Senior Director, Office of Communications

Overview of journey at UCSF:

After a stint as a newspaper journalist, I joined UCSF as a staff writer for the campus newspaper in the then-called Public Affairs department in 1994. UCSF’s website was just starting to take shape at that time so communicating to the internal UCSF community was done primarily through an 8-page bi-weekly newspaper delivered to faculty, staff and students in their campus mailbox. The paper served as a vehicle to convey UCSF’s strategic priorities and vision, tout top accomplishments and profile members of the UCSF community.

Two years later, I became editor in chief of that campus newspaper, writing the top stories at the time. My bylines include introducing Mark Laret as the new CEO of UCSF Medical Center, planning to build a new campus at Mission Bay, and early efforts to address issues of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) affecting women and under-represented groups.

I am proud of my partnership with now Vice Chancellor Renee Navarro, Joe Castro, now president of the California State University system, Gene Washington, then executive director and provost of UCSF, and now president of Duke University Health to advance DEI efforts at UCSF. With this team, I developed and launched UCSF’s first diversity website featuring “Voices,” a video series that I envisioned and executed to humanize our UCSF community from different perspectives.

Over the years, my titles have included assistant director of Internal Communications, editor of UCSF.edu, senior director of Strategic Communications and, as of late 2021, Executive Director of Internal Communications. I have relished the opportunity to be a longtime storyteller for this awesome institution and was honored to be recognized for my work by the 2021 Chancellor’s Award for Exceptional University Service.

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

I would tell myself to network more with collaborators and colleagues early on in your career. I did not. I was trying to balance responsibilities of raising my daughter and advancing my career. Despite hardships along the way, I am proud a mother of a 2020 UC Berkeley graduate who is gainfully employed despite this pandemic.

I co-founded the UCSF Communicators Network to build support for communications with about 36 colleagues. Since then, the network grew to more than 500 staff to share best practices, resources and meet socially.

But I didn’t start to reach out to colleagues beyond my work as a communications professional until after my daughter graduated from high school. Since then, joining the Chicanx Latinx Campus Association has been gratifying. I have forged new friendships with faculty and staff across the enterprise who share a kinship and have increased awareness and understanding of the obstacles and inequities in our community. I appreciate meeting members of the other affinity groups and am encouraged by their passion for social justice.

I recently accepted the invitation to join the UCSF Latinx Center of Excellence (LCOE) Internal Advisory Council to provide input on overall LCOE strategies, key activities and new initiatives that benefit our underserved communities. I am looking forward to learning from Alicia Fernandez, director of the LCOE, and contributing to this important work.

What has been an important success in your career?

One of the most important successes in my career has been my recent involvement organizing the COVID-19 Response Town Halls over the past two years. I have served as executive producer of 50 Friday town halls, reaching a high of 7,200 viewers in March 2020 and now averaging about 2,000 attendees for each town hall. I have been privileged to work with the Chancellor, George Rutherford, Ralph Gonzales, Peter Chin-Hong, Monica Gandhi, Jon Giacomi and so many others. 

The town halls continue to be popular and represent one of the silver linings of the pandemic – addressing the most critical issues of our time, increasing visibility and accountability of UCSF leadership at the highest levels, sharing the expertise of our world-renowned faculty who are world leaders in their fields and facilitating two-way communication with our UCSF family.

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

I began my career as a newspaper journalist working for a variety of newspapers. During my time at the Tahoe Daily Tribune, I began covering health care and the hospital in South Lake Tahoe. I really enjoyed writing about patients because they were often feel-good stories filled with hope and healing. I also covered public education, learning about the triumphs and tribulations of school administrators, teachers and counselors who were often trying to do their best with limited resources.

When I learned that UCSF, a world-renowned institution of health and education, was looking for a writer, I jumped at the chance to work for a university with a mission that still inspires me. My ongoing role in communicating about UCSF’s leadership in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been exhausting but inspiring as well. I am very proud of our collective accomplishments over the past 27 years of my career here.

What do you like to do outside of work?

When I am not working for UCSF, I love to escape and exercise outdoors, whether hiking, biking, playing tennis, swimming or skiing. We need more snow. A Bay Area native, I am still awestruck by the beauty of Northern California, especially the Sierra Nevada region and the coast, from Mendocino to Big Sur. I also love traveling and camping.

When I am not outdoors, I love cooking and trying new recipes, eating at San Francisco’s fabulous restaurants, playing the Spelling Bee on the New York Times website and watching Netflix.

Meet other outstanding women of UCSF Health through Our Spotlight.