Call for Applications: 2025-2026 UCSF Health Network Executive Leadership Academy

March 10, 2025

A UCSF Health Care Network Program 

We are currently accepting applications for the 2025-2026 UCSF Health Executive Leadership Academy.

This is a seven-month hybrid program that will allow you to understand your strengths and opportunities, learn new techniques to motivate others, appreciate employee needs, and help you develop the competence and talents to drive productivity and success.

The program will feature UCSF and key partner CEOs, CSOs, COOs, CFOs, CMOs, Department Chairs, Chief Academic Officers, and invited speakers from business schools and other leadership institutes. The program's overall objective is to develop visionary and nurturing leaders within the wider UCSF Health universe who would contribute to our mission success within our framework of diversity, equity and inclusion.

This program is open to current and future physician leaders among UCSF faculty and members of the UCSF Affiliates Network.

Please reach out to Seth Mahoney, [email protected], with any questions about the program.

​Overview

UCSF Health is a complex, large health system that is consistently ranked among the top 10 hospital systems in the United States. It has multiple hospitals and locations across the Bay Area. It has recently transitioned from a medical center and health system to a wide-ranging Health Network. This large, multi-location and multi-specialty organization and its partner organizations spans a wide range of health care services. Such a multifaceted network needs a robust and deep pipeline of physician and administrative leaders who understand the wider UCSF organization, the intricacies of modern medicine including its challenges and are able to inspire and lead UCSF Health to greater success in an increasingly competitive environment. 

Topics 

The program will cover a range of topics through weekly meetings across four modules, beginning in September of 2025. Each session will be led by an operational or business, administrative, or physician leader, or a guest lecturer.

  1. Introduction to leadership: Understand your leadership style and begin to conceptualize leadership
  2. Business concepts: Introduction to healthcare as a business - concepts in finance, operations, strategy
  3. Focused leadership topics: Discussions on issues facing leaders: difficult conversations; change management; crisis management; physician burnout; diversity, equity, and inclusion
  4. Leadership roles: Roles available to physician leaders, strategies for moving into those roles, what qualities executives look for in physician leaders

Time Commitment

The program will meet weekly beginning in September. Most of the sessions will be conducted over Zoom, but about one session per month will be in person, generally at the UCSF Parnassus campus. Sessions will be 1-2 hours each, at a time of the cohort's choosing. Participants must attend most sessions, including the in-person sessions, to complete the program.

Additionally, the program will include a group project to be completed outside of the regular class hours.

Application

To apply for this program, fill out this application form.

The application requires you to upload a letter of recommendation from someone in your organization at the senior leadership level who has agreed to sponsor your participation in this course, and supports you in taking time off as necessary to attend this program. You will also be asked to share your current leadership responsibilities, and new leadership responsibilities you expect to begin taking on within the next year or so, as well as a personal statement describing your journey into a leadership role. Finally, applicants from UCSF must share a budget number. We will not process any charges against that number unless you attend fewer than 90% of the sessions, in which case it will be charged $5000. The form will need to be filled out in one session, and should take 15-20 minutes. Applications must be completed by May 15 to be considered.

Are you interested, but don't think this program is a good fit for you this year? Email [email protected] to get on the mailing list for future program announcements!