Director, Telehealth Programs, Telehealth Resource Center

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

“Linda and I have worked together several times over the last few years as UCSF's telehealth strategy transformed during covid and continues to mature in new strategic ways. She is fun to work with and always looking for creative ways to add value to our patients, providers, and staff. Most recently we have served on a national Telehealth group through the AAMC, and she has quickly become a voice of innovation with them as well.”

Nominator: Bess Wildman

Linda's Bio:

I joined UCSF in 2014 as the founding Director of Telehealth.  My team and I have implemented programs for ambulatory video visits, online remote second opinions, and inpatient care both within UCSF hospitals and clinics and with our affiliates.  It has been very exciting to see UCSF go from a health system that did not do telehealth at all to being a leader in the field, especially among academic medical centers.   

What has been an important success in your career? 

I will always be proud of the speed at which my team and I were able to expand use of video visits in response to COVID in March of 2020, and in the way our providers and clinics have maintained much of that growth.  In February of that year, we had done 3600 video visits, which was record-breaking for us, and very exciting!  In April, we did over 66,000.  Even now, with the worst of COVID behind us, UCSF providers do about 40,000 video visits every month.  That translates to a lot of patients who can get care without worrying about reliable transportation, child care, traffic or parking and gas costs.  

Can you tell us about your professional journey? 

I have been fortunate to be in the telehealth field long enough to see enormous change. My earliest efforts involved lots of bulky, expensive equipment and flaky broadband internet connections—a tenuous situation that would usually only result in a handful of proof-of-concept clinical encounters by a few of brave physicians. It will always be amazing to me that at UCSF we now have hundreds of providers doing thousands of telehealth visits a day, and most patients use a device they carry around in their pocket!

I am also a big fan of lifelong learning—it’s never too late to go back to school!  I completed a mid-career PhD in Organizational Psychology in 2010; my dissertation research was kindled by seeing hospitals make big investments in telehealth programs that somehow never really stuck.  As recently as 2021, I completed a Master of Jurisprudence in Health Law, because now that technical and operational components of telehealth programs are straightforward, the biggest challenges are legal and regulatory.  

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

Don’t underestimate the value of presentation and public speaking skills.  Career growth involves developing and demonstrating your expertise—and these days, that often happens through PowerPoint.

Meet other outstanding women of UCSF through Our Spotlight.