The coronavirus pandemic is exposing deep health inequities across the US, with the highest rates of transmission among Native American, Black, Latinx, and economically vulnerable populations. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo and Sam Hawgood of UC San Francisco share how one of the nation’s largest health systems is taking discrete steps to support the country’s most overlooked communities. What can cities and health systems learn from one of the country’s top medical schools? Presented by Aspen Global Innovators Group
Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS is the Professor and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and the Lee Goldman, MD Endowed Chair and Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She is the inaugural Vice Dean for Population Health and Health Equity in the UCSF School of Medicine. She co-founded the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital that focuses on actionable research to increase health equity and reduce health disparities in at risk communities. She is one of the Principle Investigators for the UCSF Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, and she leads the newly launched UCSF COVID Community Public Health Initiative.
Sam Hawgood, MBBS, is the Chancellor and the Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Distinguished Professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Hawgood was dean of the UCSF School of Medicine and vice chancellor for medical affairs from 2009-2014, after assuming the role of interim dean in December of 2007. His distinguished career at UCSF includes serving as chair of the Department of Pediatrics and associate director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute. Hawgood joined UCSF as a research fellow in 1982 and was active in research until 2015. Hawgood maintained an active presence in clinical medicine for almost thirty years including serving first as division chief of the Division of Neonatology, then as chair of Pediatrics and physician-in-chief of the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital prior to becoming dean. He was also president of the UCSF Medical Group, the faculty association that represents more than 1,800 physicians. Under his leadership, the school become the top medical school in the nation in research funding from the National Institutes of Health ($439.6 million in 2013), with many of its departments also leading the nation in their fields, reflecting the caliber of scientific research on campus. As chancellor, Hawgood oversees the entire $6.7 billion UCSF enterprise, which also includes top-ranking schools of dentistry, nursing, and pharmacy, as well as a graduate division and affiliated hospitals.
