HDFCCC Staff Resources

UCSF Cancer

A variety of career development opportunities exist for UCSF and HDFCCC Employees. If you are interested in going back to school to further your career, the Bay Area offers many healthcare professional programs. See below for common healthcare careers, local programs, and funding opportunities.

Healthcare Professional Career Development Program for HDFCCC Staff

A series of events open to HDFCCC staff who are interested in attending medical school, nursing/nurse practitioner or physician assistant programs. The program consists of online resources plus events and mentoring. Some events/mentoring are open to all and some require that you apply. Please see below for more information. 

 

Register here for the Cancer Immunology Mini Course.

This introductory mini course in cancer immunology is open to all post-baccalaureate HDFCCC staff members. Sessions are 1-hour long, every day for 1 week. See full schedule below. Sessions taught by HDFCCC faculty and senior fellows.

Sessions are in-person in Mission Hall at The Mission Bay Campus, or you may join via zoom. The zoom link will be sent after registration.

Session topics are:

  • Monday 3/20, 4:30pm-5:30pm, Mission Hall Rm. 1407: Introduction to Immuno-Oncology and to the Course (Lawrence Fong, MD; Bridget Keenan, MD/PhD; Hilde Schjerven, PhD)  
  • Tuesday 3/21, 4pm-5pm, Mission Hall Rm. 1407: CAR T Cells (Gregory Allen, MD/PhD; William Temple, MD)  
  • Wednesday 3/22, 4pm-5pm, Mission Hall Rm. 1400: Bispecific Antibodies (Rahul Aggarwal, MD)  
  • Thursday 3/23, 4:30pm-5:30pm, Mission Hall Rm. 1401: Checkpoint Inhibition (Katy Tsai, MD)  
  • Friday 3/24, 4pm-5pm, Mission Hall Rm. 1407: Cytokine Therapies (Adil Daud, MD)

 

Applications now open for the Application Essay Mentoring Program. Due Feb. 28. Click here to apply.

The Application Essay Mentoring component is to provide mentoring for those who are completing their medical school applications. Participants are paired with a current UCSF Med Student to receive 1x1 mentoring from April to June each year (to coincide with primary and secondary applications). Participants will also be organized into small working groups to work on their essays together and give each other feedback.

Roles and Responsibilities:

Mentees:

  • Contact assigned mentor to determine when and how you will meet (zoom, in-person, etc.)
  • Discuss with your mentor how often you will meet. Consider your schedule, the application deadlines and your mentor’s time. The mentors were told to expect no more than 2-4 hours/month, for April, May and June. Anything different would need to be mutually agreed upon.
  • Be prepared when you meet with your mentor. Have a draft of your essay ready or have specific questions prepared if you need help before starting your draft.
  • Build in time in your meeting for your mentor to read your draft. You can also send it, or specific questions you have, to them beforehand, but given their very busy med student schedules, assume they won’t have much time outside your meeting.
  • Plan to keep your meetings no longer than an hour.
  • Contact Jennifer with questions

Mock interviews are provide for those interested in medical school, nurse practitioner and physician assistant programs. Interviewers are current UCSF faculty, fellows and NPs or PAs. 

Application opens in May, participants are paired with their interviewer in July and interviews take place in August. Space is limited. 

Panel usually occurs at the beginning of June and features admission directors from medical schools, nursing, and physician assistant programs throughout California, discussing practical tips for applying to their programs. Each will give advice and answer your questions. Past schools who have participated are UCSF, SFSU, Cal State East Bay, UC Irving, UC Davis, Samuel Merritt, and Stanford. Open to all HDFCCC staff.

Online Resources
Career Path Videos

Career Paths: A Virtual Guide to Healthcare Professional Careers - A portfolio of recorded interviews with UCSF/HDFCCC healthcare professionals from different fields. Learn how they got interested in science/healthcare and their path to their current field.