Oakland, CA - The California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) today, announced the selection of twenty-six health care professionals who will serve as the inaugural class of the CHCF Health Care Leadership Program. The CHCF Health Care Leadership Program, a groundbreaking two-year fellowship, offers physicians, nurses, dentists, pharmacists and other health care professionals the experiences, competencies and skills to enhance effective vision and leadership of our health care system.

"We wanted to design a program that would expand the experiences of health care professionals beyond their chosen fields of expertise, and engage them in a rigorous business and personal leadership curriculum," said Mark Smith, M.D., M.B.A., President and CEO of the California HealthCare Foundation.

The fellowship is made possible by a grant from the California HealthCare Foundation and is administered by the UCSF Center for the Health Professions. The inaugural class includes twenty-six health care professionals, who have strategic leadership roles in California's healthcare system. The fellows selected reflect diverse areas of expertise including backgrounds in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, rehabilitation services as well as fellows from community clinics, group practices, academic medical centers, public health and health plans. (A complete list of the inaugural class of fellows is attached.)

Over the course of two years, the fellows meet for six seminars led by nationally recognized faculty experienced in business, leadership, healthcare, and public policy, including Brent James, MD of Intermountain Health Care, and faculty from the UCLA Anderson School of Business and the Executive Development Group. Subjects include building and leading teams, managing complexity and change, managing human resources, applying new technologies and information systems, understanding and using financial management tools, applying economic principles to health care, communicating within and outside of an organization, and understanding consumerism, changing demographics and the social context of health care. In addition to attending seminars, fellows will engage in ongoing study groups, on-line course modules, readings, and individual and group projects designed to complement their learning.

The fellows were selected through a competitive application process, which included interviews by the CHCF Health Care Leadership Program Advisory Board, a group that includes senior leaders in the California healthcare system. Albert Martin, M.D., Chair and Executive Director of the program, said, "The individuals selected for this program are professionals with outstanding credentials and a proven commitment to the health care system. This program seeks to help prepare them for the next level."

The California HealthCare Foundation is an independent philanthropy committed to improving California's health care delivery and financing systems.

The UCSF Center for the Health Professions assists health care professionals, health professions schools, care delivery organizations and public policy makers respond to the challenges of educating and leading a health care workforce capable of improving the health and well being of people and their communities.

For more information about the fellows or the CHCF Health Care Leadership Program, please visit our website at http://futurehealth.ucsf.edu/futureleaders.