I am delighted to announce that I have appointed Manuel Tapia as our inaugural Department of Family and Community Medicine Vice Chair for Diversity, effective this month. Manuel was selected for this position after an internal open search process overseen by a department search committee.
Manuel has been a member of the department’s faculty for several years after completing his residency training at the UCSF-SFGH Family and Community Medicine Residency Program. He is a core member of the residency program faculty, just completed a 3 year UCSF School of Medicine Dean’s Diversity Faculty Watson Scholar Award, and has been extensively involved in work on health career pipeline programs involving high school and college partnerships. He has been a member of the Department of FCM Diversity Committee, and the search committee was deeply impressed by Manuel’s longstanding commitment to and involvement in programs promoting diversity, inclusion and equity and his vision for how to strengthen this work in the department and beyond.
I would like to thank Michael Reyes for serving for several years as the chair of the department’s diversity committee. One of Manuel’s tasks as Vice Chair will be to assume leadership of the Diversity Committee. Michael has been a stalwart advocate of diversity, inclusion and equity throughout his career at UCSF. I have always admired Michael for his willingness to challenge us to keep a broad perspective on diversity that honors all facets of diversity including race-ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, and other dimensions. Michael has been a role model for me in how to prod people with an irresistible quality of charm and good humor that is highly effective in getting people to listen and respond. Michael retired at the end of June and will soon return on a part-time recall basis to continue working with the Pacific AIDS Education Center. I will very much value his continued contributions to the department and our mission.
Please join me in welcoming Manuel to this important new position in the department.
Kevin Grumbach, MD
Hellman Endowed Professor and Chair
UCSF Department of Family and Community Medicine