Cannesson	Clarke
Gleason	Lin
Marcin	Maurer
Song	Tolia
Tong	Vakharia

The University of California's Center for Health Quality and Innovation has awarded fellowships to 10 recipients from five UC campuses, supporting projects to improve the quality and value of care delivered by UC Health.

The yearlong UC Health Fellowships will build leadership skills and address a range of projects including ones to increase access to specialty care, expand the use of telehealth and enhance patient recovery after surgery. The fellows' institutions will receive a $50,000 award that will support a portion of the salary and benefits associated with their time spent on their projects.

UC Health launched the center in 2010 as part of its commitment to improve the quality of care to medically vulnerable Californians while also developing strategies to improve the delivery of care to help contain costs. The center is governed by a board composed of the six UC medical school deans, five UC medical center CEOs and chaired by the UC Health senior vice president.

The CHQI board selected the fellows from 36 applications by UC faculty and staff, which were evaluated on the leadership potential of the applicant, mentorship opportunity at the campus for the applicant, and the strength and strategic relevance of the proposed project. Fellows will receive mentorship from their campuses and will meet with the other fellows and leadership from all five UC medical center campuses.

The fellows include:

UC Davis

• James Marcin, M.D., M.P.H., professor of pediatrics and pediatric critical care, "Telemedicine Program in Pediatrics"
• Joo Song, M.D., assistant professor of pathology, "Expand the UC Davis Pathology Consortium to Southern California Medical Centers"
• Elisa Tong, M.D., associate professor of internal medicine, "Tobacco Cessation Incentive Program Using Electronic Medical Records (EMRs)"

UC Irvine

• Maxime Cannesson, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of clinical anesthesiology, "Systemwide Dissemination of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery Toolbox"
• Shermeen Vakharia, M.D., clinical professor and vice chair for quality and patient safety, "Urological Surgical Home: A Transformative Model of Perioperative Care"

UCLA

• Robin Clarke, M.D., M.S.H.S., medical director for quality for the UCLA Faculty Practice Group and assistant clinical professor of general internal medicine, "Engaging Faculty: A Forum for Value-Based Improvement"
• Anne Lin, M.D., assistant professor-in-residence of colorectal surgery, "Implementation of an Organized Process of Care Program for Facilitating Discharge Transition"

UC San Diego

• Vaishal Tolia, M.D., M.P.H., assistant clinical professor of emergency medicine, "ED-TITRATE - Emergency Department Telemedicine Initiative to Rapidly Accommodate in Times of Emergency"

UC San Francisco

• Nathaniel Gleason, M.D., assistant clinical professor of medicine, "E-consults - Expansion of E-consults to Multiple Specialty Services"
• Toby Maurer, M.D., professor of clinical dermatology, "Teledermatology Use in Triage Consultations"

Related link:
View fellow biographies