UCSF School of Medicine Names Vice Dean of Education
Catherine Reinis Lucey, MD
Catherine Reinis Lucey, MD, has been appointed vice dean for education in the UCSF School of Medicine, effective September 1, according to Sam Hawgood, MBBS, dean of the UCSF School of Medicine who announced the appointment today (May 27).
Lucey will succeed David Irby, PhD, who will take a well-deserved sabbatical and then return to work on specific educational initiatives (see last year's announcement.) Under Irby’s leadership, medical education at UCSF has flourished and garnered national and international recognition, Hawgood noted.
Lucey is currently interim dean and vice dean for education at the Ohio State University (OSU) College of Medicine, and associate vice president for health sciences education for the OSU Office of Health Sciences. She is chair elect of the American Board of Internal Medicine and a member of the Association of American Medical Colleges MR5 committee, charged with overseeing the revision of the Medical College Admission Test process.
Lucey is looking forward to coming back to the UCSF community. After earning her medical degree from the Northwestern University School of Medicine, she completed her residency in internal medicine, including service as chief resident, at the UCSF-affiliated San Francisco General Hospital.
“I am excited about returning to UCSF because I honestly believe that this institution has developed the best medical education system in the country,” Lucey said. “This is the institution that will be able to develop educational innovations that help our students and trainees become the types of physicians who will solve our current and future health care challenges.
“On every visit I made to UCSF, I found faculty, residents and students who were actively engaged by the educational opportunities already in existence and excited about building on the many successes of the institution. The Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators, the new teaching and learning facilities, and the center for interprofessional education provided me with tangible evidence that UCSF takes great pride in setting the standard for medical education.”
“I am excited about returning to UCSF because I honestly believe that this institution has developed the best medical education system in the country,” Lucey said.
Lucey outlined a few of her priorities as the new vice dean of medical education.
“My top priorities as vice dean will be to continue to support our students, trainees and faculty, to advance interprofessional education with colleagues in the other health sciences schools, to identify strategies to build a more seamless continuum of medical education and to work with the leaders in biomedical science and clinical care to ensure that our students and residents are a part of the exciting work that is going on here.”
A Passionate Advocate for Education
At OSU, Lucey has overseen undergraduate medical education, graduate medical education, and continuing medical education, as well as the schools of allied health and biomedical sciences. As interim dean, Lucey has unified the educational programs across the continuum of medical education and has advanced interprofessional collaboration in education, according to Hawgood.
Lucey's areas of expertise include professionalism, clinical problem solving and learner remediation. She has been a passionate advocate for using education to advance the quality and safety of patient care and to prepare leaders capable of solving current problems in health care and health care delivery.
She has advanced faculty development and support within the College of Medicine and has been instrumental in recognizing the contributions of faculty in all mission areas. Under her leadership, Ohio State has employed a novel paradigm of professionalism across the medical center.
Before joining Ohio State in 2002, Lucey was a clinical instructor at Harvard University School of Medicine; assistant professor of medicine at the University of Texas, San Antonio; and associate professor of medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
Lucey has won numerous honors and awards during her career, including several teacher of the year awards, a mentor of the year award and the Faculty Teaching Award in 2009.
About the UCSF School of Medicine
Consistently ranked among the nation's top medical schools, the UCSF School of Medicine earns its greatest distinction from its outstanding faculty – among them are three Nobel laureates, 70 Institute of Medicine members, 59 American Academy of Arts and Sciences members, 41 National Academy of Sciences members, and 16 Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators.
UCSF’s educational enterprise has received national recognition across its specialties from a variety of sources.
Among these, US News & World Report consistently ranks UCSF professional programs among the most outstanding nationwide. The 2010-2011 survey on best graduate schools ranks the UCSF School of Medicine fourth in research and fifth in training the next leaders in primary care – the only university in the nation to rank in the top five in both categories.