Going the Distance: UCSF Dermatologist Wins SF Marathon

Garrett Patrick, MD, PhD, has run every street in San Francisco. His daily 10- to 15- mile runs have taken him through every corner of the city and past every UCSF campus—and this July helped propel him to victory in the 2026 San Francisco Marathon, which he won on his first attempt in 2:26:26.

A runner since high school, Dr. Patrick has also run every street in St. Louis, Missouri, where he attended college; Baltimore, Maryland, where he attended Johns Hopkins for medical school, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he completed his internship before Dermatology Residency.

A Love of Exploration: The Common Thread

Dr. Patrick is currently in his final year of a research fellowship in the UCSF Department of Dermatology, while also seeing patients as an attending physician.

For Dr. Patrick, running, research and patient care share a common appeal: the opportunity to explore, learn, and solve problems.

“Running is a great way to learn,” he says. “There is an aspect of exploration in it that’s also present in research and treating patients.”

Dr. Patrick’s research focuses on the skin microbiome and how the bacteria and viruses that live on the skin affect human health and the immune system.  “I have some of my best ideas when I’m running,” he says. “I often spend that time thinking of my next question and planning the next step in my research.”

Dermatology is underrepresented in the research world. “There’s a ‘leaky pipeline’ in our specialty,” Dr. Patrick explains. “Being a clinical dermatologist and seeing patients is a great job. So, while there is extensive research on how bacteria and viruses affect systems like the gut, there are fewer people looking at the skin.”

Covering a Lot of Ground and Making Real Connections

Much of his research is done in collaboration with his mentor Tiffany Scharschmidt, MD and Ami Bhatt, MD, PhD their partner at Stanford University.

“The cross-campus collaboration for this research tract and the overall strength of the dermatology faculty and program here really made UCSF my top choice,” recalls Dr. Patrick. “I had never applied anywhere in California before—or even anywhere in the Western U.S.”

Dr. Patrick and his wife, who also works at UCSF, have made the Bay Area home and are raising their 4-year-old son here. The couple fell in love with San Francisco during a road trip up the West Coast during the COVID pandemic.

“We had never thought seriously about coming out here, mostly because of the daunting expense,” he remembers, “but my department does a great job of making UCSF a viable and appealing option.”

His clinical work takes him to UCSF sites across San Francisco, while his research brings him down the Peninsula. Now, Dr. Patrick has set an even more ambitious running goal: covering the entire perimeter of the San Francisco Bay.

Engaging with Our Community

Having run on the streets in every Bay Area neighborhood gives Dr. Patrick a broad perspective and a tangible point of connection.

“What I’ve experienced as a runner definitely informs how I talk to patients,” he says. “It helps me relate to people because I can picture where they live; I know what it looks like in Nob Hill and Bayview and Hayward and Walnut Creek.”

Growing Personally and Professionally

Dr. Patrick also ran the Boston Marathon this past spring. He estimates he was running between

75 to 100 miles per week in training, listening to science and medicine podcasts and planning his research. He has completed about a dozen other marathons and won half-marathons, 5Ks, and 10Ks, but this year’s San Francisco Marathon marked his first victory at the marathon distance.

“I’ve always been a good runner, but I’m becoming a better racer,” he reflects. “I noticed myself being content to let others get ahead at the beginning of the course, whereas, in my 20s I would have immediately set out to beat them then and there.”

He credits that growing patience and confidence to more than 15 years of training – not only as a runner, but also a scientist and physician.

“I stuck with my strategy and let others get ahead and take the headwind,” he says. “I still felt good at mile 19, when I was able to pass them in Golden Gate Park and around Parnassus. When I saw my wife and son cheering me on at mile 24, I knew I had it. It couldn’t have gone more perfectly to plan.”

As he finishes his research fellowship, Dr. Patrick plans to continue building his career at UCSF as a physician-scientist and faculty member.

“We feel supported and connected,” he says. “We really feel like we belong here now.”