Dr. Jamie Yao’s interest in interprofessional education was sparked when she was a first-year medical student at UCSF. She had an idea to start a program, Word on the Wards, that would harness the skills of first- and second-year medical students to educate patients about their diagnoses and healthy behaviors during their hospital stay. One of her friends who was a UCSF pharmacy student was interested in participating as well and the elective expanded to include medical, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, and physical therapy students.

Yao explained, “Working with students from other professions helped me appreciate interprofessionalism, and what it could do for both the patients and for me as a healthcare provider, because I was able to learn so much from the other students.”

After completing her internal medicine residency, Yao joined the faculty in the Department of Medicine. She works as a hospitalist at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, collaborating with nurses, pharmacists, social workers, and physical therapists in the care of hospitalized patients. Yao says, “I appreciate the wisdom that each member of the team shares. I learn from them every day.” As a faculty member, she now co-leads Word on the Wards with Kelly Han, MD. She facilitates small groups for the Core Principles of Interprofessional Practice course and is a member of the PIPE Clinical Curriculum Subcommittee. When she isn’t in the hospital, she enjoys reading fiction, ice skating, rollerblading, and taking city hikes.

Faculty and staff in the UCSF Department of Radiation Oncology received grant funding from the PIPE Clinical Opportunities Program to develop and implement a two-week interprofessional elective, Contemporary Practicum In INterprofessional breast cancer and sKin care (PINK). The elective focuses on improving the care of patients treated with breast cancer radiotherapy through an interprofessional approach to care. The idea for the elective was motivated by a move to shorter radiation courses nationally and internationally, necessitating an increased understanding of radiation treatment planning and toxicities.

Feedback from learners and instructors led to improvements in subsequent cohorts, with analysis of the curriculum planned later this spring. Contemporary PINK was led by multiple faculty including Lisa Singer, MD, PhD, Nicolas Prionas, MD, PhD, Steve Braunstein, MD, PhD, Florence Yuen, NP, Zeke Ramirez, EdD, CMD, and resident Jie Jane Chen, MD.

Congratulations to Kai Kennedy, PT, DPT (left in photo), vice chair for equity in the physical therapy program and the co-chair of the PIPE Classroom Curriculum Subcommittee, for being selected by UCSF students to give the Sumner and Hermine Marshall Endowed Last Lecture for 2023. The Last Lecture tasks faculty with answering one question: “If you had but one lecture to give, what would you say?” Kennedy gave a truly inspiring lecture (watch the video here).

Congratulations to Barbie Klein, PhD, assistant professor of anatomy at the School of Medicine and of Cell and Tissue Biology at the School of Dentistry and the co-chair of the PIPE Scholarship Committee. Klein received the spring 2023 Academic Senate Distinction in Teaching Award for faculty at UCSF for five years or fewer. Klein has expertise in interprofessional anatomy education and has been a long-time contributor to the PIPE program.