A peer advocate at the Prenatal AIDS Center, a finance manager at the Osher Center, a GI nurse at SFGH, and a Latino Center educator at UCSF Fresno are the Great People honored this month for their outstanding contributions to the School of Medicine.

From among 50 nominations received this quarter, Sharon Gambles, Liana Hartanto, Gail Schlueck, and Gloria Watts have been named Great People “for exhibiting qualities and values essential to making the School of Medicine a great place to work,” Dean Kessler said in letters of congratulation to each of the winners.

Employees are nominated for teamwork, customer service, individual contributions to a cooperative and communicative workplace, and inspiring others to excel. A committee selects four Great People to be awarded each quarter. Recipients may choose from a wide variety of Bear Hug certificates.

Read more about our Great People below.

Sharon Gambles
Assistant, Positive Health Program, SFGH
A peer advocate for the Bay Area Perinatal AIDS Center, Sharon Gambles assists and supports pregnant women and mothers who might be struggling with substance abuse and a host of other challenges. Making herself accessible by cell phone 24/7, Gambles provides support for ensuring women take their medications, get to medical appointments, and work through the system to reunite with their children.

Gambles is a single mother raising three children herself - now ages 17, 15, and 7 - and says she can relate to her clients as a peer because she has "been there, done that." She pulled herself up and now believes her greatest purpose is to "save another soul."

"I tell these women it's an 'inside job,'" says Gambles. " We're always looking at the system, not at the inside. We got to look at that, find acceptance, get sober, and stay on track. It's going to be hard. But if you can't take care of yourselves, how are going to take care of your kids?"

In addition to her work in some of the toughest neighborhoods in San Francisco, Gambles also travels to Washington, DC and other parts of the country educating people about the effects of HIV/AIDS and its perinatal consequences.

To her nominators, her enthusiasm, humor, patience, compassion, and "unending can-do attitude" make her a role model for her co-workers. Says one "Sharon has overcome a life full of challenges and has used that inner resilience to propel herself forward, never forgetting where she came from and never taking anything for granted."

Liana Hartanto
Finance Manager, Osher Center for Integrative Medicine
Liana Hartanto started her career at UCSF 15 years ago in the radiobiology lab, moving on to Ob-gyn, then to the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS). Hartano moved over the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Mount Zion in Feb. 2002. One of Hartanto’s first challenges was to set up an accounting system for Osher’s innovative clinical enterprise, one limber enough to suit the pioneering practice while meeting stringent UCSF requirements.

“That was a big challenge,” admits Hartanto, “but I like learning something new.”

Judging from the nominations received, Hartanto is considered indispensable for her thorough knowledge and resourcefulness around all aspects of finance and accounting, including many requests for grant budgets made on the brink of deadlines. Beyond her expertise and efficiency, her “good will, warm personality, and sense of humor” are also greatly prized. According to Director Susan Folkman, “We couldn’t run this center without her!”

By way of explanation, Hartanto responds, “Over the years I’ve learned so much. Finding resources, networking; it gets so much easier, it becomes automatic. It’s my nature to find answers for people. There are lots of good dedicated people over here, and that makes me work better. The leadership is very clear, setting parameters and communicating what they want to accomplish, and that makes the job easier.”

Originally from Indonesia, Hartanto has two grown children, her daughter a Tufts graduate interested in international relations, and her son a student at Emerson, due to graduate in May.

“My kids grew up while I was at UC,” says Hartanto, “so I am really grateful for that.”

Gail Schlueck, RN
Nurse, GI Unit, SFGH
Gail Schlueck completed her nursing training at Bellevue, a county hospital in her native New York City. In the enviable position of choosing between offers from Stanford and UCSF in 1981, Schlueck chose UCSF, and “has never regretted” her choice.

“I wanted to be where they valued bedside nurses, and UCSF offered a ‘ladder of excellence’ program,” explains Schlueck. “In many places, to get a promotion in nursing you need to leave patient contact and move into administration. UCSF is wonderful in that they value clinical care.”

Her UCSF career began in the cardiovascular unit, moved from Moffitt to Long, and then shifted to the GI unit. Over the years she went back to school for her Masters degree, and in 1993, she started at San Francisco General.

“It a very different population. Many don’t have preventive health care; there’s a lot more pathology. You meet so many different people, so many nationalities, people with so many different levels of access to health care. Every day is a challenge. There is so much need. You need the staff to care for you and help you through the system. But it’s also very rewarding.”

To hear from her nominators, she rises to the challenge with enthusiasm and a strong work ethic, keeping her staff informed of what is going on and keeping schedules on track. Her dedication is clearly infectious. “She makes me a better nurse,” says one, and “for me personally she is an inspiration,” says another.

Schlueck finds it interesting that she’s ended up at a county hospital, like where she started at Bellevue. Many coworkers, as well as patients, are grateful she’s come back around.

Gloria Watts
Education Director, Latino Center for Medical Education, UCSF Fresno
After retiring as an educator from the Fresno Unified School District in 1997, Gloria Watts got a call from Dr. Katherine Flores, the director of UCSF Fresno’s Latino Center for Medical Education, persuading her to work at the Center. “Dr. Flores is a very inspiring person,” says Watts, and clearly many people feel the same about Gloria.

Originally from Mexico, Watts came to the U.S. to attend college in Texas and went on to complete her Masters degree in Pennsylvania. She came to California in 1968 and taught generations of Fresno students for nearly 30 years.

She’s still teaching them. At the Center, Watts works with four middle schools, the local high school, and CSU Fresno develop a pipeline for underrepresented minorities (“not just Hispanics”) to pursue medical education. She describes her work as challenging, both intellectually from continually improving the program, as well as physically, “because there is so much you want to do, but only so many hours in the day.”

Her nominators explain how she leads by example, emphasizing the importance of teamwork, trust, and respect. Her staff says she encourages them to move “beyond our comfort zones, but guiding us along the way.” She is deeply committed to the mission of the Center.

“These kids need people to advocate for them,” says Watts, “to give them all sorts of options and opportunities so that they can imagine themselves succeeding. Education is the key. Without education a lot of doors will be closed to you. There are a lot of kids out there for whom we need to open doors.”

Great People nominations are now being accepted for the next round of honorees, to be announced in March 2005. See medschool.ucsf.edu/great/ for more information.