Monthly Newsletter | February 2023

In February 2023, Brandon Scott was named UCSF Health Associate Medical Director for Value Improvement. Under the guidance and supervision of the Medical Director for Value Improvement, he will be responsible for advising and supporting relevant stakeholders on value improvement initiatives, managing efforts related to data and financial analysis on improvement projects, and supporting the UCSF Caring Wisely program.

Meet DHM

Get to know our division by reading our faculty and staff interviews!

The UCSF HEAL Initiative fellowship started at the DHM back in 2015. To date we have trained over 180 fellows and alumni across 11 countries. Earlier this month, HEAL officially launched a new partnership with the University of California Global Health Institute. While HEAL will remain at DHM entirely, HEAL will also have a Center at UCGHI to further amplify links with other UC campuses and the broader UC Global Health community. Over the coming 3 years, HEAL aims to launch other "HEALs" at 2-3 UC campuses to strengthen DEI workforce in California through a transformative fellowship. 

DHM Social Activities

After-the-Holidays Holiday Party on January 6, 2023 at The Vault Garden! More images available in Box.

Staff Retreat on January 27, 2023 at Strayboots! More images available in Box.

The Pearl for the February newsletter is highlighting the power of music, to bring solidarity and to give voice to the feelings we can’t put into words. I am sharing two songs, both were written at the height of global protest movements for justice sparked by the police murder of a man and a woman, respectively:

"I Can't Breathe" is a song by H.E.R. released June 2020. It was written by H.E.R., D'Mile and Tiara Thomas and produced by D'Mile.

"Baraye" is a song by Shervin Hajipour released September 2022. The lyrics were a compilation of tweets from protesters in Iran after the murder of Zhina (Mahsa) Amini by the "morality police."

For feedback, or to share pearls in the next DHM newsletter, please email yalda.shahram@ucsf.edu. 

Raman Khanna, A Jay Holmgren, and colleagues published a study in the Journal of American Informatics Association on the impact of "nudges" in the electronic health record on provider ordering behavior.

Sarah Flynn and colleagues published an article in the American Journal of Medical Quality that describes a quality improvement project to increase HIV screening in hospitalized patients at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.  

A Jay Holmgren was mentioned in The New York Times for his work assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on clinician ambulatory electronic health record use.

Lena Loo and Rosemary Yau

"Thank you to Lena Loo and Rosemary Yau for planning our 1^st After-the-holidays holiday party in 3 years! Everything was perfect — from the venue to the raffle, and even the weather! I'm so grateful we were able to do this again and had so much fun seeing everyone there!"

-Annie Droste

Rosemary Yau

"Thank you to Rosemary Yau for planning our staff retreat last month. The morning learning session gave us all some great strategies to deal with stress at work, and the afternoon scavenger hunt was a blast! As always, Rosemary did a wonderful job making sure everyone had a great day!"

-Annie Droste

Nicole Curatola

"Thank you Dr. Curatola for all your amazing care that you provided for my husband and I. I am so grateful for your compassion and caring these past couple of days. Thank you for hearing me out during my period of frustration and letting me advocate for my husband when he could not. Once again, I can't thank you enough for all you have done to ease our fears and provide us with continued reassurance."

-from a grateful patient