This story is the launch of our new UCSF People series, highlighting the many dedicated individuals across the UCSF community who advance health worldwide through research, education, and clinical care in their everyday work.
Tamara Villarina was a biology major as an undergrad.
So, it would make sense that she’s been at UC San Francisco for 28 years. But Villarina is not in the position you might expect, instead using her passion and leadership skills to advance health in different ways across the UCSF community and beyond.
As retail services manager under UCSF Campus Life Services, Villarina works with the many retailers that lease space on UCSF’s campuses – mainly food vendors like SF Kebab, Ladle and Leaf, Peasant Pies and Carmelina’s Taqueria. Villarina also counts ATMs, a credit union and vending under her growing purview.
In all, Villarina interacts with more than 20 businesses on a day-to-day basis. “We act as their connection to the university,” she said.
The San Francisco native and mother of three somehow balances her at-home commitments with a busy work schedule, always furthering UCSF’s overall mission while also fitting in some time for herself. “The people who work at UCSF, they really care,” she said. “I’m part of it. I’m very proud to work here. I really am.”
Tag along as we follow Villarina through a day in her life at UCSF.
After making her 12-year-old breakfast, Villarina gets out the door with her middle child, 15, for a tight school drop off.
She’s got a full schedule of meetings and visits with UCSF vendors ahead.
Villarina arrives at UCSF Mission Bay’s William J. Rutter Center to start her day.
She runs into Jing Zeng, event specialist in Conference Services at Campus Life Services, in the kitchen. “I love connecting over food,” Villarina said.
It’s Villarina’s first meeting of the day.
This one is focused on the office’s Gallup Action Plan.
Villarina, Zeng, Amy Fazio, events assistant in Campus Life Services’ Arts and Events program, and Darla Parks, event specialist in Conference Services, discuss creating a shadow program to increase visibility and cross training opportunities across their office.
“It’s so rewarding to watch an idea become reality,” she said.
It’s lunchtime. But that doesn’t mean food for Villarina just yet.
She and her colleagues hit an F45 circuit training class at the Bakar Fitness and Recreation Center. “F45 kicks my butt, but in the best way,” Villarina laughed. “I love it.”
The high-intensity interval sessions include lifting 25-pound medicine balls and pull ups, as Baker’s operations manager, Greg Ong, and Villarina find time to share a laugh.
Is there anything better than going out with friends?
For a brisk walk down Gene Friend Way, Villarina is joined by colleagues Ka Tsang, financial analyst for Campus Life Services’ Retail, Conference Services and Arts and Events, Jen Dowd, associate director of Retail, Conference Services, and Arts and Events, and Jamie DeAraujo, Arts and Events manager.
But this isn’t just a food run. It’s also a business trip.
Villarina will knock off two for the price of one and swing by two of Mission Bay’s food tenants while enjoying some much-needed nourishment after her workout.
After a visit to Público Urban Taqueria to check on the restaurant’s fire suppression system, Villarina stops by Peasant Pies a few doors down and chats with their new cashiers and servers.
“They’re part of our family, our tenant family,” Villarina said.
Nothing could be truer for Villarina, who’s known a select few UCSF tenants for decades. Some have had their babies at UCSF hospitals themselves, others’ kids have learned to swim at the UCSF Parnassus Heights’ Millberry Fitness and Recreation Center – all while getting to know UCSF patients and employees through their business.
“Things like that are so touching,” she added.
Lunch is over. The grind doesn’t stop.
Back at the Rutter Center, her team holds an internal communications debrief.
It’s not just tenants for Villarina.
She and Nick Vogel, event specialist in Campus Life Services’ Conference Services, discuss conference scheduling and pull reports on bookings for Rutter Center rooms for 2025.
“I work for a special place doing life changing things and I get to do that with wonderful people that I have come to love and think of as family,” Villarina said of her Campus Life Services colleagues. “Not many people can say that. I am lucky.”
Back home in San Francisco’s Richmond District.
“My mom is my rock,” Villarina said while getting a warm hug on the front lawn. In addition to helping Villarina at home, her mom, Eileen Villarina, is no stranger to UCSF.
She worked at the hospital on the hematology oncology floor “11 Long” at Parnassus Heights for 22 years. “My mom saw a lot of pain and suffering but she loved going to work every day,” Villarina said. “She loved the people at UCSF and formed a very strong connection with them.”
It appears her daughter has come to do the same.
