Welcome Message from Our Interim Chief
Safety net hospitals occupy a storied place in the American health care system. For decades, legendary institutions like New York City’s Bellevue Hospital, Chicago’s Cook County Hospital, and Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital have occupied a critical role in caring for vulnerable patients, training generations of physicians, and spearheading efforts to advocate for systemic change for patients affected by poverty, racism, and structural inequities. At San Francisco General Hospital, we are proud to be a part of this tradition.
The mission of the Division of Hospital Medicine at ZSFG is to prevent and address health disparities through providing compassionate and evidence-based care, continuously examining and improving our own practices, and advocating for change to address longstanding biases in health care and society as a whole. Caring for
vulnerable hospitalized patients requires a holistic approach that emphasizes our patients’ individual circumstances and acknowledges the effect that societal failures and systemic inequities have had on our patients’ health and lives outside of the hospital. Advocacy for our patients is at the core of all facets of our work – clinical care, medical education, quality improvement, and research – and we view our mission as translating advocacy into practice.
The Division of Hospital Medicine was founded in 2007, and now comprises 39 faculty, 2 nurse practitioners, and 10 staff. We are responsible for most of the inpatient clinical care of patients hospitalized with medical illness at ZSFG, through our core hospital medicine services (which include supervising UCSF residents and medical students on the Resident Inpatient Service and providing direct care on the Faculty Inpatient Service) and our consult services (the Addiction Care Team, the Supportive and Palliative Care Service, the Acute Care for Elders unit, and the Medical Consult and Comanagement service). The last few years have been an exciting time of growth and expansion of our division. We have launched innovative clinical programs, conducted impactful research, led new educational programs, and directed efforts to improve the care we provide. Our division maintains a strong sense of social justice and advocacy, and we have used our voice as physicians to advocate against racism and lead anti-racist efforts at UCSF and beyond.
The strength of the ZSFG Division of Hospital Medicine is its people. Working with inspiring colleagues who are mission-driven enhances meaning in our work. We strive to create a climate that values diversity and individual identities and strive for our faculty to have fulfilling clinical and academic careers while supporting important personal and family needs. Our faculty benefit from a robust faculty development program and guidance from peers in the division, which include faculty who are master clinicians, hold leadership roles in medical education and hospital leadership, and have received numerous awards for their clinical care, advocacy, and improvement efforts. Our invaluable staff are our backbone, ensuring that our patients receive the care they need, and faculty are supported. As a division, our ethos is to support each other, be it on a busy clinical shift or on an academic project. I am proud and grateful to work alongside such a talented and inspirational group of colleagues.
Please explore our website to get a more detailed picture of our division’s activities and opportunities, and please feel free to reach out to me directly with any questions.
Sincerely,
Larissa Thomas, MD, MPH
Interim Chief, ZSFG Division of Hospital Medicine