Congratulations to Jose M. Barral Sanchez, MD, PhD, for being appointed Vice Dean at UCSF Fresno. UCSF School of Medicine Dean Talmadge King, Jr., MD, made the announcement on Feb. 18. Dr. Barral Sanchez joins UCSF from the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine (KPSOM), where he has served as the inaugural Chair of Biomedical Science and founding Co-Director of the MD-PhD Program with Caltech since 2018. He previously held leadership roles at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, including Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Vice Chair of Neuroscience, Cell Biology & Anatomy.
Kudos to the UCSF Fresno Office of Health Career Pathways and Kulraj Dhah, DO, faculty member in the UCSF Fresno Department of Family and Community Medicine and Inspire Health Medical Group provider for being recognized among the Fresno Compact’s Business-Education Partnership Award winners. The OHCP was nominated for the Raices (Roots) in the SJV program, part of the Fresno-Madera K-16 Collaborative. Dr. Dhah was nominated for partnering with Fresno Unified School District to provide sports medicine services free of charge for the district’s athletes. An awards luncheon is set for April 24.
Kudos to Deedwania Prakash, MD, FACC, for receiving a 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award from the American College of Cardiology, California Chapter. Dr. Prakash was recognized in February for his lifelong commitment to the cardiology profession and patients, his innovative leadership, and his enduring legacy of excellence.
Congrats to Lily Hitchner, MD, on being named the inaugural director of Student Success at UCSF Fresno.
Congratulations to the staff at UCSF Fresno who were recognized with milestone service awards. UCSF Fresno proudly recognizes those who have reached a service milestone of five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 or 50 years:
20-Year Milestone
- Nick Rubalcaba, IS Supervisor, ITS, in 2024
15-Year Milestone
- Kelly Noorani, Facilities Director, in 2023
10-Year Milestone
- Monica Meza, Administrative Services Manager, HR, Academic Affairs, in 2024
- Milena Ocon, Surgery and Orthopaedic Surgery, Program Manager, in 2024
- Tiffany Robinson, Executive Assistant to the Assistant Dean for GME and DIO, and Summer Biomedical Internship Program Coordinator, in 2024
- Natasha Saleem, Health Professional Education Specialist, GME, in 2024
- Ana Zarate, Fellowship Coordinator, Hematology/Oncology, in 2024
Five-Year Milestone
- Barbara Anderson, in 2023
- Jannet Castaneda Sanchez, in 2023
- Maribel Flores, in 2023
- Melissa Gonzales, in 2023
- Trina Hughes, in 2023
- Joshua Kamimoto, in 2023
- Ashley Perea, 2023
- Noel Sandoval, 2023
- Bob Standring, 2023
- Casey Cassady, in 2024
- Summer Connery, in 2024
- Sydney Farnesi, in 2024
- Antonette Horacio, in 2024
- Karina Banuelos Reyes, in 2024
- Juanita Sprowell, in 2024
- Carmen Vargas, in 2024
- Denise Wells, in 2024
Kudos to the following UCSF Fresno staff for receiving Spot Awards at the All-Staff meeting on Feb. 5. Spot Awards are designed to recognize significant campus employee achievements and contributions for a specific project or task over a relatively short period of time.
- Grace Carlson
- Vianey Chairez
- Abby Her
- Michelle Horwege
- Kasan Jones
- Martha Kroll
- Sabrina Saldate
- Juanita Sprowell
- Bousaba Torres
- Ariana Zaghmouri
Congratulations to the following staff on their recent promotions:
- Michelle Newman, GME Trainee Affairs Manager
- Milena Ocon, Program Administrator (in addition to Surgery)
A warm welcome to these new staff members at UCSF Fresno:
- Ariana Aguilar, Administrative Assistant, OB-GYN
- Natalie Bautista, Student Support Assistant, OHCP
- Grant Cairns, Groundskeeper and Sorter, Facilities
- Hope Delgado, Program Liaison, OHCP
- Neil Dion, GME Personnel Manager
- Maytelah Fang, Administrative Assistant, FCM
- Prabhjot Gill, Student Support Assistant, OHCP
- Margarita Gonzalez, Program Development Coordinator, OHCP, CMSP SJV-MedBridge
- Melissa Kent, Program Coordinator and Advising Counselor, OHCP, CMSP SJV-MedBridge
- Kenneth Phommahasay, Clinical Research Center Coordinator
- Naomi Ruiz, Student Support Assistant, OHCP
- Evelyn Sandoval, Program Clerkship Coordinator, AHEC
- Kashlyn Siharath, Student Support Assistant, OHCP
- Katherina Thiesen, Clinical Research Center Coordinator
- Galilea Torres, Student Support Assistant, OHCP
- Cameron Tumey, Clinical Research Center Coordinator
- John Vang, Student Support Assistant, OHCP
