The SPIRIT of DOM Award

 

Sun Young Jeon joined the division of geriatrics at UCSF as a senior statistician in 2018. Working with principal investigators and fellows, she consults on appropriate statistical approaches, provides support for study design and proposal development, and conducts statistical analyses using nationally representative data sets and electronic health records. Sun was nominated by several of her colleagues in the Division of Geriatrics who shared much about her incredible dedication to furthering our research mission and the UCSF PRIDE Values here in the DOM. Her nominators pointed out several of her SPIRIT Award qualities: “Sun is one of those indispensable people that makes a big organization like UCSF run smoothly. She has been amazingly flexible, stepping into projects when unexpected issues arise that increase the work that needs to get done.” “Sun is in all ways spectacular. I have worked with her now for over a year and she is gracious, giving, professional and seeks to improve herself and others in her work. Bottom line, she makes UCSF better. Sun takes immense pride and responsibility in her work. She is thoughtful, amazingly smart, dependable and seeks to do science right. She has [several] ongoing projects with me and is committed to seeing them through and to their success. Her attitude is always positive, and her patience is immense (particularly with me!)” “As a senior statistician, Sun brings keen insight into new and cutting-edge methodologies to apply to our studies. Our data are complex – longitudinal, interval censoring, missing not at random, competing risks – and she has worked to develop a robust repertoire of statistical approaches to meet the challenges of these complex data. And she does so with a smile, a laugh, and a genuine interest in the well-being of others. She unfailingly asks others how they are doing at the start of each meeting. For some this is pro-forma, but not for Sun. She remembers what we talked about at the last meeting, and asks specific questions that show a genuine interest, care, and concern for others. Sun also brings a richness and insight into her job as an immigrant from Korea.  It may not be widely known, but she wrote a book about her experiences studying and working in the US that was a bit of a sensation in Korea. These experiences and insights add a richness to the diverse experiences and distance traveled by members of our Division.”  

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Alexandra Velasquez joined UCSF-ZSFG in 2011 and has been part of the Division of Nephrology since 2012. She holds a BS in Psychology with a Biology emphasis and a minor in Social and Ethnic Relations from UC Davis, as well as a MS from UCSF in Healthcare Administration and Interprofessional Leadership and is a Certified Clinical Research Professional. Currently, she is a Senior Clinical Research Coordinator in kidney health and serves as a navigator for the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) where she supports researchers in increasing community engagement and integrating special populations. Alexandra was nominated by both peers and leaders from inside and outside of her Division. Delphine Tuot, MD, Chief of Nephrology at ZSFG, shared: “This past year, our research lab pivoted from focusing on our own trial to collaborating with other research groups. Alexandra has made this transition seamless…Her dedication, organization, and attention to detail has been appreciated by all team members. Also, she has done a tremendous job as part of the SFBUILD Clinical Research Coordinator: Learners for Equity (CIRCLE) program. Alexandra is incredibly enthusiastic, knowledgeable, a great teacher, detail oriented and highly reliable, and cares very much for her minority trainees and advocates for them. More recently, she became the UCSF lead for this project and is growing in her confidence in this leadership role, as she interacts with leaders of other departments. She is now a navigator in the CTSI Integrating Special Populations Core, tasked with increasing diversity of research participants at UCSF. In this role, she is staffing the training and workforce development working group and provides consultation on the best way to recruit diverse participants. Alexandra is an intelligent, self-motivated critical thinker, asking pertinent questions to understand all facets of a problem prior to developing potential solutions. To this end, she works exceptionally well with diverse project teams, as well as clinician and administrative leaders. Over the past few years, she has learned how to use new technology to develop and test an educational interactive voice response system, leveraged web-based resources to accurately collect data from research participants and perform quality assurance in internet-poor settings, acquired new skills in qualitative and quantitative research, and has effectively led a research team of assistant clinical research coordinators (ACRC).” As noted by peers, Alexandra also serves on the DOM Staff Experience Champions committee and was key in helping to create the DOM Connectors program, co-coordinated the ZSFG DOM Clothing Drive in 2020/2021, and is active in encouraging engagement with staff at ZSFG, within the Department, and among CRCs.”

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Cindy Curiel is a Clinical Research Coordinator in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care at ZSFG. She is incredibly busy, working on several studies including REACH, COVID-19 RESOURCE, CARE, COMET, and RISE. She is actively involved with the CLEAR Lab’s Youth-led Participatory Action Research (YPAR) program and supports our community partners at the Lifelong William Jenkins Health Center by leading the weekly Veggie Giveaway and other community projects. Outside of work, Cindy is the Chief Development Officer on the executive board of MiMentor, a national nonprofit organization that creates mentorship opportunities for underrepresented pre-health students. Cindy’s colleagues expressed exceptional praise and respect for her dedication and commitment: “Cindy recognized a need for more leadership opportunities for high school students that completed our annual Youth Participatory Action Research Project (YPAR) over the summer. To address this need, she applied for and was awarded funding from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) for a project to collect survey responses from community members about poor air quality in Richmond, CA. Cindy drafted the grant proposal and YPAR students will conduct surveys in Spanish to highlight the voices of mono-lingual, Spanish-speaking patients of Lifelong medical who are often excluded in research and policy.” “As the pandemic has impacted our Latinx community disproportionately, Cindy – as a native Spanish speaker from the Bay Area – became a trusted confidante for many participants which enabled her to distribute accurate information on COVID and link participants to community resources for those experiencing food or financial insecurity. Cindy takes the necessary time to navigate participants through the applications and red tape to ensure they get connected to needed resources, going above and beyond to support this highly vulnerable population.” Thank you, Cindy, for your incredible work to live the UCSF PRIDE Values and bring the mission of the Department of Medicine to life in all that you do! 

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Katherine “Kat” Li has just been named Manager of the Division of Palliative Medicine at UCSF Health. At the time of this award cycle, Kat was the Assistant Division Manager in the Division of Hospital Medicine at UCSF Health where she was a dedicated and inspiring role model for many years, starting as an Administrative Analyst. Kat has been nominated for the SPIRIT of DOM Award numerous times over the years and the esteem of her DHM colleagues has been shared in abundance. According to Annie Droste, Division Manager: “This year, our division hired and onboarded over 40 new faculty due to expanded clinical needs at Mt. Zion and reduced patient census for our residency teams due to work hour restrictions. This large number of new faculty put a large burden on our credentialing analyst, and when Kat and I discussed how we could support this employee, she immediately said she would share the work. This level of professionalism and integrity – to take on additional work that will not advance her own career (she’s already moved beyond this level of employee) – purely to support the division and our other employees is incredible. Of the three staff members she directly supervises, all three have excelled during this time, thanks in large part to Kat. Kat has been able to inspire them through the challenges of their new work and make sure they are not experiencing burnout. Finally, Kat is an active member of our division’s Anti-Racism Taskforce, showing her commitment to teamwork. Through the taskforce, she helped identify divisional priorities to ensure our division embodies anti-racism in clinical care, hiring practices, and education for our faculty and staff. She also led efforts to work with Talent Acquisition to ensure the division is doing everything we can to recruit more diverse staff members and has helped keep our website updated to showcase our diversity work to external candidates.” Congratulations, Kat, on this SPIRT of DOM Award for your inspiring work and being a role model! 

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Sarah Lisker works as an Academic Program Management Officer, managing Dr. Urmimala Sarkar’s research lab  in the Division of General Internal Medicine at ZSFG, where she began with the DOM six years ago. Sarah’s unfailing commitment to the UCSF PRIDE Values, along with her work and engagement in various diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives earned her several nominations during this award cycle. Jennifer Thomas, DGIM Division Manager, shared: “Sarah has volunteered for numerous committees, serving on our division’s FUN committee for several years helping to raise morale; providing important input to the UCSF at ZSFG Research and Academic Building Planning Committee’s Dry Lab and Administration Design Group; and serving on the award selection committee for STAR Achievement Awards at least once. The primary care clinic where our faculty practice is called the Richard Fine People’s Clinic (RFPC), and in the fall of 2020, RFPC leadership created an Anti-Racism and Equity Committee. Although Sarah had relatively little involvement with RFPC on a day-to-day basis, she felt the work of the committee was important and so elected to join. Sarah also is a member of the Leadership Team of UCSF Women In Tech, a member-led group for staff, faculty, trainees, and learners with a primary goal of helping women pursue and continue to develop careers in and around technology. Sarah’s support of her own team, as well as other division members, is notable. Sarah makes a point to reach out to new hires with her own welcome message – not as part of any organized buddy system, but just because she’s a warm person who has recognized the challenges of starting a new job in this largely remote environment, and is making an extra effort on her own to help people feel included.” Sarah was also lauded by colleagues for her efforts to advocate for equitable practices for research participants in dimensions such as transportation and childcare costs associated with their volunteerism in research. Sarah, thank you for your passion and actions that bring connection, diversity, and equity to all that you do in the Department of Medicine!  

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Pat Wirattigowit is the Post Award Manager for the Department of Medicine in Central Administration on the Research Administration and Revenue Management team, making waves of positivity and productivity for all those with whom he interacts in his work. Pat has been nominated several times for a SPIRIT of DOM Award, in large part because of his tireless ability to offer help and support to faculty and staff colleagues alike, with a generosity that is quite inspiring to all. According to Jon Rueter, Director of Research Administration and Revenue Administration: “At least once a month I hear from someone writing to express thanks and gratitude for Pat’s help including PIs, Division Managers, both new and longstanding post-award analysts, which is unparalleled. He has also been our lead in helping support the development of the new BSR tool, Plus Faculty Portfolio, for the last two years. Other departments routinely reach out to Pat to ask if he can demonstrate this BSR tool for them and Pat is always gracious and tries to help. When we first began shelter in place, Pat asked to volunteer to help any RFAs who need backup because they needed to take COVID leave. Finally, Pat has gone above and beyond in his support related to UCPath. As soon as UCPath went live, Pat immediately began exploring and experimenting. Through his self-guided experimentation and analysis, he hit upon a better and simpler way of using the MCOP worksheet. In fact, his guidance and training at our DOM RFA meetings was significantly helpful, and aligned much more closely with the kinds of complex payroll situations our RFAs actually face. Pat also discovered a number of "bugs" or changes stemming from UCPath so we could escalate them to our central campus partners. He has really helped me understand the pain points our RFAs are experiencing so I can advocate for our department users. Pat has shared too many tips and tricks to count, and updated Excel templates each time the DPE report is updated to make certain kinds of analysis for our RFAs easier to manage. And Pat is happy to do it!” Congratulations, Pat, on your award and thank you for your generosity, talent, and vast contributions to easing the way for so many!  

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Crisna Castro has been working for the Department of Medicine-San Francisco VA Health Services since 2016 as a Business Operations Analyst in Central Administration. Crisna’s duties encompass a huge variety of administrative tasks and complex projects, including taking on significant leadership with faculty searches and processes that have been critically linked to the success of VA recruitments. According to Dr. Ken McQuaid, MD, and Vice-Chair of the DOM at the VA, “There is nobody who embodies more SPIRIT than Crisna. The process for conducting academic searches has become much more rigorous over the past several years. Crisna has become the resident ‘content expert’ on academic searches, mastering all the requirements for conducting searches to assure that the high standards of the Dean’s office are met and that the search is truly inclusive and transparent. For each search, she has worked closely with the search chairs and division chiefs to understand the nature of the position to be filled and then patiently provided them education and guidance about the proper way to conduct that search. She participates actively in each phase of the search and interview process, providing expert guidance and examples of ‘best practices’ from her vast experience. She has impressed everyone with her fund of knowledge, responsiveness and follow-through, record keeping, engagement with applicants, and her professional demeanor.” Among many of Crisna’s essential contributions to the department and the VA community, is her service as the Dean’s Diversity Leader for the Health Equity Action Group in the School of Medicine’s Differences Matter Initiative. Known by all as incredibly capable, thoughtful, compassionate, kind, thorough, patient, and inclusive, Crisna was nominated by several department leaders at the VA. In each case, she was noted for her unfailing commitment to professionalism, excellence, and her passion for advancing health equity through diversity and inclusion.

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Michael Chang came to the Department of Medicine over two years ago as the Operations Manager at St. Mary’s for the Division of Hospital Medicine, making critical contributions to expanding and strengthening this vital partnership. According to Michael’s nominations, he frequently goes above and beyond his work requirements to improve the experiences of faculty and patients. Over the past two years, these efforts have included dedicating dozens of hours to data collection through patient interviews and provider observations to support quality improvements and faculty initiatives. According to Dr. Avi Kanal, MD, Associate Professor, “Michael is a star – above and beyond the mountains of daily, administrative tasks, Michael is an active and enthusiastic member of the team who looks for areas to improve and collaborates across the division to make it happen. I work with Michael on several quality improvement efforts in the division, and to be honest, I would not think to create a new task force at St. Mary’s without his participation. He is a great example of the values that UCSF stands for, a tremendous asset to our team.” In addition to his excellence in his assigned work and his “above and beyond” contributions, Michael is also a highly engaged member of the DHM anti-racism task force, where he is always noted to speak his mind and stand firm in his ethical values. Another example of his commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion can be seen in his advocacy for patient interpreters while taking on the task of managing a quality improvement research initiative aimed at improving the transfer of patients from the Emergency Department at Parnassus to St. Mary’s Medical Center. Because of Michael’s efforts, many patients’ experiences could be included in the data analyses because language barriers had been addressed and eliminated. Michael is well-known as the face of the Division of Hospital Medicine and the DOM at St. Mary’s, wherefrom the very beginning, he spent many days walking around the hospital proactively introducing himself to the community, handing out his card, and making authentic and vital connections to further the relationships and impact of the DOM with other important community stakeholders.

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Jennifer Cohen has been working for UCSF since 2005 and for the Department of Medicine since 2007. Jennifer’s current role is as the Project Director for the UCSF-SFVA arm of a very large and complex decades-long, multisite research study led by Dr. Phyllis Tien, MD, SFVA Division on Infectious Diseases. Dr. Tien writes, “Over the past year, Jennifer has hired and trained three new staff members, prioritizing the hiring of a racially and ethnically diverse staff to reflect the diversity of our participants. In addition, because new enrollment into the study will include racially and ethnically diverse veterans with and at risk for HIV, Jennifer enlisted the help of a nurse practitioner (NP) who is a US veteran that identifies as an underrepresented minority to recruit and enroll veterans in our research. She has also supported hiring staff members looking for clinical research experiences as they transition to medical and nursing school. With several new staff members, Jennifer has stepped up efforts to ensure that staff feels supported, respected, appreciated, and recognized for their contributions.” Carol Thuman, NP, described Jennifer as a supervisor that: “wholeheartedly endorsed and supported our various staff development activities, whether they be visiting an urban farm, painting ceramic greenware, hiking Angel Island, or celebrating a coworker’s upcoming nuptials. These events, though technically unrelated to the mission of our HIV research, served to create a supportive and cohesive workplace. During the pandemic, she promoted a collaborative team environment through weekly zoom meetings to discuss not only data collection and protocol issues but also well-being.” Jennifer has also played a leading role beyond UCSF in facilitating the development of the study. She is also a vital member of the Sexual and Gender Minority Taskforce, facilitating a small group of experts to develop accurate and sensitive questions regarding sexual and gender identity. Susan Holman from the SUNY Downstate research site and co-Chair of the Project Directors Working Group described Jennifer as being “a tremendous asset, not only at the UCSF site but for the overall project. On numerous occasions, she has volunteered, on behalf of all 13 study sites, for projects to advance study-wide goals of the research.” Finally, Dr. Tien writes: “Jennifer is by far the most impressive team member with whom I have ever had the opportunity to work, and this [sentiment] is shared by many in the DOM, UCSF, and beyond.”

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Brooksley Bigart works as an Administrative Officer and Executive Analyst in central administration at ZSFG. She has been with the Department of Medicine since 2018 and at UCSF for three years prior to that. Brooks is universally known as the “go-to” person at ZSFG where she is often found behind the scenes making sure everything comes together. She volunteers to participate as a member or leader of a myriad of initiatives and projects to improve work and life for all those around her, including service as a Staff Experience Champion and Gallup Ambassador. At the beginning of the pandemic, Brooks immediately assembled a phenomenal resource list for staff, faculty, and trainees to promote education, wellbeing, and support. And her quick thinking and commitment to caring for the DOM community at ZSFG did not stop there. Jennifer Thomas, Division Manager for DGIM at ZSFG, writes: “Brooks has been a complete superstar during the early months of the COVID-19 response at ZSFG, soliciting and organizing lunches and dinners to be donated to frontline DOM staff multiple times a week.  She coordinated distribution and insured that the donations were shared across both inpatient and outpatient settings and across divisions. Brooks has continued to work on site four days a week, filling in critical needs to facilitate supply deliveries and facilities access, filling in for so many staff who are working remotely. In addition to soliciting meals, she also sourced donations of hand sanitizer in the early months of the pandemic and later, as various groups arranged covid-19 testing events.” In addition, Brooks has personally volunteered at multiple COVID response events in the San Francisco, where she has worked alongside DOM colleagues to bring much needed testing to the community, including events in the Mission District and Bayside. The Bayside event was particularly critical as it focused upon testing for highly vulnerable citizens who are currently unhoused and at much higher risk of illness. No matter what the need, Brooks can usually be found at the heart of the ZSFG response. 

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Douglas Black is a Clinical Research Analyst with the Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine at ZSFG and will be celebrating his 20th year with UCSF in 2021. Doug is described by his many nominators as “compassionate and empathetic, beloved, respectful, extremely reliable, and a wonderful role model for the UCSF Community.” Doug has been the “quartermaster and quiet security” at the very heart of the Division’s efforts to plan, guide, and implement mass community COVID testing. Dr. Diane Havlir, Division Chief, shared: “Doug has led the organization and logistics for the Unidos en Salud (United in Health) mass COVID testing for our community. From the first testing in April when the city was in shutdown, Doug figured out how to get all the supplies, locations, and so many other logistical items.  For the events themselves, Doug is at every meeting, is the person there at 5:30 in the morning for tent set up for testing, at the site all day, and at the headquarters until late hours in the evening. Since the beginning, we have done ““test and respond” to thousands of SF community members and tested about 7500 persons during the Thanksgiving Holiday. Doug’s commitment and dedication are simply incredible. He works extremely well with all of our partners, treating everyone with respect. The ongoing UCSF Unidos en Salud collaboration has been at forefront of the COVID community response in SF. The project has been featured widely in the media including NYT, NPR, PBS, CNN situation room, the Chronicle, Mission Local, and many other outlets. We share this because the impact would not have been possible without Doug. He is the person behind the scenes, essential to the project, never in the limelight. He is a genuine representative of UCSF PRIDE in all its forms.”  

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Michelle Cai is a Quality Improvement Specialist in the Division of Hospital Medicine (DHM) at UCSF Health and began her work with us in 2017. Many of Michelle’s faculty and staff colleagues recognized her for extraordinary COVID support efforts behind the scenes, taking on all of the extra efforts while maintaining her typical assignments. Her nominations highlight her outstanding contributions: “Michelle was specifically instrumental in rapidly shifting to support the efforts of a newly spawned Respiratory Isolation Unit at Parnassus Heights and helped us optimize RN and provider bedside exposure to COVID patients, helping us develop guidelines to balance care delivery and COVID exposure. She has also taken the lead role in the Portrait Project, in which providers stick a picture of their faces on their PPE to help patients recognize and connect with them. This popular project has now grown and includes all providers, not just within DHM, but in other departments and divisions as well. Michelle also has been the dedicated note taker for all the UCSF COVID Town Halls to ensure division leadership gets the information when they cannot attend. The meticulous notes include graphs, charts, and links to help with data visualizations and are truly outstanding, detailed, and well organized. She worked after hours to ensure the notes were sent out in a timely matter. Division service directors noted that they were incredibly helpful with keeping them in the loop with all that was happening with COVID. Michelle has also been the administrative lead on other COVID projects including DHM Clinical Operations group and the DHM COVID Planning Task Force (which includes the sub-groups COVID Response Work Group, COVID Surge Work Group, COVID Work Group Leads, and Lessons on the Frontline Work Group). One faculty shared that during “some busy and challenging clinical times on the COVID service early in the pandemic, Michelle volunteered and helped process receipts, payments, reimbursements, schedule meetings, and ensured my non-clinical obligations were on track so that I could fully focus on clinical care for COVID patients.’”  

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Gato Gourley is the Division Manager of the Center for Vulnerable Populations at ZSFG where he has been working since 2012. He is recognized by his colleagues for the incredible spirit with which he does all things: humble, kind, and committed. Division Chief Dr. Margot Kushel described in detail how Gato’s altruistic and abundant work has made a huge impact: “I am thrilled to nominate Gato for his extraordinary and unheralded work behind the scenes to make the United in Health, Unhoused COVID testing events happen.  The COVID pandemic started soon after the CVP became a division and Gato transitioned to the role of Division Manager, during a time of rapid expansion.  He managed the difficult process of transition, including hiring many new staff members to the newly started Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative. During this already intensely busy period, Gato took on the additional role of engineering two very large and complex COVID19 outreach and testing events in the homeless community. Managing these events did not fit into the job description of the division manager.  Yet, in his quiet and inimitable manner, he stepped in and did all that needed to be done to make these events a success.  He managed an intensely complex operation that included purchasing large amounts of supplies, arranging and executing contracts with community-based organizations, phlebotomists, rental companies, moving vans, and more.  He provided project management, morale boosting, volunteer corralling, and troubleshooting with his usual quiet good humor.  He worked day and night, for weeks, doing tasks both mundane (driving around town to locate spare bunny suits in hardware stores) and complex (executing contracts with multiple community-based organizations in a matter of a week).  On the testing days, he worked from 4:30 AM to late at night, his energy never flagging. For weeks on end, he logged 12-15-hour days – covering every detail, picking up every task that others couldn’t do, or didn’t want to.  He gave others opportunity to grow their skill set, and mentored many staff members throughout the process. And he did this all while continuing to manage the complex operations of a new division with a large new program embedded in it.” 

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Alejandra Jauregui is a Clinical Research Coordinator in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy, and Sleep Medicine at UCSF Health and has been with us since 2015. She was nominated by many faculty, nursing care, and staff colleagues for her unparalleled divisional efforts to respond to the COVID crisis. “Just a few days after everything shut down in mid-March, my group was asked to lead UCSF’s team for an NIAID-directed project to build an entirely new cohort study focused on hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Alejandra was made responsible for the implementation of an entirely new cohort (the COVID-19 Multi-phenotyping for Effective Therapies Cohort, COMET) at three sites with outstanding efficiency and in record time.  Thanks in large part to Alejandra’s efforts as the lead CRC, UCSF’s site was the first in the 10-site NIAID Consortium to start enrolling patients, only three weeks after we were first asked to participate.  She worked seven days a week, many days 12 hours or more, to get the COMET study up and running, and to get precious biosamples to our laboratory-based research partners so they could work around the clock to understand the biology of COVID-19. She led a team of five CRCs across three sites, including training four new hires and numerous volunteers during this period.  As a native Spanish speaker and member of the Latina community, Alejandra felt an intense personal commitment to making sure that members of the LatinX community were represented in COVID-19 research studies and treated with the greatest respect. Thanks to her exceptional leadership and dedication, our site was the first in the NIAID Consortium to complete our target enrollment of 100 patients. Alejandra has become a leader in the NIAID multisite network; other sites now often turn to her to help them troubleshoot their barriers to enrollment. When local enrollment was completed for the NIAID-funded COMET study, however, Alejandra still had more to give.  She approached me and asked if she could add to her duties by taking on a new role as the lead CRC for one of our interventional clinical trials, the ISPY COVID trial.  ISPY COVID is a Phase 2 adaptive platform trial of novel therapeutics for patients with severe COVID-19. She has quickly established herself as one of the leading CRC’s in this multisite network across the United States, with her attention to detail, careful approach to screening and enrollment, and dedication to the study goals.” 

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Emily Yeung is an Administrative Officer & Interim Program Administrator for the Internal Medicine Residency Program in the Division of General Internal Medicine at UCSF Health. She has been working for UCSF since 2007. Emily is described as epitomizing “tirelessness, honesty, dedication, quality, positivity, and commitment.” She is one who voluntarily learns news skills so she can take on critical new tasks to facilitate Division responses, especially in times of crisis such as the COVID pandemic. “Despite only working part-time, Emily has dedicated all of her energy to the program administrator role.  In particular, Emily learned and then created the outpatient schedules for 20 primary care internal medicine residents.  Creating outpatient schedules is an incredibly complex task, as it requires learning multiple steps and coordinating these 20 different, individualized schedules so that electives are balanced among residents and not duplicated. Most program administrators take several months to learn this role.  Not only did Emily rapidly learn and execute these schedules (in a matter of a few weeks), but she had the added complexity of trying to find and secure new elective opportunities for residents due to the impact of COVID on subspecialty elective clinics.  Moreover, she worked tirelessly to communicate schedule changes with the residents and ensure that each resident’s schedule was perfect.  At one point, Emily was on her computer email at 11pm on a Friday night so the resident would have an updated, accurate schedule (and would be able to see patients) Monday morning.  Her outstanding work not only affected patient care (so the residents could see patients in these elective clinics without incident) but her diligence improved the educational experience of the residents.  Multiple residents [have] reached out to me to tell me that Emily’s work made all the difference in their elective ambulatory experience.  And Emily did all of this with 3 young children at home due to COVID and shelter-in-place.” 

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Nicholas "Nick" Clem
Post Award Manager
Central Administration

Nicholas “Nick” Clem joined the UCSF Controller’s Office in 2015, where he worked as the CGA Service Team Lead for the Department of Medicine and the Clinical Executive Team. Early in 2019, Nick became part of the DOM family on the central administration team as the Post Award Manager. Nick has become known as a trusted, dependable, and generous member of the research finance community, as evidenced by numerous award nominations from colleagues across DOM. He has built a reputation for his ability to innovate and improve complex processes and work closely with others with remarkable kindness and compassion, especially in situations of educating new team members. Jon Rueter, Director of Research Administration and Revenue Management shared: “What makes Nick so outstanding in this capacity is that he is very committed to supporting diversity in the department through our recruitment efforts, and he is a knowledgeable and patient trainer. He is constantly maintaining and improving our training materials and incorporating new resource guides to assist our post-award analysts. Soon after Nick joined the Department, he began teaching a continuing education series following our bimonthly RFA meetings on a wide range of topics to RFAs across all DOM sites. Many post-award analysts and Division Managers across DOM consult with Nick on an as-needed basis about a variety of issues. He has made an especially big impact for newer RFAs who need help but don’t want to overburden their colleagues or supervisor.”

Nick is also deeply committed to Diversity and Inclusion efforts. He completed a DEI certificate program with a capstone project that has produced a number of important outcomes such as tip sheets on interviewing practices that can reduce the impact of unconscious bias in hiring decisions, and strategies that can improve the language of posted job descriptions so as to be more inclusive.

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Evelin Trejo
Clinical Research Coordinator
Division of Hematology & Oncology, ZSFG

Evelin Trejo is a Clinical Research Coordinator in the Division of Hematology & Oncology at ZSFG where she joined the team in 2018. She a has a long history working at UCSF in different positions: as a graduate fellow intern, research assistant, and health educator for the Department of Medicine. Numerous faculty and staff nominated Evelin for this award, all of them pointing out her incredible competence, respect, professionalism, and commitment to going above and beyond in service to others and the community. Dr. Terrence Freidlander, Chief of the Division of Hematology & Oncology wrote: “Our cancer patients at ZSFG face many cultural, linguistic, and financial barriers, and Evelin is able effortlessly navigate the challenges and provide support and guidance for all of her patients on different trials. Evelin has helped us to address some of the major disparities in cancer clinical trials, allowing us to easily recruit Latinx patients for therapeutic studies as well as for observational studies. As a team player she has cross-covered her other CRC colleagues and has served as a great mentor, teaching by example how a CRC should work both professionally and with great care for patients. During the initial stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, Evelin volunteered to work on a study recruiting volunteers who had recovered from acute COVID infection to donate convalescent plasma. Her efforts directly helped other critically-ill Covid-19 patients receive potentially lifesaving therapy.”

Evelin’s commitment to health equity can be seen in her volunteer efforts, where she works in the Spanish Language Cancer Awareness Resources and Education (CARE) support group at ZSFG, supporting Latinx patients with cancer.

Evelin is working to become a doctorally-prepared behavioral epidemiologist focused on racial and ethnic health disparities in cancer.

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Kathryn Fontwit
Physician Assistant
Division of Nephrology ZSFG

Kathryn Fontwit, is a Physician Assistant in the Division of Nephrology at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, where she has dedicated her time and talents to the community for the past 22 years. Kathryn’s nominators shared the following details of her many contributions and accomplishments:

“Kathryn has been a strong support and mentor to many of her colleagues and coworkers. She excels at the clinical and teaching activities of the division, and never ceases to look for ways to improve the care of dialysis patients at the General, or at the offsite/community dialysis centers. Kathryn is 100% dedicated to providing clinical services that are of the highest quality and delivers them with compassion.

In order to easily orient our new renal fellows, Kathryn created an orientation manual with key information regarding administrative and clinical pearls. Although this was not an identified part of her job description, she took the initiative to help. In addition, she took the time to orient each new fellow to all the EHR systems at ZSFG.

Kathryn respects diversity and often helps others; by staying after hours to help with school essays, and volunteering as a language teacher for many of her English-learning coworkers. People have always felt comfortable asking her for help, even if it’s not directly job-related.

In terms of her patients, Kathryn has also demonstrated the compassion and sensitivity that makes a positive difference in their care. She calls patients and families after work hours to offer education and support, and often walks patients to other special services to ensure continuity of safety and care. Kathryn has been able to identify previously hidden barriers to care just by being a respectful and patient listener. This is especially true for non-native English speaking Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) patients.

More recently, Kathryn has been tasked to be the point person for kidney transplant referrals and follow-ups. She has followed through on our mission to provide the best possible care to underserved and vulnerable populations. She has demonstrated dedication and persistence in getting patients referred for transplant evaluation, has identified problem areas, and worked creatively with support staff and associated services to find timely resolutions.”

Thank you for your longevity, service, and dedication! Congratulations, Kathryn!

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Rosemary Yau
Division of Hospital Medicine at UCSF Health

Rosemary Yau is an Administrative Analyst in the Division of Hospital Medicine at UCSF Health. Rosemary's work has been consistently noticed by her colleagues who have offered the following insights into her work and her PRIDE values:

"Rosemary is proactive, resourceful, excels in anticipating issues, brainstorms with colleagues to find resources, and presents options in a very clear way. She finds solutions before you even know there is a problem and more importantly, before you can get frustrated. She helps with behind-the-scenes, day-to-day issues in a calm, gentle, and highly competent way. Rose truly excels in her work and takes pride in going the extra mile.

Rosemary is sensitive, caring, and thoughtful. She gathers the well-being committee quarterly and presents a thorough agenda to ensure a meaningful meeting that is respectful everyone's time. In addition to organizing a volunteer event at the SF-Marin food bank, she created a donation page where we raised about $500! She is always mindful of others' needs, and gives her undivided attention to each individual she engages with.

Rosemary's integrity is impeccable. She is honest, considerate, and serves as a role model to others through her genuine demeanor and positive energy. We chose her as our staff engagement ambassador for these reasons. She spends the time and effort needed to produce magnificent work, even if it demands she work more hours than anticipated. She has led our staff engagement action planning sessions, and comes up with topics and speakers to present at our meetings. Her work helps the staff make a connection with the work of our faculty.

As part of Rosemary's role as recruitment coordinator for faculty and fellowship applicants she is often the first person an applicant meets at UCSF. Her abilities help us recruit the best possible candidates for our division. She takes diversity seriously and treats every applicant with respect, providing her full attention, and always considering their well-being. She personally meets and walks them to each interview. Rosemary's ability to help us recruit talent cements our partnerships across many agencies and medical specialties in the community.

Rose's investment has had a significant and measurable impact on our workplace. This is crucial for creating an environment where staff and faculty feel valued, recognized, and fully involved in the work they perform."

Congratulations, Rosemary! And thank you for your consistent dedication to excellence in the Department of Medicine!

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Marlena Hartman-Filson
Clinical Research Coordinator
Division of General Internal Medicine (DGIM) at ZSFG

Marlena Hartman-Filson is a Clinical Research Coordinator in the Division of General Internal Medicine (DGIM) at ZSFG. She has demonstrated a high level of competence in operating and managing complex clinical studies, an outstanding ability to lead a team of staff and trainees at a young level of accomplishment, and an unparalleled ability to connect in a meaningful way with persons who have experienced substantial trauma from homelessness and substance use.

Over the past two years, Marlena has led DGIM projects on tobacco use in homeless populations by managing the day-to-day operations, including data collection and data management, and communications among our team members that include trainees as well as research staff. She is on the ground coordinating data collection with community partners and delegating tasks to our research team; conducting interviews one-on-one with our participants, the majority who are homeless; maintaining an open channel of communication between UCSF team members and community partners; and compiling the data in a meaningful way for dissemination. Her nominator credits their high follow-up rates in all of their studies (>85% at 6 months follow-up) among a population that is hard to reach entirely due to Marlena's ability to connect and engage with our participants. Indeed, this is not a learned trait; she is naturally gifted and outstanding in connecting with individuals who identify as being part of a gender and sexual minority group or have experienced substantial trauma from homelessness and/or substance use. Her open, empathetic, and non-judgmental manner of communication are some of the primary reasons for why their participants have shared challenging experiences around their substance use and homelessness.

Further, Marlena did a great job as the lead Clinical Research Coordinator for one of my NIH-funded studies (called LEAP) and shared responsibility for another multisite research study in San Francisco. This LEAP study involved recruiting individuals newly diagnosed with HIV infection and following them as they started antiretroviral therapy (ART). The study had floundered over its first 6 months as the majority of the new HIV diagnoses were young men who were active drug users (mostly methamphetamines) and whose lives were complicated by homelessness. Marlena was the perfect person for the position and much of its success is due to her personality, persistence, perseverance, and problem-solving.

She has participated in DGIM service activities by joining panels to inform discussions around research space to conduct interviews with participants from the community. She has fervently advocated for their study participants to ease any inconvenience that might come as a result of participating in our studies. In this and many other ways, Marlena is exemplar of all the PRIDE values at UCSF. She is highly professional and extremely competent and, in fact, excelling at everything that she takes on. She is compassionate, deeply committed to our University's mission of equity and diversity and conducts her work with integrity.

On a personal note, Marlena is a gardener. She holds a weekly community vegetable garden in her front yard for her neighbors, including homeless individuals with whom she is acquainted with and who spend time at the park next to her home. Congratulations, Marlena!

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Karen Yuan
Assistant Division Manager
Division of Geriatrics

Karen Yuan, the Assistant Division Manager for the Division of Geriatrics at UCSF Health, was supported by 11 nominations from colleagues, faculty, and supervisors. Common themes throughout her nominations highlight the fact that she embodies the PRIDE Values every day and makes working in the division the best it can be. There are numerous examples of the superior effort and support that Karen provides by going above and beyond her line of duty. Through her ability to utilize her networks within UCSF, she is able to quickly and efficiently solve the most complicated problems.

She is trustworthy and truly committed to the success of the division. Karen is described as an exceptional servant leader who goes out of her way to express appreciation for the accomplishments of her colleagues and for seeking to ensure that everyone has the resources needed to succeed. In her current role, she is highly active in assessing the needs of faculty and staff and improving processes to help the division operate more efficiently. Notably, she has made herself an expert on the administrative processes that are required to get work done. When faculty colleagues in other divisions have trouble negotiating the bureaucracy, faculty within the Division of Geriatrics often refer them to the Karen in order to quickly and kindly solve problems for them.

She is an inspiration to others because she demonstrates kindness and empathy, remains calm and thoughtful in difficult conversations, is an active listener, shares her thoughts and ideas, is punctual, and she follows through with what she says she will do.

Karen is an inspiring force – helping the UCSF Division of Geriatrics grow stronger partnerships with each of the major sites of UCSF (e.g., SFVAMC, Parnassus/Laurel Heights, ZSFG) as well as multiple community organizations. She has been instrumental in navigating the financial processes and requirements governing UCSF, NCIRE, ZSFG, professional service agreements and VA funding. Amazingly, she finds a way to obtain necessary data, models financial projections and solves complex financial issues that has had a positive impact and allowed the division to grow in a financially sound manner across the campuses of UCSF. She has helped develop and manage successful financial partnerships across divisions, health systems, Departments, and Schools, helping to add more than 15 new faculty members at Laurel Heights/Parnassus, SFVAMC and ZSFG since she joined the Division. She has a rare combination of financial acumen and big-picture problem-solving that faculty love because she finds a way make things work.

Beyond her superior work ethic and innate ability to lead her peers, she is wonderful mentor and key to improving and sustaining morale within the division. She has a can-do attitude, and a stellar ability to work quickly and make a difference in other's work experience – becoming a role model that colleagues look up to.

Karen doesn't hide behind the details of her job description; she recognizes that her job is part of a larger effort and she tries to advance that larger effort at every turn. Sometimes, it's by doing her job efficiently. Other times, it's by taking on additional tasks when needed. In sum, her nominators couldn't think of a more deserving candidate for this award than Karen. Congratulations!

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Christine Nguyen
Clinical Research Managers
Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Allergy Pulmonary at UCSF

Christine Nguyen, has been a member of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Allergy since 2007. She has been described as a driving force who has inspired all of those around her due to her commitment to excellence and community. Christine routinely goes beyond the call of duty in training new clinical coordinators, providing expert guidance to all coordinators and faculty, and directing the division's QA efforts, technical services, and regulatory interactions. Her work doesn't end with following protocols or procedures. She goes above and beyond to understand the details and intricacies in the protocol, which makes her both extremely knowledgeable as a clinical manager as well as a role model. Christine's dedication motivates everyone to devote their efforts to their work as she does. Her incredible expertise and energy have been recognized by the University as well; she is Co-Chair of the UCSF CRC Council and a member of the Parnassus Research Space Working Group.

Christine is a wonderful person in so many ways. She has the humanistic component we all wish for in a colleague, she is warm, understanding and supportive to everyone she encounters. As a supervisor, she listens, taking feedback and finding innovative ways to constantly improve our approach in clinical research.

Finally, clinical research participants love her. Once, during study recruitment, visit coordination, topical anesthesia, and teaching for bronchoscopy, she quickly developed trusting relationships, showed compassion, and led participants past difficult sensations. In all of her activities, she treats everyone equally, with a high level of respect, attention, and care, whether it be a concerned participant, a job applicant or student, or senior faculty or chair of research.

Christine is truly indispensable, always going above and beyond the call of duty, which makes the DOM and UCSF a better place. Christine's commitment and dedication exemplifies that of the very best of UCSF.

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Kelly Kiser
Administrative Officer II
Division of General Internal Medicine at ZSFG

Kelly Kiser joined the Division of General Internal Medicine (DGIM) at ZSFG in June 2017, and has transformed the day-to-day life and spirit of our division. With responsibilities spanning the areas of academic and staff HR, purchasing and finance, communications, IT, and space/facilities, she excels in all of the PRIDE values and has made great contributions that touch all members of our division. It is said that never before has there been a more universally appreciated employee over such a large work group, as indicated by the high frequency in which people share how fantastic she is as a colleague.

In her time with DGIM, Kelly has several notable accomplishments that impact her division, ZSFG, UCSF, and her community. At the divisional level, Kelly has embraced the role of Engagement Ambassador, managed the renovation of our conference room and the conversion of a faculty office to house three faculty – all with a minimal budget. Beyond the work within her division, Kelly proposed a solution for water delivery, which led us to transition to a water purification system – resulting in thousands of dollars in annual savings, environmental benefits, and dissemination throughout ZSFG.

In service to her community Kelly volunteers one evening a week leading art projects with 5-12 year old children at Raphael House, a privately funded and community-supported organization that helps at-risk families achieve stable housing and financial independence while strengthening family bonds and personal dignity. Kelly is incredibly skilled and innovative, looks for ways to improve systems, and is extremely thoughtful and dependable. She has positively impacted the entire division with her quick mastery of systems/processes, as well as her creativity, resourcefulness, follow-through and stellar attitude.

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Sarah Ngo
Clinical Research Coordinator
Division of Geriatrics

Sarah Ngo received her BS from UC Berkeley in Nutritional Science, emphasis in Physiology and Metabolism, and a Masters in Library and Information Sciences from San Jose State University. She is currently a Clinical Research Coordinator in the UCSF Division of Geriatrics for nearly a year and a half, based at the SF Veterans Administration Medical Center.

Sarah is the go-to person to make things work at the San Francisco VA for the UCSF Division of Geriatrics research program. She is bright, articulate and steps in to help anyone in need. She impresses people with her can-do spirit in the face of difficult odds. There also is her infectious enthusiasm and upbeat attitude—she organizes the weekly UCSF Division of Geriatrics Works-in-Progress seminars in which she interacts with faculty and staff across the Bay Area in such a way that our attendance at WIPs has skyrocketed. Sarah has literally helped every PI in Geriatrics overcome at least one problem to facilitate important research to happen at the San Francisco VA – earning her the reputation as a problem-solver who cuts through bureaucracy to get things done. Beyond her ability to problem solve with the best of them, she has been described multiple times as supernaturally cheerful, positive, and has the seeks to make people feel welcomed and supported. Congratulations, Sarah!

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Rebecca Schwartz
Clinical Social Worker in ZSFG HIVE, Family HIV Clinic, and Ward 86
Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, & Global Medicine

Becca Schwartz completed her bachelor's degree at Hampshire College in western Massachusetts and her master's degree at Smith College School for Social Work. She has been a Clinical Social Worker with HIVE, Family HIV Clinic, and Ward 86 for more than a decade, based at Zuckerberg San Francisco General.

Becca is responsible for providing medical case management, psychosocial counseling, and referrals for substance use treatment. Additionally, she provides services to HIVE patients and their family members in obtaining financial, nutritional, and housing benefits, as well as respite care for children. She interacts with patients in the Family HIV Clinic and Ward 86 to maintain their link with preconception, family planning, safer conception and pregnancy services. Becca's co-workers at HIVE call her the "special sauce” because she is key in helping the clients feel that she has a vested interest in their care. A HIVE patient wrote the following on her patient satisfaction survey: "The relationship that my husband and I have with our social worker Becca is so honest and we feel as though she honestly cares about us." She is an advocate for her clients, and can be heard most days advocating with community-based organizations for their support for each client. Her nominator described her as being able to navigate the complex system in search of the optimal solution to each problem facing her clients. Beyond her tireless advocacy and persistence to provide the best social care for her clients, she treats everyone with the utmost dignity, respect, and compassion. Her work is an inspiration to her colleagues. Congratulations, Becca!

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Amy Bates
Executive Assistant
Department of Medicine Chair's Office, Parnassus

Amy is currently an Executive Assistant in the Chair's Office, based at UCSF Parnassus Heights. She is described as the go-to person who makes things work in the Chair's Office for students, faculty, staff and even patients – the epitome of professionalism. Whenever an issue arises, she seeks the best in every person or situation. Further, she impresses her colleagues with her can-do spirit. Amy lends a hand to anyone regardless of how busy she may be with her own priorities. She always steps in to help set up for a meeting or assist with logistics – going above and beyond by taking on extra projects and tasks.

Amy is dedicated, hardworking, respectful, and inspirational. Through her role and efforts, she has made the department feel like family. She is always quick with a kind word and has a keen eye as to what makes people feel special. For Amy, no task is too small, no question too silly; she brings the same attention to locating a battery as greeting a visitor. Amy is always thoughtful, gracious, warm, welcoming and compassionate. She is the embodiment of the spirit of DOM and we are all the better for it! Congratulations, Amy!

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Melody Davenport-McLaughlin
Clinical Operations Manager
Central Administration, ZSFG

Melody Davenport-McLaughlin received her BS in Psychology from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. She is the Clinical Operations Manager for Medicine Central Administration at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.

Melody has consistently made significant contributions to the Department of Medicine in her day-to-day role. Her responsibilities range from providing oversight to coding staff and Department division managers, creating financial analyses to support the work and growth of the Department, to overseeing faculty credentialing and onboarding, and making sure the medicine residency and fellowship programs at ZSFG function like clockwork. She performs each of these varied roles with aplomb, great humor, and the utmost professionalism. Day in and day out, she embodies each of the DOM's SPIRIT values of staff professionalism, inspiration, responsibility, integrity, and teamwork, serving as a role model to those surrounding her. She is the cornerstone and the heart of the department! Congratulations, Melody!