Board of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals Showcases Strength of Enterprise
The board of directors for UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals has recently expanded to reflect the growing reach and impact of the children’s enterprise.
Newest recruits Charles Cole III, Elisa Stad and Melissa Williams were elected to the board recently, joining forces with 16 other leaders from finance, high tech and nonprofit organizations, who are helping guide the two hospitals, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland (previously known as Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland) and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco, which affiliated in January 2014.
Cole, community engagement specialist at the Oakland Unified School District, Stad, whose expertise is business development, and Williams, co-founder and co-chair of the benefit concert Notes & Words, join as health care advocate and philanthropist Lynne Benioff, and estate, probate and tax attorney Thomas Bret, resume their board positions.
“We extend a new welcome to Charles, Elisa and Melissa, and a welcome back to Lynne and Tom,” said UCSF Health president, CEO and ex-officio board member Mark Laret. ”We are thrilled to have them and believe that their talents and experience will enhance the role of the board as we explore new opportunities to best serve our patients and their communities.”
Board officers include chair Louis J. Lavigne Jr., managing director of Lavrite, LLC; vice chair Shahan Soghikian, co-founder and managing director of Panorama Capital; treasurer Jeffrey Cheung, former president and CEO of Gateway Bank FSB, and secretary Edward Penhoet, PhD, director of Alta Partners.
Other board members are David Beier, managing director of Bay City Capital and a health care policy and economics expert; Farah Champsi, managing partner on the health care team at InterWest Partners; Timothy Kendall, president of Pinterest; Talmadge King Jr., MD, dean of the School of Medicine and vice chancellor for medical affairs at UC San Francisco; Jason Moment, co-founder and principal managing member of Route One Investment; Robin Washington, CFO and executive vice president with Gilead Sciences; and Carrie Wheeler, partner with TPG Capital and head of retail investments.
The board acknowledges the stepping down of two valued members: former retail CEO and philanthropist Barbara Bass Bakar, and pediatrician and allergist Michael LeNoir, MD, whose backgrounds and expertise have helped drive the success of the two hospitals.
“For many years, Barbara has been actively involved in promoting health care, and her efforts in the areas of cancer and patient care have made a difference to countless patients’ lives,” said Bertram Lubin, MD, CEO of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland and ex-officio board member.
“Michael is an extraordinary physician, who had earned a myriad of accolades. He has been named community physician of the year and one of the nation’s leading African-American allergists. It has been an honor for the board to be recipients of the services of Michael and Barbara,” he said.
Additionally, the board is indebted to the valuable contribution of James Feusner, MD, medical director of the oncology program at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, who has completed his term as president of the Oakland medical staff and as a result has stepped down as ex-officio board member. Kelley Meade, MD, medical director of FQHC Services and associate director of primary care, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, and current president of the Oakland medical staff, has assumed the vacated seat.
UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals enable patients and their families to access the largest network of pediatric medical providers in Northern California, including a coordinated chain of high-quality care from the Oregon border to San Luis Obispo, and as far East as Reno.
“The new board further cements the affiliation between UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco, and positions us to integrate research and academic activities to build on the strengths of each institution and provide leadership in adopting, measuring and publishing best practices in pediatric care,” Laret said.
UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals are among the nation’s finest pediatric medical centers, according to U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings. Their expertise covers virtually all pediatric conditions, including cancer, heart disease, neurological disorders, pulmonology diseases, diabetes and endocrine disorders, as well as the care of critically ill newborns.
The nonprofit hospitals are committed to providing outstanding care to children in the Bay Area, California and beyond. They are known nationally and internationally for basic and clinical research, and are at the forefront of translating research into interventions for treating and preventing diseases. The San Francisco campus is part of UC San Francisco, whose schools of Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry and Nursing are consistently ranked among the best in the nation and whose research enterprise is one of the top ranked in research grants from the National Institutes of Health. The Oakland campus has a highly regarded pediatric residency program and is one of only five ACS Pediatric Level I trauma centers in California.