DOM In the News
Read about how the Department of Medicine is responding to the outbreak of the coronavirus respiratory illness COVID-19. See related COVID-19 publications.
Bridget O'Brien received the AME Service Award
We are thrilled that Bridget O’Brien, PhD, MS, was awarded with the Academy of Medical Educators Service Award at the recent AME New Members Celebration. This Service Award is a director’s “special” where the director recognizes one or two Academy members with extraordinary contributions to the Academy, contributions that make a qualitative difference, and that rise above and beyond defined work within specific roles.
O’Brien is a professor of medicine and an education scientist in the Office of Medical Education's Center for Faculty Educators. She has taught and mentored a generation of faculty and learners interested in education research and scholarship and is critical to training and success in education scholarship. She has many local and leadership roles in education, including co-director of the Teaching Scholars Program and the UCSF-University of Utrecht Health Professions Education doctoral program.
O’Brien joined the Academy in 2022. She immediately brought her expertise to the Academy Scholarship committee which has a critical role in planning and running the UCSF Education Showcase in partnership with the Center for Faculty Educators. Last spring, the chair of the Academy Scholarship Committee left UCSF leaving a critical gap in leadership. Bridget immediately accepted a request to step in as committee chair and effectively lead the committee with a resulting outstanding showcase. We are indebted to her for her generosity and commitment to stewarding this important Academy/CFE event.
Congratulations on Sarah Ngo's Promotion!
Please join us in congratulating Sarah Ngo, MLIS, CCRP to her new role as Research Programs Specialist!
Sarah joined our Division in May of 2016 as a Clinical Research Coordinator (CRC) primarily working with Drs. Louise Walter and Ken Covinsky on their research projects focused on improving the health of older adults. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Nutritional Science, a Master’s Degree in Library and Information Sciences, and relevant work experience at UCSF Health as a Practice Assistant, Sarah quickly became acquainted with her new role with ease. To put it bluntly, Sarah was so good at her job, that we gave her more work! Sarah was promoted to Senior CRC in April 2018 when her role expanded to include programmatic activities of the Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, as well as working with multiple PIs within the Division. She was often the go-to for research support (she was everyone’s CRC at the VA, it’s OK to laugh about it now, she won’t mind J), and she helped to onboard and train a number of research staff while working on multiple projects with her own PIs.
In January 2019, Sarah was officially promoted to Pepper Center Program Manager. While continuing to provide oversight and direct support on all programmatic activities related to the Pepper Center, Sarah also expanded her role into other Division programs in recent months, such as the Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP) and Tideswell Emerging Leaders in Aging (ELIA). Over the last four years, Sarah has acquired an in-depth understanding of our Division’s unique research operations and infrastructure. Sarah also has expertise in systems development, workflow automations and optimizations. Consistent with the growth and expansion of our Division, Sarah’s skills and expertise met our programs’ unmet needs, especially during a time of staffing transitions! Sarah helped to develop and implement automated databases and incorporate them to enhance existing workflow processes resulting in increased efficiency in research program operations, and augment capabilities of existing programs to generate program performance reports for the GWEP & ELIA. While still serving the important role of Pepper Center Program Manager, Sarah also works closely with Division leaders on staff engagement, recruitment, building and maintaining research infrastructure and provides backup research support where needed. Outside our Division, Sarah makes an impact by serving on the Leadership Team at Women in Tech @UCSF. She’s led multiple workshops on Program Management Tools and Workflow Automation. Did I mention she does all of this with an infectious smile and can-do attitude? Last but not least, Sarah was an inaugural SPIRIT of DOM Awardee in 2017 and currently serves as our Division Staff Engagement Ambassador! So, without further ado, I’d like everyone to join us in congratulating Sarah Ngo to her new role as Research Programs Specialist! Congratulations Sarah! So well-deserved. :)