Our people are core to the current and future success of the School of Medicine, and our goal is to continue to support you so you feel committed and connected to our mission and are empowered to succeed.

For the last two years, Dean Talmadge King has hosted monthly virtual "Coffee with the Dean" sessions to hear from staff and faculty about ways to improve the experience within the School of Medicine.  We distilled some of the key questions with links to resources to help you navigate your career at UCSF.

If you'd like, please join us at one of the 2024 coffees to ask your questions and share your suggestions!

“We are a complex institution and understanding the big picture, as well as celebrating smaller successes, continues to be important. How can we learn about the School of Medicine and connect to resources?”

The Dean’s Office will be re-launching the Deans Forums as a series of updated videos that will cover each of our mission areas.  Many resources for faculty and staff are outlined on our School of Medicine website. Also, be on the lookout for the School of Medicine monthly e-newsletter, Why We Work, which highlights opportunities within the School of Medicine and successes of some of our outstanding people.

“When I started as a supervisor, I didn’t have the resources or tools to know how to be effective. How can a newly appointed supervisor learn how to do their job well?”

LD&O offers many courses for managers, including New Leader Onboarding which is offered monthly to managers and supervisors who are new to UCSF or internally promoted into their first supervisory/management role.

For staff, the School of Medicine offers two programs that could be useful in this area:

  • If there is a course that you would like to take to improve your management skills, WINGS is a tuition reimbursement program that provides support for staff employees to take courses or attend conferences for professional and career development.
  • The Leadership Development Program provides an opportunity for a select group of individuals to enhance their careers in the School of Medicine. This eight-month program is designed to help SOM staff employees prepare for the transition to leadership roles.
“In some ways, the pandemic increased communication from our leaders, but we still feel disconnected. How can we increase the connection between leadership, faculty, and staff?”

Dean Talmadge King hosted monthly virtual "Coffee with the Dean" sessions for staff and faculty in 2021 and 2022.  He will continue to host these coffees in 2023, and we will also launch a second series of Book Clubs with Leadership.  Both of these activities are a way for staff and faculty to connect with leadership and share their experiences. 

Departments, ORUs and Centers also communicate regularly with faculty and staff and offer opportunities for events and discussion.  Individual websites are listed here and we encourage you to reach out to your Chief Administrative Officer or communications director.

“Maintaining a healthy work life balance remains important to our overall experience at work. What resources are available to help us cultivate wellness and increase mental health?”

Campus Life Services provides resources for the seven pillars of wellness: social, emotional, physical, financial, spiritual, environmental, and career. 

The Faculty and Staff Assistance Program is available to assist with personal and work-related issues with confidential psychological counseling and consultation.  And mental health resources for crises such as pandemics, climate, or personal can be found here. 

Periodically, the School of Medicine creates opportunities focused on wellness. 

  • In collaboration with UCSF Health, this is the second year we are sponsoring the Getting Together Fund to Celebrate Doctors’ Day 2023.  Proposals are being accepted for in-person gatherings. Deadline is April 21.
  • During the pandemic with funding from a generous donor, we provided Faculty and Staff Morale Grants for wellness projects.
“Many of our meetings, collaborations, and mentoring sessions are now held over Zoom.  What are some best practices for how to work together virtually?” 

The LD&O website provides great resources for virtual collaboration: 

“As a staff member, what is my future at UCSF, and how do I know what my opportunities are for advancement?” 

Although everyone has a different career trajectory at UCSF, a few resources that might be helpful are: 

“There doesn’t seem to be one consistent checklist for staff onboarding at UCSF – how can we consistently prepare new employees when they start so they feel welcome?”

HR offers some helpful resources in their New Hires’ Manager’s Guide.   

In addition, the School of Medicine Dean’s Office is working on onboarding and new staff orientation resources that will provide all departments a starting point for their own processes.  We hope to roll these out by Q4 2023.  

“I know there are other people who have similar jobs as I do at UCSF, but they are hard to find.  How can we work across silos to collaborate and share best practices?” 

The School of Medicine is designing a program for “Communities of Practice” for staff and faculty who have similar roles to come together and share best practices and resources.  Some existing communities include: 

“We work within many different systems and across different internal organizations.  Sometimes these systems don’t talk to each other, lead to other frustrations, or incur long wait times.  How can we fix this so work is more streamlined?” 

Leadership in the School of Medicine understands that when systems and structures aren’t seamless, it leads to unintended, increased burden.  In early 2023, UCSF initiated the Administrative System Assessment Project which is an enterprise-wide effort to assess and understand business needs for UCSF's current administrative systems (HR, Finance, Supply Chain, and student information). We are hoping this project will greatly improve the experience for our faculty and staff.  We encourage you to provide feedback on where you may experience friction with systems by emailing/contacting Vishal Goyal who is the Project Manager for the Administrative System Assessment Project.  

For questions about iRIS-IRB or iRIS-eProposal, there is a separate system RFP initiative being run by ACIO-Research, Mandy Terrill. Please contact Mandy Terrill or Tony Hunter with ideas and suggestions.