January 10, 2008

Dear School of Medicine Community:

Vice Dean for Education David Irby and I are pleased to announce the appointment of Associate Professor Josh Adler, MD, as director of the School of Medicine’s new Pathways to Discovery Program. 

As its director, Dr. Adler will help shape “Pathways” into a program that encourages inquiry, innovation and discovery as part of the career of every physician educated at UCSF. This will be accomplished by providing opportunities for in-depth training in one of several areas of inquiry that go beyond the routine practice of medicine. The intent of the program is to facilitate the development of physicians who will make contributions to health and health care beyond the care provided to individual patients. 

Dr. Adler has been involved not only in the development of Pathways since its origin during discussions at the 2006 School of Medicine Leadership Retreat but also has served as director of the School’s highly successful Areas of Concentration Program, which will be incorporated into Pathways.

In addition to his leadership role in medical education, Dr. Adler is ambulatory care medical director for the UCSF Medical Center and director of the Executive Health Practice.

Dr. Adler was awarded a B.A. degree from UC Berkeley in paleontology in 1986 and received his M.D. degree from UC San Diego in 1990. He completed a residency in internal medicine at UCSF followed by a chief resident year at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. He joined the UCSF faculty in 1994.  

His research projects have included implementing multidisciplinary team care models involving medical residents, nurse practitioner students and pharmacy students, and developing more effective models for treating depression and diabetes in the primary care setting. He has written several book chapters on pre-operative risk assessment and risk reduction.

Dr. Adler’s proven record of interdisciplinary approaches to medical education and clinical practice make him an excellent choice as Pathways director. Please join me in congratulating him and supporting him in this new role.

Sincerely,

Sam Hawgood
Interim Dean