Dear UCSF School of Medicine Community,
I am pleased to announce the appointment of Stacy Sawtelle Vohra, MD, as UCSF Fresno Assistant Dean for Graduate Medical Education (GME) and Designated Institutional Official (DIO), effective September 1, 2024. I would like to thank Dr. Sawtelle Vohra for serving in these roles in an interim capacity since the Fall of 2022, and Peter Chin-Hong, MD, Associate Dean for Regional Campuses, for serving as the chair of this search committee.
Dr. Sawtelle Vohra began her career at UCSF Fresno in 2010 as an attending physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine. For the past 12 years, she has been part of the Emergency Medicine Residency Program leadership team – becoming the Program Director in 2017. In this role, she mentors residents throughout their graduate medical education, striving to help them choose a career path that meets their goals and supporting them in the development of an area of expertise beyond clinical medicine.
Dr. Sawtelle Vohra’s clinical activity is through the supervision and bedside teaching of medical students, residents, and Advanced Practice Providers while providing patient care in the Emergency Department at Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno – one of the busiest trauma centers in California, caring for a diverse, medically under-served patient population in the Central Valley.
Dr. Sawtelle Vohra served on the leadership council of the Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators from 2019-2021 and as a coach to prospective applicants, receiving the 2019 Academy of Medical Educators Service Award for her work. Other service activities include acting as the Director of Faculty Development and participation on multiple subcommittees of UCSF Fresno’s Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC).
As the Acting Director of GME and DIO for the past two years, Dr. Sawtelle Vohra, along with the UCSF Fresno team, has achieved significant milestones. These include the renewal of crucial affiliation agreements with clinical partners, the establishment of a governance structure that addresses program sizing—which has resulted in the expansion of several fellowships—and the initiation of an Endocrinology Fellowship. Additionally, they have developed and implemented a new process for the approval of visiting residents.
Dr. Sawtelle Vohra's strong commitment and leadership experience are key to expanding UCSF Fresno’s GME programs. This expansion will better meet the community's healthcare needs and enable more students to complete their residency and fellowship training in the Central Valley. I am eager to see her efforts to align UCSF Fresno's medical education programs more closely, strengthen current clinical partnerships and forge new ones, enhance faculty development, and establish interdepartmental mentorship programs for trainees.
Please join me in congratulating Dr. Sawtelle Vohra and thanking her for her dedication to the UCSF School of Medicine and UCSF Fresno.
Sincerely,
Talmadge E. King, Jr., MD
Dean, UCSF School of Medicine
