Francisco experts in NeuroUrology. As a result, she received special dispensation from the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology to perform bladder/bowel neuromodulation on male patients, as well as female. She is one of the most experienced advanced laparoscopic and benign gynecological robotic surgeons in Northern California. The American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopy recognized her as a founding surgeon at The California Pacific Medical Center Minimally Invasive Gynecology Center of Excellence due to her laparoscopic and robotic laparoscopic outcomes.

Since 2008, she has collaborated with Dr. Michael Katz, a maternal fetal medicine specialist, to develop a more successful and minimally invasive approach for cerclage procedures (surgery to prevent pregnancy loss due to cervical incompetence). To date, over 300 pregnancies have had successful outcomes with this procedure.  In 2013, she was in the vanguard of the first board certified specialists in Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery specialists. Due to her unique skill set and further training, she became one of the first females to focus on gender realignment surgery. 2018, Dr Wittenberg founded a gender confirming surgical group called MoZaic Care.

San Francisco has been home to Dr. Wittenberg, her husband and their beloved rescue dogs. Dr. Wittenberg travels on surgical missions to Guatemala and does surgical mission work in San Francisco for the underserved. For this latter work, she received the Congressional Operations Access Unsung Hero Award in 2011. She also donated one of her kidneys to her husband, a surgical mission that can only be done once.