As UCSF Fresno marks the 50th year in its journey of medical education, patient care, research, and community service, the transformative power of philanthropy has never been more evident. The visionary generosity of donors who establish endowed gifts elevates the institution’s ability to attract exceptional faculty members and learners. The funding enhances training experiences and advances groundbreaking research directly benefiting the health and future of the San Joaquin Valley and other Central California communities.
Unlike current-use gifts, endowments provide annual funding in perpetuity. The UCSF Foundation strategically invests the full gift amount, and a percentage of the total endowment value funds the donor’s intended purpose every year thereafter.
At UCSF Fresno — a regional campus of the UCSF School of Medicine — endowments fuel progress while preserving the legacy of pioneering and passionate faculty members and learners. As Jose M. Barral Sanchez, MD, PhD, UCSF Fresno vice dean, explained, they provide the rare combination of permanence and flexibility.
“Unlike short-term grants, endowments provide a steady, predictable stream of funding without an end date, which is incredibly important for UCSF Fresno’s future,” Dr. Barral Sanchez said. “They help us pursue important research and enrich training programs that directly support our communities.”
Barral Sanchez also recognizes that endowments play a key role in recruiting and retaining faculty members and creating a learning environment that entices trainees to stay in the Central Valley.
“Endowments not only reflect that the community values UCSF Fresno but they are also a way of letting faculty members know they are valued here, which enhances our ability to recruit and retain outstanding people,” he said. “For trainees, endowments create a positive environment that compels many to stay and practice in the valley.”
Endowed gift enables training in lifesaving technology
That was the hope of Gene Kallsen, MD, a beloved faculty member known as the “father” of emergency medical services in Fresno County. Kallsen mentored hundreds of trainees during his 40-year career at UCSF Fresno. Colleagues, former patients, mentees, friends, clinical partners, and family established an endowment to keep his dream alive.
One of his mentees, Danielle Campagne, MD, FACEP, now serves as UCSF Fresno’s chief of emergency medicine and holds the Gene W. Kallsen, MD, Endowed Chair in Emergency Medicine. This recognition has deep personal and professional meaning for her.
“He was my first boss, my mentor, and a true visionary,” Campagne said. “Being the recipient of an endowed chair in Gene’s name is an honor. It motivates me to continue his legacy of helping trainees truly understand rural medicine, and to stay and practice emergency medicine in our community,” she said.
In the spirit of Kallsen’s foresight and ambition to be a leader in emergency medicine, Campagne uses funding from the endowed chair to train faculty members and learners on new lifesaving technologies.
Ultrasound, she explained, is becoming an always-accessible tool in the Emergency Department, allowing physicians to quickly assess, make a diagnosis, or rule out conditions at the bedside without waiting for traditional imaging. This can result in better outcomes for the patient. Campagne allocated some of the funds from the professorship to send Jeff Nahn, MD, an assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine, to an advanced ultrasound course. He brought back added expertise and trained more than 50 UCSF Fresno faculty physicians in the use of ultrasound technology.
The staff’s new ultrasound skills prompted Community Regional Medical Center to acquire state-of-the-art ultrasound machines that provide faster diagnosis and lifesaving measurements when a patient is in immediate danger.
This led to the launch of the UCSF Fresno Advanced Emergency Medicine Ultrasonography Fellowship — the first of its kind in our region — which trains physicians to serve as ultrasound leaders in academic and community hospital settings.
For Dr. Campagne, the ripple effect is the true power of endowed support.
“The money really matters because it trickles down to patients, faculty members, and learners here and across the country,” she said. “Training one person can mean that dozens of clinicians gain new skills, which improves patient flow, speeds diagnoses, and ultimately saves lives.”
Family and Community Medicine faculty members explore high-impact opportunities
Endowment funding also provides new opportunities for faculty members in the Department of Family and Community Medicine. Recently, the Alex Moir, MD, Endowed Fund in Family and Community Medicine came to fruition. Named for the former chief of that department at UCSF Fresno, the fund advances work in rural medicine — the heart of UCSF Fresno’s mission and the lifeblood of Moir’s decades-long career, which was cut short 10 years ago by a tragic skiing accident.
Ivan Gomez, MD, chief of family and community medicine, reflected on Moir’s compassionate care, his connection with the Central Valley, and his notable impact on his trainees.
“Dr. Moir mentored me in my formative years in community medicine,” Gomez said. “What stood out was that he helped us really understand the community and rural medicine. It feels good to support initiatives that will continue to honor what he did for his patients and what he brought to his colleagues and mentees.”
The consistent funding stream provided by the endowment will empower the Department of Family and Community Medicine faculty to pursue community-driven research and initiatives. Gomez has requested proposals for research and programs that will honor Moir’s commitment to the community. The first round of proposals included developing multilingual maternal health education tools for new parents, piloting survival and heatstroke research projects, and supporting faculty-initiated studies that address the realities of rural practice.
“I would love to see the work supported by this funding directly impact our rural communities — whether expanding a clinical service line, creating a rural medicine track, or developing research that improves health outcomes,” Gomez said. “That would be the best way to carry forward Alex’s legacy.”
To learn more about the different types of endowed funds and other giving options, please contact Kathleen Smith, associate director of development for UCSF Fresno, at (559) 499-6426 or [email protected]
