Colleagues,
There is a great deal of interest within the UCSF community to explore OpenAI / ChatGPT and other Large Language Models in the academic, research, clinical, and administrative areas of the university.
UCSF IT is actively working in collaboration with our Privacy, Procurement, and Legal teams to enable our first foray into this technology through UCSF’s Microsoft Azure cloud environment using the Azure OpenAI service. We expect to offer this as a secure and approved service in a phased manner beginning in August 2023.
In the meanwhile, until a secure and compliant solution is in place, do not use these technologies with sensitive UCSF data including identified or de-identified patient data, personnel data, confidential data, or otherwise sensitive UCSF data.
For additional guidance and updates, please reference the Data Protection and Large Language Models webpage. (MyAccess login required)
Thank you,
Joe R. Bengfort
Senior Vice President
Associate Vice Chancellor
UCSF CIO
Dear UCSF Community:
I am pleased to share that our newest research and academic building, adjacent to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG), has been given a name that befits our city and our values: UCSF Pride Hall.
In advance of the building’s official opening this summer, I would like to mark the occasion of its naming by expressing my deep appreciation for all those who will be working there. UCSF faculty at ZSFG exemplify our public mission. They and their talented teams are leading the way in public health and working toward a more equitable health care system.
Our faculty are pushing the boundaries of treatment for infectious diseases like COVID-19, HIV, malaria, and TB, addressing non-communicable killers like diabetes and cardiovascular disease, reaching out to our city’s most vulnerable residents, and treating the physical and emotional effects of trauma. Importantly, our faculty also are preparing the next generation of clinicians and researchers to advance health around the world.
As we mark the 150th anniversary of our partnership with the City and County of San Francisco this month, we do so in recognition of our shared commitment and with excitement for the future we’re building together. Please join me in celebrating this exciting step toward bringing the vision of UCSF Pride Hall to life and the tremendous work of UCSF faculty at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center.
Sincerely,
Sam Hawgood, MBBS
Chancellor
Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Distinguished Professor
Dear Members of the UCSF Community:
I am writing to announce that Dr. Jaime Sepúlveda, who has led our Institute for Global Health Sciences (IGHS) for a dozen years, will be stepping down from his position at the end of August.
Jaime has built upon our long history in global health to firmly establish UCSF as a world center in the field. Since he joined UCSF in 2011 as executive director of Global Health Sciences, he has overseen its transformation into a formal institute focused on basic and social sciences, clinical care, and education.
Today, IGHS has grown into a global enterprise with more than 1,000 researchers in 190 countries. Under Jaime’s leadership, the Institute has expanded and diversified, moving beyond infectious diseases to include leaders in diabetes, pre-term birth, mental health, and climate-related health impacts. Additionally, it has become the second program in the country to provide a doctoral degree in Global Health Sciences.
I am grateful for Jaime’s leadership at UCSF and to the field worldwide. Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Catherine Lucey will be leading the process to fill Jaime’s role. Jaime will be aiding us in the transition and will remain at UCSF for the next few years to teach and continue his focus on emerging global issues.
Please join me in thanking Jaime for his service and many contributions. You can read more about his work in this UCSF story.
Sincerely,
Sam Hawgood, MBBS
Chancellor
...
Dear Members of the UCSF Community,
On April 11, you will receive an invitation to participate in the 2023 UCSF Staff Engagement Survey.
The survey should only take you a few minutes to complete. In addition to the items from last year’s survey, we have added two other topics on wellness as well as race and equity.
Your participation is very important since staff employees represent the majority of our UCSF community. I hope you will make time before the survey closes on May 5 to share your perspectives about working at UCSF.
The UCSF Staff Engagement Survey helps us understand our progress toward our shared goal of making UCSF an inclusive and supportive place to work for everyone. The data collected from this survey will be used to inform strategies to increase and maintain engagement for all UCSF. Engagement survey results also give managers and teams actionable items to improve the daily experiences of staff.
I encourage you to read more about the UCSF Staff Engagement Survey in this UCSF.edu story, which details how UCSF continues its efforts to sustain and increase staff engagement.
Gallup will administer the survey, and as always, individual responses will remain confidential. Results will be reported only in aggregate to departments and units to create action plans.
Please contribute to this effort by sharing your experiences in the ten-minute survey. I look forward to reviewing the results with you on June 29 at our UCSF Staff Engagement Town Hall...
Dear UCSF Community,
I am writing to inform you about important COVID-19 policy changes that take effect on April 3, 2023, which correspond with the end of the emergency order from the California Department of Public Health. As we have done throughout the pandemic, we revise our policies to align with public health orders and with the best available scientific evidence.
Everyone entering UCSF facilities, including UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, will still be required to follow common-sense COVID safety rules, including testing if you develop symptoms and staying home if you feel sick. Please be aware of the following changes, which apply to all UCSF personnel regardless of location. More details are posted on the UCSF coronavirus website.
Screening
- Effective April 3, daily health screening with the Digital Screener is no longer required.
- The Digital Screener will still be available to provide faculty, staff, and learners with return-to-work/campus instructions for COVID symptoms, exposures, and infections. Using the Digital Screener will remain the best way to get these instructions and pathways to return to work when ready.
Masking
- Effective April 3, wearing masks is now optional, but recommended, in all non-clinical buildings.
- Faculty, staff, and learners are required to wear masks in areas where patients are present.
- Patients and visitors are no longer required but are strongly recommended to wear masks.
- Masking on campus...
Dear UCSF Community,
We are delighted to announce the sixth annual UCSF celebration of International Women's Day (March 8) and the start of Women’s History Month. From March 6 through March 10, the UCSF community is invited to recognize, honor, and celebrate the contributions of women at UCSF.
Sponsored by the UCSF Committee on the Status of Women, Office of Diversity and Outreach, Women of UCSF Health, and Women in Tech @ UCSF ([email protected]), International Women’s Day programming includes in-person networking events; a Black Women’s Health & Livelihood Initiative panel on community and wellness; stories of women leaders in health care; a discussion on mental health and resilience; and much more.
Please visit the event website for the full schedule of events.
This year’s International Women's Day campaign theme is #EmbraceEquity. The theme asks us all to imagine a gender-equal world, free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination—a world that is diverse, equitable, and broadly inclusive. This theme resonates here at UCSF, where we recognize that celebrating progress and taking action to support greater inclusion and equity go hand in hand.
We hope that you attend UCSF International Women’s Day events. All genders are welcome.
Sincerely,
Renée Navarro, PharmD, MD
Vice Chancellor
Chief Diversity and Outreach Officer
Professor of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care
Sam Hawgood, MBBS
Chancellor
Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Distinguished Professor
Suresh...
Dear UCSF Community,
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria early Monday morning has taken at least 3,500 lives and has left many thousands more injured and without shelter. While search and rescue efforts are underway, the scale of this massive disaster may not be known for days or even weeks. We do know that many people across the region need immediate assistance. They have been left homeless and face near-freezing temperatures.
Our thoughts are with those affected by the earthquake and those in our UCSF community who have family and friends in the region. If you have the means, I encourage you to help by donating to one of the organizations working to provide relief on the ground. They include:
- The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the world’s largest humanitarian network
- Turkish Philanthropy Funds, which will provide survivors with food, water, shelter, and medicine
- Project Hope, a global health and humanitarian relief organization addressing public health challenges
As we have before, let’s work together as a community to ease the suffering of the survivors in this widespread disaster and contribute what we can to help those in greatest need.
Sincerely,
Sam Hawgood, MBBS
Chancellor
Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Distinguished Professor
Dear Members of the UCSF Community,
I am writing to share the news that Francesca Vega, vice chancellor of Community and Government Relations, will be leaving UCSF for a new opportunity at Seattle Children’s Hospital.
Over the past few years, Francesca has led our community and government relations efforts in support of several of our most important initiatives. These include UCSF’s Comprehensive Parnassus Heights Plan – our 30-year vision for developing a state-of-the-art campus that will enable us to continue driving innovations in research, education, and patient care. She also has helped us lay the community and government relations groundwork for modernizing the century-old UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland as we plan for a new hospital pavilion and clinical facilities.
Under her leadership, the Community and Government Relations team also has expanded our Anchor Institution initiative on both sides of the Bay. Our ambition is to increase the training, hiring, and promotion of individuals from under-resourced communities; direct more of UCSF’s purchasing power toward small, local businesses from those communities; and explore investment options with social impact.
Francesca has played a significant role in garnering the public support we need to continue this vital work, and I am grateful for her efforts. As we conduct a national search for the next vice chancellor of Community and Government Relations, I have appointed Ellie Rossiter, executive director for community relations and strategic partnerships, to lead the office on an interim basis.
Please join me in thanking Francesca for her contributions to UCSF and in wishing her the very best as she...
Dear UCSF Community,
The news coming from Memphis is heartbreaking. Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black father and son, died after being beaten by five police officers following a traffic stop earlier this month. Like many across the country, we are struggling to understand how another Black person has died in a situation many of us would never consider life-threatening. Our thoughts go out to the Nichols family and his friends.
The familiarity of this tragic narrative is beyond frustrating. Though efforts to strengthen policing practices across the nation have been made since the passing of George Floyd, further constructive changes are needed. For what we witnessed in the death of Tyre Nichols was more than a catastrophic failure in policing, it was an attack on our humanity. We grieve and know that it is not enough.
The coming days will be a trying time as more information about the circumstances of Mr. Nichols’s death becomes public. The videos of how the Memphis police confronted Mr. Nichols are difficult to watch. For many, this incident may trigger traumatic feelings, and we urge you to connect with others if that would be helpful. You may also reach out to UCSF’s counseling resources for students, faculty, and staff for additional support.
As always, please take care of yourself and those around you.
Sincerely,
Sam Hawgood, MBBS
Chancellor
Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Distinguished Professor
J. Renee Navarro, PharmD, MD...
As more employees and patients return to UCSF campuses, we are challenged with increased parking demand primarily at Parnassus Heights and Mission Bay. To better accommodate the needs of all of our constituents, and preserve parking close to our health care facilities for patients and visitors, we are making changes effective Monday, February 6. They include:
- Expanding valet service for employees at the Ambulatory Care Center (ACC) Garage at Parnassus Heights which will increase employee parking by 150 spots.
- Discontinuing the daily discounted employee parking rate ($26) at two locations: Millberry Union (MU) Garage at Parnassus Heights, and Medical Center Garage and lots at Mission Bay. Daily discounted rates were introduced during COVID-19, and while we will not fully discontinue daily rates, we need to eliminate discounts from patient parking areas. The daily discounted employee rate continues to be offered at the ACC Garage and all other non-Medical Center parking locations in Mission Bay.
- Promoting conveniently located non-UCSF facilities.
We continue to encourage you to use UCSF Shuttles, public transportation, and transportation options such as biking, ride share, and carpools, which also contribute to our sustainability efforts and goal to reach carbon neutrality.
Ensuring patients and their visitors have convenient access to UCSF health care is one of our top priorities, and we greatly appreciate...