As anyone who lives in the Bay Area knows, the real estate market is completely out of control. The School of Medicine has been hard-pressed to recruit residents, who cite the hot housing market as their major reason for going elsewhere. Debas says he's also had trouble attracting department chairs and research unit directors because of housing costs. And while the medical school celebrated its first annual staff appreciation week last month, Debas said, the school must do more. We must value and acknowledge our employees and do all that we can to assure that the UCSF School of Medicine is the kind of model employer that we all want to work for.
Compensation is a serious concern.
Encouraged by Gov. Gray Davis' proposed budget supplements to hike UC salaries and UCSF's own efforts to address salary issues, Debas says he's optimistic. While it is too early to see tangible results from these initiatives, I am hopeful that in the near future these and other actions will bring about improvements in our salary ranges and, as a result, the School of Medicine's status as prospective employer will improve. Following his speech, Debas presented the first annual Holly Smith Award to the School of Medicine to Neal Cohen, who has been named vice dean for academic affairs following the retirement of Bill Margaretten on July 1. A 1971 graduate of the UCSF School of Medicine, Cohen is recognized as a faculty leader who serves on a number of important campus, Academic Senate and medical center committees. The annual recognition of faculty honors and awards is available on the medical school's website.