Laura Esserman, MD
Surgical Oncology · San Francisco, CANPI 1679537971
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by food and beverage: $255 of the $421 with a category attached, or 60.5%. 5 manufacturers reported payments, led by GSK at 45.4% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $307 and has fallen 77.8% since, to $68 in 2025. That places this record below the midpoint for surgical oncology clinicians in CA, where the typical reported total is $1,777.
Across 6 payments — averaging $70.11 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- GSK$191
- Endomagnetics Ltd$116
- Genentech USA, Inc.$68
- Seagen Inc.$26
- Regeneron$20
Across 213 payments — averaging $286,049 each. Payments tied to a research study. These frequently flow through the physician to a hospital or research institution rather than to the physician personally.
- GSK$24.1M
- AstraZeneca$15.5M
- Astrazeneca UK Limited$11.6M
- Dynavax Technologies Corporation$5.5M
- Stemline Therapeutics Inc.$2.1M
- Modernatx, Inc.$1.1M
- plus $997K from 5 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$16639%
- Food & beverage$25561%
Most of this is food and beverage — typically meals provided during product presentations at a clinic or hospital. Nationally that is the single largest category of reported payments by count.
General payments by program year
Who reported the general payments
Companies are grouped under their corporate parent — a single manufacturer often files under several CMS reporting entities. Research and ownership payments are counted separately and are not in this table.
| Company | Payments | Total |
|---|---|---|
| GSK | 2 | $191 |
| Endomagnetics Ltd | 1 | $116 |
| Genentech USA, Inc. | 1 | $68 |
| Seagen Inc. | 1 | $26 |
| Regeneron | 1 | $20 |
What the payments were tied to
Products named in the reported payments. Only payments of $100 or more are attributed here — the typical reported payment nationally is a meal worth about $16, and listing those product-by-product would be noise.
- Magseed$116
How this compares
$421 in reported general payments places this provider in the 25th percentile of 209 surgical oncology providers in California.
Medicare billing
What this is not: this is the amount Original Medicare Part B allowed for services this provider billed in 2024. It is not their income. It excludes Medicare Advantage — now more than half of all Medicare enrollment — along with Medicaid and all commercial insurance, and it is gross practice revenue before staff, rent, supplies and malpractice premiums. CMS also suppresses any figure covering ten or fewer patients, so low-volume providers appear smaller than they are.
Most prescribed under Part D
| Drug | Claims | Cost to plans & patients |
|---|---|---|
| Exemestane | 11 | $3,103 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other surgical oncology in San Francisco
- Kimberly KirkwoodSan Francisco$18K
- Afshin BahadorSan Diego$701K
- Amir FathiFresno$255K
- Alexander ChristSanta Monica$239K
- Yanghee WooDuarte$131K
- Michael BouvetSan Diego$118K
- Yuman FongDuarte$87K
- Ronald HurstLos Angeles$76K
- Jason Sicklickla Jolla$69K
- Mohammed Al-TemimiSan Jose$39K
Where these figures come from
- Payments: CMS Open Payments, program years 2019–2025 (publication P06302026_06032026).
- Billing: Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners, data year 2024. Original Medicare Part B only.
- Identity: NPPES NPI Registry, July 2026.