Wellness Design Team New

Amalia Dangilan Fyles has been a certified diabetes educator for 30 years working in the Adult Medical Clinic at San Francisco General Hospital. She coordinates the Adult Medical Diabetes Self-Management Education Program which has achieved certification as a Recognized Diabetes Program by the American Diabetes Association. In 2010, she received the “Hearts and Heroes” award for her work among patient with diabetes at SFGH.

Baljeet Sangha is the Assistant Administrator for Operations and Director of Volunteer Services and Materials Management at SFGH. Baljeet received his Bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley in History, and later completed his Master’s in Public Health with a Multicultural Specialty there as well. In his spare time, Baljeet is quite involved in working around creating youth outreach and professional development opportunities, as well as promoting cultural forms of dance and art.

I am honored to be a member of the Wellness Initiative Team and support SFGH’s commitment to advancing physical, spiritual, mental, social, environmental and emotional well-being for all; our patients, families, staff, providers, and the community.

Blue is working to give patients a greater role in their health care and health care decisions. Blue received her BS in Education and Social Justice and her Master’s in Public Health in Community Health Education from the UC Berkeley. Her background includes work with adolescents, immigrants, injured workers, and victims of domestic violence. Blue was the National Grand winner of the California Pacific Award for Excellence in Patient Education and received The American Cancer Society’s Quality of Life Award for her work with the CARE program.

Carolina Bravo is the Program Coordinator for the Cancer Awareness Resources and Education (CARE) program and the Lymphedema Education and Referral Program (LERP). Carolina received a dual Bachelor’s degree in Nutritional Sciences and Spanish at the University of Connecticut and more recently completed her Master’s in Public Health at Columbia University focusing on Health Promotion. She has been involved with several community projects in Connecticut and New York including nutrition education and environmental health programming. Carolina just recently moved to San Francisco and is very excited to explore this area of the country. In her spare time, Carolina enjoys cooking, playing tennis, practicing yoga, and hiking.

Dr Davi Pakter is a physician in the San Francisco Department of Public Health, and an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at UCSF Department of Family and Community Medicine. He is a graduate of Dr Andrew Weil’s Fellowship in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona. He completed his residency training in Family and Community Medicine at UCSF, and is board-certified in both Family Medicine and Holistic Medicine. Dr Davi has studied many “Complementary and Alternative” healing modalities and is passionate about increasing access to Integrative Medicine for all people. As director of The Healing Project, an Integrative Medicine pilot project, he is working to create a model of community health care focused on wellness which can be equitably distributed to all. The Healing Project integrates holistic healing therapies alongside conventional western medicine and is a step towards Dr Pakter’s vision of a sustainable, integrative public health care system.

Diana Coffa is a family physician and assistant medical director at the Family Health Center at San Francisco General Hospital. At the Family Health Center, she is working in collaboration with the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine to create an Integrative Medicine program for underserved patients (the Osher-FCM IM4U program). Dr. Coffa also teaches in the family medicine residency and at UCSF medical school about chronic pain management, addiction, behavior change, wellness, and integrative medicine.

Eric Nefstead has been a chaplain and educator since 1995. He is a Board Certified Chaplain (BCC) with the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC) and an Associate Supervisor with the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE). He has a Master of Divinity (MDiv) degree from Union Theological Seminary, in New York City, and is a priest of the Episcopal Diocese of California. He seeks to help people–patients, their loved ones, staff, and volunteers–draw on their spirituality to foster well-being and wholeness, regardless of their stage or condition of life. Eric is a lover of music, and enjoys music-making as a means of stirring hearts, enlightening minds, and enriching lives. He also loves to cook–using the wonderful produce from the Heartbeets program at SFGH.

Hilary Seligman is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at UCSF in the Division of General Internal Medicine and a general internist at San Francisco General Hospital. She is also affiliated with UCSF’s Center for Vulnerable Populations and Center for Obesity Assessment, Study, and Treatment. Dr. Seligman’s work focuses on food insecurity, or the inability to reliably afford safe and nutritious food, and its effect on the development and management of chronic disease (obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and heart failure).

Jenny Chacon, MPH has over 10 years experience in program development, policy coordination, health promotion and administrative management in public health for our most vulnerable populations. Currently, she is working at SFGH on the Rebuild of its $887.4 million facility on internal/external planning initiatives which include the development of a hospital-wide Community Engagement Initiative. Her prior experience includes working in DPH’s Community Programs developing a health equity initiative and leadership team as well as working in DPH’s Environmental Health section where she worked with San Francisco’s day laborer and domestic workers to improve their working conditions. Prior to coming to DPH, Jenny was at the American Cancer Society (ACS) where she oversaw the implementation of health programs across four counties. Jenny is currently the Chair for the ACS California Division Latino Health Disparities team where she the advises the Executive Team on strategic planning efforts for improving Latino health and outreach across the state.

Jill Samish is the Program Coordinator for SFGH’s HeartBeets Natural Food Program. Jill graduated from San Francisco State University with B.S. in Health Education and was trained as a Natural Chef at Bauman College in Berkeley. She also works for Riverdog Farm at the Berkeley Farmer’s market promoting quality, seasonal and local foods. Jill is inspired by cooking, fresh produce, animals, and her friends and family.

Joy Graham has been the Manager of SFGH’s Barnett-Briggs Medical Library since 2006. During her professional library career, she has worked in academic health sciences libraries, hospital libraries, and public libraries. Health information literacy is one of her primary professional interests, and she has implemented several projects aimed at increasing digital literacy in disadvantaged populations at SFGH. Other professional interests include the integration of knowledge-based resources into the electronic medical record and using information technology to deliver information to library users in novel ways.

Kelley Long is the Development Officer of Corporate and Foundation Relations for the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation. Kelley received her Bachelor’s degree in International Studies and Nonprofit Management from Pepperdine University. In her spare time, Kelley enjoys all things outdoors.

Maya Vasquez is a lactation consultant and project manager for the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative at San Francisco General Hospital. Maya is currently is in the Master’s Program for Nursing Science and Healthcare Leadership at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis. In her free time she enjoys spending time with her husband and three adult children, and exploring the beautiful outdoors of the San Francisco Bay Area.

San Francisco General Hospital’s Community Wellness Program Coordinator, Nasrin Aboudamous shared a passion for promoting health and well-being for individuals and their communities. Nasrin recently earned a BS in Health Education and minor in Holistic Health from San Francisco State University (SFSU). At SFSU, Nasrin worked as a Peer Educator with Peer Educators Advocating Campus Health (PEACH) where she helped bring awareness of the current health issues on campus through campus wide activities. Nasrin’s background includes working at two North Bay hospitals as well as interning with Heartbeet’s where she led the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and coordination for the Garden Giveaways. Nasrin brings a warm spirit, keen intelligence, and fine insight to this pivotal position.

Nikki Bengal is a recent graduate of San Francisco State University where she focused on the care of individuals living with chronic conditions. She currently works on several community health promotion projects, including Latino diabetic screenings and education, Dance Out Diabetes, Maitri AIDS Residential Care and home health, A type 1 diabetic herself, she’s especially dedicated to preventive care and promoting healthy eating and activity among those living with diabetes and other chronic conditions. Nikki was inspired to join the Wellness Center Design Team, to be in one of the “most joyful corners” of health care.

Ocean Berg received her BA in Sociology at University of California Santa Cruz, her MSN in Community Public Health/Clinical Nurse Specialist in Perinatal from San Francisco State University in 1998 and 2003 respectively. She is currently the Perinatal Clinical Nurse Specialist at San Francisco General Hospital. Ocean thrives in multidisciplinary work and strives to promote normalcy in high risk birth. At SFGH Ocean Co-Chairs the Surgical Care Improvement Project and Professional Development Council. Currently Ocean is representing the Association of Women’s Health Obstetric and Neonatal Nursing with MD Nancy Lowe in a Home Birth Consensus Summit. She has lectured throughout California for the Association of Women’s Health Obstetric and Neonatal Nursing on the subjects of Baby Friendly and Normalizing Childbirth. She has co-authored an article for the Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing on the topic of Baby Friendly and for Maternal Child Nursing on the topic of Skin to Skin in the Operating Room. Ocean lives in San Francisco with her two home birthed daughters, extreme sport engrossed husband and two calico cats. Non professional pursuits include outdoor sports of all sorts and enjoying her extended family of friends.

In her current position as the Health Education Programs Director for the San Francisco Department of Public Health leads a team of professional health educators who implement various community-based health education programs, and provides technical expertise on health education and prevention to other sections of the DPH and to community-based agency partners. She was formerly Program Director of the Newcomers Health Program of the San Francisco Department of Public Health since 1998, and managed a clinic- and community-based refugee and immigrant health program. She has presented at local, statewide and national conferences on community health education, health access, and refugee health issues and has about 15 years of experience managing and working on multicultural public health programs both in the US and abroad. Patricia Erwin has an M.P.H. in Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.A. in International Studies from The School for International Training.

Shieva Khayam-Bashi, MD, is Clinical Professor in the Department of Family & Community Medicine at UCSF. She is the Medical Director of the short-term Skilled Nursing Facility at San Francisco General Hospital. She teaches medical students at UCSF School of Medicine, and Family Medicine residents on the hospital wards of SFGH. Her special areas of interest are in spirituality in medicine, compassion and humanism in medical education, promoting inter-disciplinary team models of care, improving end of life, and providing care to underserved populations locally and globally.

Shermineh Jafarieh is a member of the San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center Hospital Administration Team. In this capacity she provides administrative leadership for Radiology, Diagnostic Cardiology, Clinical Laboratory, Pathology, AVON Breast Cancer Programs, and the new Community Wellness Program at SFGH. Shermineh has over fifteen years of experience within the public health field. She has supported and developed various programs, research and activities that facilitate access to quality health care for medically-underserved in San Francisco and Santa Clara County. Since 1993, Shermineh has been committed to breast cancer awareness, knowledge, and early detection. As the program coordinator of the Community Mammography Access Project in Santa Clara County, she helped establish the first standardized mobile mammography service tailored to reach the medically undeserved women in Santa Clara and southern San Mateo counties with partnered community based clinics and Santa Clara Valley Medical Center- reaching over 1200 medically undeserved women in it’s pilot year. Prior to this she was a Training Coordinator with the California Department of Health Services, Cancer Detection Section, working primarily with 10 Regional Cancer Detection Program Partnerships throughout California. Shermineh is also a certified group exercise instructor, teaching fitness classes around the bay area for over 15 years. She believes that exercise is one of the best therapies for healing the mind, body and soul. She believes at SFGH, “we are fortunate to have opportunities to promote wellness through building on the rich cultural/ethnic diversity of our patients and staff. This diversity allows us to draw upon wellness strategies already rooted in many of the cultural groups represented here, particularly in the realms of movement and nutrition.”

Sylvia Romero-Pagan is a Patient-Community Navigator at the San Francisco General Hospital-AVON Comprehensive Breast Center providing breast health education and Cancer Awareness Resources and Education (CARE) program. She is currently working on obtaining a B.S. in Nursing from San Francisco State University -Canada College Nursing Program, Redwood City, CA. Sylvia is a mother of two young boys that keep her involved in year-round sports and activities. She is also an avid runner and is currently training for her first marathon this coming spring!