UCSF Names Interim Director of Center for Health Professions
Sunita Mutha Takes Helm as Founding Director Ed O'Neil Retires
After 20 years as founding director of the Center for the Health Professions (CHP) at UCSF, Edward O'Neil, PhD, is retiring at the end of June and Sunita Mutha has been named interim director, according to John Featherstone, dean of the UCSF School of Dentistry.
Sunita Mutha, MD
"Dr. O’Neil has been an amazing leader for CHP, having built it from nothing, in 1992, into a nationally recognized entity today," said John D.B. Featherstone. "We wish him well in his retirement and thank him for his outstanding service and contributions to the health professions."
Featherstone announced that Mutha, MD, a professor of Clinical Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine in the UCSF School of Medicine, has been appointed interim director of the CHP, effective May 1.
"Dr. Mutha has been a very active member of the CHP team, and I am thrilled that she has accepted the position of interim director," he said.
O'Neil and Mutha wrote about the transition in leadership in a jointly released statement. "This transition will be an opportunity for the Center to take stock of its accomplishments and position itself to continue to play a vital role in pursuing its mission to transform health care through workforce research and leadership development," they wrote in a column on the CHP website.
Mutha is director of the Clinic Leadership Institute and has been a key member of the CHP at UCSF, where she is deeply engaged in leadership development for health professionals, with a special focus on emerging leaders and interprofessional training. Her scholarly work has focused on educational and organizational approaches to improving the quality of care, with a particular emphasis on the intersection between quality improvement and health care disparities.
Mutha is also actively involved in educational activities for primary care residents as well as interprofessional student education, and has been the recipient of several teaching awards.
She graduated from Albany Medical College, completed her residency and chief residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and served a fellowship in the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars program at Stanford University.
Addressing Issues Facing Health Care Professionals
Ed O'Neil, PhD
O’Neil has served as the director of the CHP, a research, advocacy and training institute founded to assist health care professionals, health professions schools, care delivery organizations and public policy makers understand the challenges and opportunities of educating and managing a health care workforce capable of improving the health and well being of people and their communities. O'Neil's work has focused on changing all dimensions of the U.S. health care system through improved policy and leadership.
The Center for the Health Professions houses a number of initiatives that are designed to understand and address the issues facing health care and health professionals. The center’s programs include the California Health Care Foundation’s Health Care Leadership Program, the Integrated Nurse Leadership Program, the Pharmacy Leadership Institute, the Health Workforce Tracking Collaborative, the LEADing Organizational Change Program and the Clinic Leadership Initiative.
O’Neil is a professor in the Departments of Family and Community Medicine, Preventive and Restorative Dental Sciences and Social and Behavioral Sciences at the UCSF School of Nursing. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Alabama, and a Master’s of Public Administration and Doctorate in History from Syracuse University. In addition, O'Nei; holds honorary degrees from New York Medical College, the Western University of Health Sciences and two other Universities. In 2003 he was elected to an honorary Fellowship in the American Academy of Nursing.