George F. Sawaya Appointed Faculty Director of CHV

George F. Sawaya, MD has been named faculty Director of the UCSF Center for Healthcare Value (CHV).  The CHV was created to advance rational, science-driven and clinician-tested healthcare solutions to improve the value of healthcare in the US by increasing quality and reducing costs via training the next generation of clinicians and healthcare leaders, reorganizing systems of care, and changing healthcare policy and culture. The Center is housed within the UCSF Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies (IHPS).
 
Dr. Sawaya, a Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences and Epidemiology & Biostatistics, has led the training initiative of CHV since its inception in 2012. He designed and implemented the Teaching to Choosing Wisely Initiative that sponsors awards to faculty, staff and trainees for collaborative proposals responsive to the priority areas of CHV, including preparing clinicians and healthcare leaders to recognize and appropriately implement high-value decisions in everyday practice.
 
Dr. Sawaya has had a long career at UCSF, serving as the inaugural director of the Pathways to Discovery Program in Clinical and Translational Research and the combined 5-year MD/MAS Program. He has recently served as the topic steward for high-value care in the UCSF School of Medicine Bridges curriculum. He is course director for the UCSF High-Value Care Seminar, a credit-bearing elective enrolling over 50 trainees per year from all four UCSF schools. He has been a member of the Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators since 2003.
 
His research interests include cervical cancer screening and assuring that the preferences and values of patients within the health care environment are reflected in clinical guidelines. In that vein, he co-Chairs the American Society of Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology committee on high-value care. He has also served as an expert advisor to the CDC, the American Cancer Society and the National Center for Quality Assurance. He is a former member of the US Preventive Services Task Force.
 
“I am honored to carry on the activities of the Center which has been critical in establishing and promoting a local culture focused on promoting high-value care,” said Sawaya. “We look forward to forming new partnership on campus, the Medical Center, and beyond to further advance this agenda at UCSF.”
 
Sawaya succeeds R. Adams Dudley, MD, MBA who has been appointed a Professor at the School of Medicine, the Institute for Health Informatics, and the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. Other members of the CHV leadership team include: Ralph Gonzales, MD (delivery systems), Catherine Lau, MD (Caring Wisely™ Director), Jahan Fahimi, MD, PhD (measuring healthcare value) and Claire Brindis, Dr. P.H. (Director of the IHPS).