Teaching has long been extolled as the heart and soul of academic medicine, but economic pressures have led to a focus on research and clinical service to the detriment of education. Having determined that fundamental structural change was needed within the institution to respond to these forces and to revitalize the teaching mission of UCSF, The Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators was established in 2000 with the appointment of founding director Molly Cooke, MD. Helen Loeser, MD, MSc, succeeded Dr. Cooke in 2012; she holds the William G. Irwin Endowed Chair. The Academy was among the first cross-departmental programs in the country designated to broadly support and advance the teaching mission. Click here to learn more about Academy members.

The support of Haile T. Debas, MD, former UCSF chancellor and dean of the School of Medicine, was crucial to the Academy's foundation and funding. Click here to learn more about the history of the Academy.

Mission and Goals

The Academy's founding principles are to honor and reward excellent teachers and to provide service to our school and fellow educators. Our mission is to support and advance the teaching mission of the UCSF School of Medicine and the people who carry it out. Our goals are to enhance the status of teachers, promote and reward teaching excellence, foster curricular innovation, and encourage scholarship in medical education.

The Academy office is in close proximity to the School of Medicine Dean's Office and the Office of Medical Education. The Academy's core staff--a manager and two program analysts--provides the additional administrative expertise needed to support the Academy's ambitious programs, outreach to all faculty who teach medical students, and robust role in medical education at the national level.

• Helen Loeser, MD, MSc, Director
  
• Cynthia Ashe, Manager, ashec@medsch.ucsf.edu
• Kathleen Land, Sr. Programs Analyst, landk@medsch.ucsf.edu
• Karen Brent, Programs Analyst, brentk@medsch.ucsf.edu - supports Dr. Loeser. Please contact via email or main phone line (415) 514.2282.

 

Location & Mailing Address:

• 4 Koret Way, LR-102, Box 0563
• San Francisco, CA 94143-0563
• (415) 514.2282
• (415) 514.9264 (Fax)

Directions from 513 Parnassus Avenue:
1) Enter 513 Parnassus and walk through the lobby toward the Nobel Wall. Go up the stairs on the right to the second floor. Continue outside through the sliding glass doors; you are now in Saunders Court. Straight ahead of you is the School of Nursing.

2) Enter the School of Nursing, proceed up the stairs to the third floor and out through the glass doors.

3) Walk a short distance up the covered walkway; the LR building is on your left.

4) The office of The Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators is first on your right once you have entered the LR building.