SFMS Resident Member Receives Prestigious AAP Advocacy Award

Adam Schickedanz, SFMS board member and a resident at the UCSF Department of Pediatrics program, is the recipient of the 2012 American Academy of Pediatrics' Anne E. Dyson Child Advocacy Award. Adam was recognized for his work at founding and coordinating the Financial Fitness Clinic at San Francisco General Hospital. The award, supported by the Dyson Foundation, celebrates the outstanding efforts of three pediatricians-in-training nationally each year as they work in their communities to improve the health of children.

The Financial Fitness Clinic was selected earlier this year for a $10,000 grant by the SFMS Community Service Foundation and the San-Cop Foundation. Support from SFMS has been instrumental in helping more patients with financial hardship that impacts their health.

Ryan Padrez, MD is a second-year pediatric resident at UCSF Pediatric Leadership for the Underserved (PLUS) program. He currently serves as house staff at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, San Francisco General Hospital, and Kaiser San Francisco as part of his residency training.

Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Ryan moved to the Bay Area to attend college. He graduated from Stanford University and spent several years working on health policy in Washington, DC and San Francisco. Ryan completed his medical school training at UCSF and was the recipient of the 2011 Gold Headed Cane Award.

Ryan has been active member of SFMS since his first year in medical school in 2007. He serves on the Membership Committee and SFMS PAC Board.

I am a SFMS member because of my strong belief in the importance of supporting organized medicine.  After spending a number of years working in Washington, DC prior to medical school, I was often struck by the lack of organized voice for physicians within policy advocacy. While there may be some differences in opinions among medical specialties, there are so many more commonalities that unite physicians in their shared commitment to patient care. I find SFMS to be a group of physicians that supports this vision, and over the years I have greatly enjoyed working with physicians across specialties. SFMS is a diverse and inclusive organization that is committed to policies that improve patient care in San Francisco and state of California.

Which SFMS member resource is most helpful to you?

As a new, young physician in San Francisco, I find the network of physicians I meet through SFMS activities to be its most important member resource.  As one who has only seen medicine through the lens of an academic center, it is great to meet and obtain mentorship from physicians from different practice settings around the city. While social media and virtual connections are important, there is still something special about meeting and connecting with someone in person.

My greatest achievement outside of practicing medicine is easily my marriage to my wife Kate Gregg Padrez this past year. She is also a pediatrician at UCSF and is currently one of our program’s Chief Residents. Kate is clearly the better looking, smarter, and more talented pediatrician in the relationship.  We are looking forward to settling down in San Francisco and to the next challenge of raising a child, as we are expecting our first baby in March. I feel incredibly lucky.

What are some of the biggest opportunities or challenges you see in health care within the next five years?  
Easily the biggest challenge for health care in the United States in the next five years will be a genuine commitment to lowering costs while maintaining, or better yet, improving quality. The Affordable Care Act implementation will remain in the media headlines and it will be critical for physicians to remain active participants in its implementation. The ACA has taken some great steps to expand insurance coverage to millions of previously uninsured. However, these expansions will soon become unsustainable unless everyone works together to contain health care costs, especially in the government programs.

I love practicing Pediatrics because I enjoy the wide range of age groups and care settings that make the variety of each day really fun. My favorite aspect of the specialty is definitely the patients. Kids are incredible. Even when it is a tough day with long hours or poor outcomes, they always find a way to put a smile on my face. The opportunity to be apart of improving their health is a real joy.

My favorite San Francisco restaurant is El Farolito on 24^th and Mission. As a native to the Southwest with Mexican heritage, I have a high standard for Mexican food. Fortunately, the taquerias of San Francisco meet my bar. While I have had the privilege to eat at many of San Francisco’s best restaurants, my favorite meal is still three tacos with chips and salsa at El Farolito.

If I wasn't a physician, I would like to continue my professional course after college and remain involved in health policy in Washington, DC. Professionals within “the Beltway” have an amazing ability to stay in DC their entire careers, and I am sure I could have made it work in a meaningful way as well. However, the profession I would most like to try, is farming. I love opportunities to work outside and with my hands, and ever since I was a young child the vision of working all day on the farm has remained idealistic. Since living in Northern California, I think I might tailor my answer to farming in the wine industry. For the time being however, I will enjoy drinking the wine instead!

UCSF is currently recruiting pediatricians to act as preceptors for UCSF second year medical students, and hope you will consider serving in this critically important teaching role. As part of the "Foundations of Patient Care" course, students have four sessions this fall during which they are introduced to clinical Pediatrics. These are the only opportunities many students have to gain experience with children in the clinical setting prior to starting clerkships.   

Physician preceptors will be asked to precept four half-day sessions, on either Tuesday/Thursday afternoons or Wednesday mornings. The dates are:

• Tuesday afternoons (Dates: 10/9, 10/23, 11/6, 11/27)
• Wednesday mornings (Dates: 10/10, 10/24, 11/7, 11/28) - San Francisco based offices only
• Thursday afternoons (Dates: 10/11, 10/25, 11/8, 11/29)

Help make a lasting impression on a medical student with minimal time commitment! To learn more about the preceptorship program or to become a preceptor, please contact Patricia Ramirez in the Clinical Learning Unit at ramirezp@medsch.ucsf.edu or call (415) 476-5169.

HHS announced $68 million in grants to help children, infants, women and youth with HIV/AIDS who have limited or no access to treatment receive comprehensive care.

The grants will be awarded through the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program to 114 community organizations, health departments, and university hospitals nationwide that provide medical and support services for HIV/AIDS patients. Bay Area grant recipients include the Children’s Hospital & Research Center in Oakland ($1 million) and the Regents of the University of California in San Francisco ($522,553).

Newly diagnosed individuals are expected to significantly benefit from the funds, as well as previously diagnosed patients who have never received care and individuals with HIV/AIDS who have gone without care for at least one year.

In a written statement, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the grants will “target our resources to the communities that need them most.” She added that the grants will increase “access to comprehensive, coordinated primary care.”

The Ryan White program provides HIV-related services to more than 500,000 U.S. residents annually.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, August 14, 2012 press release.

Dignity Health, UCSF Medical Center

Dignity Health and UCSF Medical Center have signed a memorandum of understanding to integrate operations at their San Francisco hospitals.

The plan would integrate operations at UCSF’s Parnassus, Mount Zion, and Mission Bay campuses with Dignity’s Saint Francis Memorial and St. Mary’s hospitals.

UCSF and Dignity officials did not unveil further details of the integration plan but said it would not involve a merger or an acquisition.

UCSF and Dignity have worked on past projects, and officials said the goal of the new integrated system would be to lower costs and boost the quality of care. 

California Pacific Medical Center

California Pacific Medical Center announced that it had dismissed 120 consultants on a $2.5 billion construction project previously expected to begin in October.

Sam Singer, a CPMC spokesperson, said the hospital dismissed architects, engineers and planners—who collectively were costing about $3 million per month—until the project's future is more certain.

To meet state seismic building requirements, CPMC has proposed rebuilding St. Luke’s Hospital in the Mission District and constructing a new 555-bed hospital on Cathedral Hill. However, ongoing negotiations between CPMC and San Francisco officials have delayed the construction project.

Source: California Healthline, August 10, 2012.