| I was born in Mobile, Alabama where my family lived until a
transfer in my father's Civil Service job brought us to Sacramento
when I was six years old. I am one of six children and the first
medical doctor in my family.
As an undergraduate I attended the University of the Pacific in
Stockton, California, where I earned a Doctor of Pharmacy degree.
It was during the clinical rotations (where I interacted with physicians)
that I truly learned the joy of patient care and made the decision
to pursue medicine. I was fortunate enough to be accepted into the
Medical School Class of 1986 at UCSF. By working as a registered
pharmacist in the outpatient pharmacy at SFGH, I was able to help
pay my way through medical school.
After a brief stint in Los Angeles for my internship at Cedars
Sinai, I returned to UCSF to complete a residency in Anesthesia
and Perioperative Care. I thrived within the academic environment
here, and I jumped at the opportunity to join the faculty in 1990.
I have been an Attending Physician at San Francisco General Hospital
throughout my academic career. My passion for the General and my
commitment were acknowledged by my selection as the Chief of the
Medical Staff. Having just completed two years of service, I feel
privileged and humbled by the experience.
My professional career has been defined by service to patients,
my profession, residents and medical students. I have served for
many years as a small group facilitator for the Foundations of Patient
Care course. I have also served on the Medical School Admissions
committee, the recruitment and retention committee and as both a
formal and informal mentor for numerous students. I am interested
and inspired by the stories of those I have mentored, and I am committed
to their success.
My professional life is balanced (not always in balance) by my
personal life. I have been married for the last thirteen years to
Ricardo Navarro. We met in residency (nights on call at SFGH), and
despite him being a Stanford Medical School graduate, we hit it
off. We share a love of God, family, friends, reading and sports.
We have three daughters - Veronica, age thirteen, Christina, eleven
and Jessica, ten, and I have a twenty-year-old stepson, Rick Jr.
I am always busy with soccer, judo, baseball, softball, piano lessons,
Spanish lessons and homework, but I love every minute of it.
|
