Associate Director, Nutrition & Food Services Mission Bay

Leila's Bio 

I started my healthcare career when I joined the Nutrition & Food Services (NFS) team in 2010. I obtained my undergraduate degree from UC Irvine, followed by my master’s degree in nutritional science from Cal State Long Beach, and credentials as a Registered Dietitian. Fresh out of graduate school and excited to begin my career in nutrition, I joined UCSF as a Nutrition & Procurement Supervisor. In this role I oversaw food & supply purchasing and developed my people management skills. I was involved in menu planning, nutritional analysis, and contributing to our sustainability goals. I have grown within our department in various leadership roles each providing me opportunities to further my career goals, think outside the box when faced with obstacles, and to be an advocate for my team and our patients. I helped implement and enhance our Room Service Dining program. This allows patients to select the foods they want from our robust menu and have it delivered to them at a time that is ideal, which has resulted in an overall better patient experience and improved nutrition outcomes. During my time as Patient Food Service Manager, I had the unique opportunity to help open the Mission Bay hospital location and contributed to its ongoing success.

Currently as the Associate Director for Nutrition & Food Services at Mission Bay, I have the pleasure of collaborating with an amazing team, improving food systems to adapt to the ever-changing needs of the hospital, and spearheading technology-based meal solutions to optimize operations for our patients, customers, and team. As we often say in our department, we have the unique opportunity to impact every person that walks through our doors by providing nourishing food and an exceptional customer experience. Knowing that the extra effort to provide comforting food to patients while they are faced with extremely challenging medical conditions or planning special theme meals in our café so our UC colleagues have a little fun, enjoy delicious food, and can recharge between caring for patients is so rewarding. I am extremely proud of our department’s accomplishments and look forward to contributing positively to the future success of UCSF Health.   

What’s your ideal weather?   

Warm and sunny! I love being out in the sun. I’m happiest when I am by the pool or beach on a sunny day or those warm summer nights when it’s still sunny at 8pm!

What advice would you give yourself early on in your career?

Being open to new opportunities and taking risks. I have experienced the most growth in my career by taking those risks I was most hesitant about. Working in healthcare has been one of the most challenging yet rewarding experiences and I am grateful to get to do the work I do each and every day. Being patient, staying true to our mission, advocating for myself, my team, and our patients has been key in being successful. It can be tough finding your voice and your place in the workplace but continuing to be persistent and learning from each challenge that I am presented has allowed me to excel to where I am today.

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