Under the BODI Tree

Tom Bodenheimer — physician, researcher, mensch and architect of the redesign of primary care — was the focus and namesake of this weekend’s symposium at the University of San Francisco Center for Excellence in Primary Care.

Tom’s career spans 50 years, in which he has wasted no time in producing a prestigious amount of thought pieces about what he cares about most: providing and transforming primary care.  At the conference, he left no doubt in anyone’s minds that this was not an end point but rather a time to celebrate and that he’s got more to offer.

It’s also a time of transition – the UCSF Center, which he co-directed with his ever-present friend and colleague Dr. Kevin Grumbach, has announced a changing of the guard.  J. Nwando Olayiwola, M.D., Associate Director of the Center, will take on the mantle as its new director. Nwando is a Gen x’er with similar DNA to Tom’s; intellectually curious, open and engaging.  She is a family physician by training and was CHC, Inc. of Connecticut’s CMO prior to joining UCSF.

The one-day Symposium was exceptionally well designed with a Plenary and Keynote address by Dr. Bodenheimer and then  8 breakout sessions: health coaching, patient engagement, social mission, practice transformation, share the care, academic teaching, the social imperative of primary care  and how to integrate neighborhood systems, along with a robust Innovations café.  At the conference, primary care luminaries, colleagues, students and friends gathered from around the globe to discuss bright spots, the ten building blocks, understanding health policy and “Goldfish” brains – and to celebrate Tom as one of our shining lights of primary care.

Learn more about the UCSF’s Center for Excellence http://cepc.ucsf.edu/