UCSF Fresno recognizes innovative ideas that foster wellbeing, strengthen connections, and support a healthier workplace at UCSF Fresno through Wellness Mini-Grants.
Congratulations to UCSF Fresno’s Wellness Mini-Grant Winners:
Tom Johnson, UCSF PD, Public Safety
Seema Policepatil, MD, Department of Medicine
Hebah Ghanem, MD, Department of Medicine, Infectious Diseases
Milena Ocon, Surgery and Orthopaedic Surgery
Shreela Mishra, MD, Department of Medicine, Endocrinology
Leigh McCarthy, UCSF Fresno Neurology
Congratulations to Geetha Sivasubramanian, MD, chief of the division of Infectious Diseases at UCSF Fresno, on joining the Undergraduate Medical Education team as Inquiry Advisor.
Congratulations and welcome to Kao Houa Vang, MD, SJV PRIME Class of 2022, on joining the Department of Family and Community Medicine as faculty.
Congratulations to all recipients of the Innovations Funding for Education Grants awarded for 2026-2027. The Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators is pleased to announce 24 new Innovations Funding awards for the 2026-2027 academic year. Totaling just over $440,000, these intramural grants address a range of priorities in teaching and learning approaches and curricular content areas and are expected to make significant contributions to educational excellence at UCSF. “Stories of the Central Valley: Interdepartmental Workshops in Narrative Medicine at UCSF Fresno” was one of the projects funded. Principal Investigators: Dumindra Gurusinghe, MD; Jennifer Romo, MD, working with Carolyn Jameson, NP; Muhammad Khan, MD; Patrick Macmillan, MD.
Kudos to Leigh Ann O’Banion on the study “Unmasking the Silent Threat: Prevalence of PAD Among Patients of Indian Descent During Cardiovascular Screenings,” which was published in JVS-Vascular Insights, an open access publication from the Society for Vascular Surgery.
Congratulations to the 2026 UCSF Fresno Education Symposium Research Poster award winners:
Graduate Medical Education
- Carmen Estrada Huerta, MD, UCSF Fresno Department of Emergency Medicine, Medical Education fellow, “Using Artificial Intelligence to Improve Written Discharge Instructions for Spanish-Speaking Patients: An Evidence-Based Educational Series for Emergency Medicine Providers”
- Lillian Vang, SJV PRIME medical student, “Health Information Sources and Education Preferences Among Hmong Generational Cohorts: A Cross-Sectional Survey in the San Joaquin Valley”
Undergraduate Medical Education
- Sophia Church, UCSF Fresno Summer Biomedical Internship student, “By Teens, For Teens: Empowering Youth to Confront Human Trafficking”
- Christopher Crogan, MD, faculty in the UCSF Fresno Department of Emergency Medicine, “Dedicated Student Shifts, A Novel Curriculum for Medical Student Rotators.”
Congratulations and welcome to the following New Hires:
Jason Benham, AV Support Technician, ITS
- Samantha Gonzales, Academic Program Coordinator, UCSF Fresno Office of Health Career Pathways (OHCP)
- Catherine Lopez, Clinical Social Worker, UCSF Fresno Alzheimer & Memory Center
- Alyssa Maciel, Student Support Assistant, OHCP
- Jaqueline Magana, Student Support Assistant, OHCP
Palak Tohan, Student Support Assistant, OHCP
Rishita Pemminati, Student Support Assistant, OHCP
McKayla Sarmiento, Assistant Clinical Researcher, Clinical Research Center
Audrey Steele, Student Support Assistant, OHCP
Houa Vang, Lead Residency Coordinator, Department of Medicine
Kudos to the following Spot Award Winners:
- Lee Hagerty, Medical Simulation Coordinator, UCSF Fresno Clinical Skills and Simulation Center
- Marisol Vargas, Academic Program Coordinator, OHCP
- Nancy Xiong, Program Coordinator, Department of Emergency Medicine
- Maiah Madrigal, Academic Program Coordinator, OHCP
- Antonette Horacio, Administrative Assistant, Hematology/Oncology
- Evelyn Sandoval, AHEC Scholars Coordinator, California Area Health Education Center
- Marie Martinez, SJV PRIME F2 Coordinator, UCSF Fresno Undergraduate Medical Education (UME)
- Stephanie Covacevich, SJV PRIME+ Project Coordinator, UME
