Vice President of Health IT Operations, UCSF Health

Here is what Heidi’s nominator had to say about her:

Heidi Collins, VP of Health IT Operations is an influential and transformative leader who truly leads by example. She has always supported diversity and equity within her team and was one of the first executive sponsors of the clinical systems and health informatics anti-racism committee. She is extremely knowledgeable and effective and has led several complex IT initiatives to success with her unique ability to empower her team. I have always admired how she handles challenges with ease, can provide sound guidance and advice, and can motivate her team to use their talents and strengths to achieve their goals.

Nominated by: Sana Sweis

Heidi’s Bio

I have 25 years of experience as a healthcare administrator. The first half of my career was in finance and operations at the Mass General Brigham health system in Massachusetts. My final role there was as the Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Physician Services for Nantucket Cottage Hospital.

I returned to California and began working for UCSF 12 years ago, starting as the Business Applications IT Director, just one month before the enterprise-wide APeX Electronic Health Record go-live. In 2015, I was promoted to Vice President of Clinical Systems, overseeing the technology that supports care delivery, including expanding Epic across UCSF Health and its network of affiliates.

In late 2023, I moved into a newly created position within Health IT focusing on organizational design and implementing the Health IT Operating Model.  In this role, my team helps the health system design large-scale change, including revamping our governance structure and preparing our workforce for the rapidly changing demands in the technology space.  As part of this, we focus on three main areas: how we organize, how we make decisions, and how we collaborate.  It’s been a busy two years, focusing first on centralizing and integrating 125 team members from departmental IT into the central organization, followed by revamping IT governance and how we prioritize and allocate technology resources across the health system.  As we continue to evolve those structures, we are turning our focus to identifying the most critical skill sets to support our future and ensure this team thrives over the next decade. I am also heavily involved with the deployment of the Health AI program. I am very excited to help bring about the future of UCSF.

Can you tell us about a significant role model or mentor in your life?

The first person that leaps to mind is my preceptor for my summer internship in graduate school, who also was my boss in my first career position.  She was already 35 years into her career when I began working for her.  She taught me so many lessons that were critical to an early careerist, including taking accountability for my actions and not getting ruffled when others weren’t pulling their weight (she wisely pointed out that those who mattered already knew who was contributing and who might be hiding behind the work of others).  She also knew when I needed to vent vs when I was truly distressed and needed help to resolve.  Her expectations were high, but those never got in the way of treating us as whole human beings.  I still stay in touch with her at least annually, well past her retirement.

What do you like to do outside of work?

I love to travel with my family, doesn’t really matter where—we always find something new to explore, even if we have been there before.  I also like outdoor activities (hiking, biking, sailing, horseback riding, swimming, walking the dogs to the farmers market, or going to the beach). I try to get outside at least part of every day.  I also help coach my younger daughter’s junior sailing team, in between her field hockey and lacrosse seasons. 

What brought you to healthcare? Can you tell us about your professional journey?

I was fortunate to figure out what I wanted to do while still in college at UCLA studying microbiology (all about viruses, bacteria, genetics, and immunology).  I knew I didn’t want to be a doctor or nurse, but I was fascinated by the science of medicine.  I briefly toyed with getting a doctorate in Immunology but did not think spending all my time in a lab matched my extroverted personality.  While pondering my options, I decided that healthcare management was probably the best fit, combining my love of people with my curiosity for science and need to do something with purpose.  When I shared this with my parents, I found out that my grandfather had actually been a hospital administrator upon his retirement from the navy.  This led me to graduate school in public health, in a program designed specifically for hospital administrators (though most of my classmates went into big pharma or consulting). Upon graduation, I undertook a two year Administrative Fellowship at Mass General, and stayed there for the first half of my career, moving through positions in operations and finance, both in hospital settings and at corporate.  I spent a lot of time on financial systems, and ended up doing both a new system install, and troubleshooting another failed install at a recently acquired hospital, Nantucket Cottage Hospital.  This led to a shared job, and eventually I was invited by the board to become Nantucket’s CFO (and IT leader, and compliance leader, as is common at smaller orgs).  I covered as CEO for 4 months between leaders and eventually was named COO, a new role for that organization.  Though very tiny, this was a great way to learn how all the parts and pieces connected. Three years into this, my husband was transferred to the Bay Area (where I grew up) so I looked for a new position, eventually settling into an IT role at UCSF. At this point in my career, I have made a fair number of unexpected turns, but I always try to choose the option that leaves the most doors open for the future, and I haven’t been afraid to take the leap and try new things. 

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