Office of Diversity and Outreach Hires a CARE Advocate
UC San Francisco’s Office of Diversity and Outreach has hired Denise Caramagno as the University’s care advocate. Effective Feb. 19, she will provide crisis intervention and ongoing support at UCSF to survivors of sexual assault and sexual violence and help them access campus and community resources such as counseling, emergency housing and academic accommodations.
Denise Caramagno
“This role is very important to UCSF and I support having dedicated resources to help survivors of sexual assault and sexual violence,” said Chancellor Sam Hawgood, MBBS. “Having a safe environment for our students, faculty and staff to thrive is a priority for this University.”
Mandated by University of California President Napolitano across all UC campuses in the wake of recent events, Campus Assault Resources and Education (CARE) advocates will help survivors of violence understand their options and accompany them through the process of reporting what happened to them, if they choose to file a report. The CARE advocate role is a new position in an independent office, separate from reporting and investigations.
“Denise has devoted the past 20 years of her career to the eradication of interpersonal violence providing victim centered advocacy and training in the areas of sexual assault, domestic violence, stalking, elder abuse and other forms of gendered and interpersonal violence and abuse,” said Renee Navarro, MD, PharmD, vice chancellor of diversity and outreach. “We are fortunate to have her join our team.
Caramagno served as victim advocate in the Office of the San Francisco District Attorney and worked in adult services and community mental health in Marin County. She has also worked and volunteered at several San Francisco and East Bay domestic violence nonprofit agencies. During her tenure at the District Attorney's Office, Caramagno worked collaboratively with community agencies to successfully obtain immigration relief for survivors of violent crime and testified before the Attorney General's Task Force on Domestic Violence.
Caramagno holds an undergraduate degree in women's studies and master's degrees in counseling psychology and forensic psychology from Mills College. She is fluent in English and Spanish. Before following her current career path, Caramagno spent much of her time riding a mountain bicycle and was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 2001.
To find out more about resources for survivors of sexual assault and sexual violence, visit our Sexual Violence Prevention & Response website.
For more internal-facing stories from the UCSF community, please visit Pulse of UCSF.