Chair's Corner

Here is my take on the major issues facing the DOM, including some of our biggest opportunities and challenges.

Well, whatever your political preferences, you have to admit that 2016 was an odd and disconcerting year. For our department, though, it was an exceptional year, and 2017 promises to be even better. That’s not to say that there aren’t some storm clouds on the horizon, and some difficult choices that we’ll need to make. But we are well positioned to thrive and to lead.

Dear Colleagues: I’m honored and humbled to accept Dean King’s offer to become the ninth chair of the UCSF Department of Medicine. Despite spending my entire career at UCSF, the past year as interim chair has given me the opportunity to deepen my knowledge and appreciation of this magnificent department. It’s a great privilege to have the chance to lead it.

I arrived at UCSF to start my internship 33 years ago last month. (A word of warning to those who think you can actually plan your life: I had every intention of returning to the East Coast after three years, plans that were quickly – and happily – derailed.) Recognizing, of course, that our memories tend to airbrush out the exhausting and painful parts of residency training, I can tell you that I still get a special thrill watching the arrival of a new crop of interns.

The Department of Medicine has been my professional home for more than 30 years. Yet it is only in the last eight months, as interim chair, that I have gotten a window into the department’s true scope and magnificence. These months have also given me a deeper appreciation of the challenges the department faces.