Reminder: Search for the Director of the Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion

UC San Diego is pleased to invite nominations and applications for the position of Director of the Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion. Jeff Daskalakis, Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry, has agreed to chair the Search Advisory Committee, whose members are listed below.

UC San Diego seeks in its Sanford Institute Director an inspirational scientific leader with a deep research background and proven administrative experience to work closely with faculty, staff, and administrators within the Sanford Institute and beyond, fostering excellence in research and discovery, addressing physician burnout, informing the medical curriculum on empathy and compassion, and community outreach and service. The director leads the Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion, providing overall strategic and intellectual direction for the Institute’s research programs, administrative structure, allocation of financial resources, and reviews of multidisciplinary education, wellness, and research efforts. The incumbent is responsible for creating and sustaining productive relationships with leaders across UC San Diego to ensure that Institute program initiatives are informed by and address the needs of those in the Health Sciences as well as the campus at large. The director builds bridges with institutions in California and beyond to facilitate scaling and dissemination of Institute programs targeting empathy and compassion to enhance the lives of medical students, residents, medical faculty, and the patients they serve. In so doing, the director enhances the visibility of the Institute and its activities regionally, nationally and internationally. The director works closely with each of the Institute’s six centers to provide strategic guidance, align programmatic activity, ensure proper financial stewardship, and evaluate outcomes of goals and milestones.

Reporting to the Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences, with secondary reporting to the Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, the director partners with academic and clinical leaders to guide research and care in the Health Sciences, and provides advice and counsel to campus- and University-level committees, as appropriate. The director chairs the Sanford Institute Executive Council and leads the External Advisory Board, which advises on programmatic plans within the Institute and provides oversight and coordination of programs and research activities to ensure efficiency and transparency. In overseeing the activities of the Center for Research in empathy and compassion, the director ensures transparency and fairness in all research activities and establishes and supports the Scientific Review Board and its panel of multidisciplinary experts who review and guide the research direction of the Institute.

Interested candidates must provide a letter of interest, current CV, and statement of contributions to diversity to the Search Advisory Committee via Kareen Escobedo at kaescobedo@health.ucsd.edu. Materials must be submitted by Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. The committee will begin reviewing candidates immediately thereafter, and will continue until the position is filled.

John M. Carethers
Vice Chancellor, Health Sciences

MEMBERS OF THE SEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR THE DIRECTOR OF THE SANFORD INSTITUTE OF EMPATHY AND COMPASSION:

Jeff Daskalakis (Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry) Chair
Cinnamon Bloss (Professor, Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health & Human Longevity Science)
Linda Brubaker (Clinical Professor, Ob/Gyn & Reproductive Sciences, Obstetrics and Gynecology)
Mariana Cherner (Professor In Residence, Psychiatry)
Julie Freeman (Executive Officer, Sanford Institute of Empathy and Compassion) Staff Consultant
Kama Guluma (Associate Dean for Admissions and Student Affairs and Clinical Professor, Emergency Medicine)
Evonne Kaplan-Liss (Clinical Professor, Pediatrics)
Douglas Nitz (Professor and Chair of Cognitive Science)
Jair Siqueria-Neto (Associate Professor, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science)