Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy, and Sleep Medicine 

Here is what Iris' nominator had to say about her:  

"Iris is a remarkable mentor and force for improvement in our clinic and fellowship. She is generous in identifying opportunities for fellows to grow and projects to join, while balancing their wellness and helping them stay true to their own career goals. She models how to build collaborations within teams and between different departments. She also encourages us to use Lean and systems improvement, and has helped our clinic evolve and be resilient in our current challenging times."

- LuLu Tsao, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy, and Sleep Medicine 

Iris' Bio: 

When I started at UCSF, I was excited to get involved in quality improvement and medical education. I’ve strived to establish drug allergy testing and desensitization at UCSF and we now have a drug allergy testing clinic where we routinely do allergy testing for antibiotics, aspirin/NSAIDs, contrast, local and general anesthetics, steroids, and chemotherapy, an Inpatient Beta-lactam Guideline for inpatient antibiotic allergy delabeling, and an Adult Biologic and Chemotherapy Desensitization service with nursing and pharmacy to provide outpatient desensitization for patients who have had reactions to biologics or chemotherapy. I’ve also devoted time to growing the allergy/immunology fellowship program, and educating trainees from different specialties and professions about quality improvement as a recent graduate of the Learning Health Systems Coach program. Along the way, I’ve taken on more administrative responsibilities related to these clinical and education projects and am now the medical director for allergy/immunology and the co-director for the allergy/immunology fellowship program. 

What’s on your reading list?

I read a lot of science fiction, mystery, and fiction books. I recently read ‘Oryx and Crake’ by Margaret Atwood and the Demon Slayer manga series—I couldn’t wait until the next movie/anime installment to find out what happened! 

What’s a favorite movie or TV Show you’ve watched recently? 

Two recent favorites, Succession (love the theme song) and Baby-Sitters Club. Also recently enjoyed watching the new Dune movie.  

Can you tell us about an important role model or mentor in your life? 

I’m thankful for the many different mentors who have played important roles in my life. At UCSF, Lorriana Leard has been a strong positive force in my faculty development, helping me navigate being a junior faculty and find quality improvement and medical education opportunities. She and Dean Sheppard are people I strive to emulate in their mentorship and leadership styles—a balance of supportive, realistic, and fair.  

What advice would you give yourself early on in your career? To a woman entering your field today? 

I think it’s important to have a vision of what life ideally would be like outside of work as well as at work 10, 20 years in the future—as a woman, there can be a lot to think about and plan! Having a strong network of women colleagues helps and has been an important part of job satisfaction for me. Also, no email push notifications on the phone (or even better, have a separate work and personal phone, although I’m personally still working on that one)! 

Meet other outstanding women of UCSF Health through Our Spotlight.