INDIVIDUAL: Recommendations on the Future of Community Engagement at UCSF

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We speak directly from our experiences as researchers, community advocates, and students at UCSF in saying that our institution has not earned the trust of the communities we serve. We write as members of the Do No Harm Coalition and other student allies.

In 2016, African-American elders in the Bayview approached the student group White Coats for Black Lives (WC4BL) to create a community partnership. They said, “Don’t be like UCSF. Don’t just do your research project, get your results and fame, and then leave.” As UCSF students, we have been inspired and challenged by the elders’ powerful wisdom, love, and resourcefulness during their now 4 years of partnership with WC4BL. We are convinced that anything that UCSF wants to study or do in the community needs to be supported and blessed by the community directly impacted by the issues at hand.

Therefore, Community Leadership Boards should be the driving force in determining how large grants to UCSF are allocated. Every gift over $10 million must have a mandatory community group of at least 7 people that meets every quarter to advise on how those funds are allocated and what research to prioritize. These groups should have veto power on how the money is spent.

[‘Difference is Power’ Mural at the UCSF School of Nursing featuring Sarah Gomez Erlach, Florence “Flo” Stroud, Marilyn Chow, Emma Deboncoeur, Mabel K. Staupers, Cliff Morrison, Red Cross Nurses in the Philippines, and Women of La Cruz Blanca.]-Artist Jessica Sabogal

We Demand the Following:

1. Community Leadership Boards should consist of community members and their chosen leaders who have been directly impacted by systems of oppression in the Bay Area. If UCSF aims to work on a particular issue or in a particular neighborhood, people from those communities must be prioritized - particularly those with intersecting identities. We recommend reaching out to community organizations working on these issues to identify community members directly affected by the issue.

2. Community Leadership Board members must be fairly and appropriately compensated for their time and effort with a standardized community-friendly finance and administration policy.

3. Community Leadership Board members should determine which research projects, direct services, and other initiatives are funded as well as monitoring and evaluating ongoing projects. Their expertise should guide research priorities and signal new research questions and areas of unmet need.

4. Community Leadership Board members should have the power to veto plans or put a stop to any research questions, projects, and services that do not serve the community.

5. UCSF must redistribute resources among the community as an integral part of its research activities. For example, any research gift to study homelessness should utilize part of its funds to advance solutions proposed by people experiencing homelessness. Since UCSF standard practice is to take 10% overhead on large grants, we suggest a fund developed from 10% of the gift value for community-driven solutions, allocated by the Community Leadership Board. In certain cases, the community may already know what solutions are needed without requiring a research project.

6. A Community Faculty Role should be developed to allow for community-based preceptors to teach both on campus and in community settings, with the explicit intention of fostering opportunities for people of color and uplifting UCSF’s values of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. This role would be based on and would have similar benefits as the Volunteer Clinical Faculty position.

7. Members on Community Leadership Boards who are enrolled in college should get UCSF credit on their transcript for their service.

8. Members on Community Leadership Boards should be offered authorship and acknowledged for any and all contributions to academic research at UCSF. Giving credit for their contributions will help advance the career aspirations of people from historically oppressed groups.

The reason why so many students, particularly people of color, can work as health professionals is because the communities of the Bay Area (specifically the “Basement People” and the Black Caucus) rallied and fought for our future. We owe it to the community to work hand-in-hand with those directly impacted and fight for our shared future.

Eliana Kim, SOM 2023
Ali Zahir, SOM, 2023
Lily Barnard, SOM 2020
Shalila de Bourmont, SOM 2023
Cassandra Thanh, SOM 2023
Nathan Coss SOM 2023
Michelle Tong, MS2
Jonathan Chu, SOM 2023
Benjamin Jones, SOM 2023
Nicole Boyd, UCSF School of Medicine, 2023
Kelsey Yiran Liu, SOM 2022
Reuben Aaron Hogan
Leena Yin, SOM 2022
Jay Bindman, SOM 2023
Nwamaka Amobi, SOM 2023
Reyoot Berry
Sally Oh, UCSF School of Medicine 2023
Nathan Coss, SOM 2023
Joey Shemuel, SOM, 2023
Rani Mukherjee, SOM 2022
Elaine Hsiang, SOM 2020
Lakyn Mayo, SOM/BioE Grad Program 2027
Leah Fraimow-Wong, SOM 2023
Janette Tang, SOM 2023
Shyam Patel, SOM, 2023
Evamae Bayudan, SOM 2023
Millis Faust, SOM 2023
Jackie Lin, SOM 2023
Fabian Fernandez MD/PhD Candidate 2024
Johanna Glaser, SOM 2020
Rani Mukherjee SOM 2022
Cristian Rodriguez CDU 2023
Prabhjot Minhas, SOM 2023
Kiana Nguyen, School of Medicine 2023
Maddy Kane, JMP/SOM 2023
Bronte Hernandez, SOM 2021
Deborah Gallegos, SON 2020
Alex Yang Ge, SOM 2023

[SIGNATURES WILL BE UPDATED PERIODICALLY]

STUDENTS: Please add your signature, UCSF school, and year here (i.e. John Doe, SOM 2022)

FACULTY, STAFF, & COMMUNITY: Please add your signature and position here

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