The UC San Francisco Department of Emergency Medicine offers a one-year Emergency Medicine Innovation Fellowship.
Our program is designed for emergency medicine-trained physicians eager to become leaders in health care innovation, human-centered design (HCD), and system improvement. Fellows will engage in immersive training in HCD, clinical informatics, digital health, and implementation science while maintaining clinical competence and mentoring and supervising residents and medical students through eight attending shifts per month (all eight hours in length) at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco’s only Level 1 Trauma Center.
This fellowship does not include a master’s degree, but fellows will have access to various certificate programs tailored to their interests, such as MIT’s Design Thinking Executive Education or the UCSF Health Data Science Certificate Program. Fellows' work in the Emergency Medicine Innovation Fellowship culminates in a capstone project that includes a sustainability plan, ideally resulting in scholarly output through academic publications and presentations.
Salary and benefits are set by the UCSF Department of Emergency Medicine and the University of California annually.
Recruitment Mission Statement
The Emergency Medicine Innovation Fellowship cultivates future leaders in emergency medicine innovation by combining academic mentorship, applied design thinking, and operational transformation.
We:
• Seek applicants passionate about designing high-impact, user-centered solutions
• Offer rich training opportunities via UCSF’s Acute Care Innovation Center and other institutional resources
• Promote the UCSF PRIDE Values and Principles of Community in the approach to innovation and health care delivery
Why Choose UCSF for Innovation Training
- Diverse clinical settings, including San Francisco’s only Level 1 trauma center: Fellows work at high-acuity, high-volume settings, serving medically, economically, and educationally disadvantaged populations.
- Academic & innovation integration: Benefit from mentorship from experts in human-centered design, digital health, artificial intelligence, systems design, and implementation science, embedded in a dynamic academic environment.
- Structured education: Participate in a blend of workshops, project development cycles, and stakeholder engagement, combining design frameworks with real-world application and evaluation.
Protected time for scholarship: Fellows have dedicated time for academic work, with expected completion of:
- A leadership curriculum
- A certificate program in design thinking for health care
Our program also provides protected time for other coursework in informatics, data science, artificial intelligence, or other interests specific to each fellow.
- Bay Area lifestyle: Live and train in San Francisco, one of the most dynamic and culturally rich cities in the United States, with access to world-class food, outdoor activities, and a vibrant medical and academic community.
Christopher (Toff) Peabody, MD, MPH – Fellowship Program Director
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| Dr. Christopher (Toff) Peabody is the Founder and Director of the UCSF Acute Care Innovation Center, an initiative of the UCSF Department of Emergency Medicine that applies design and engineering principles to transform acute care delivery. Under his leadership, the Center has developed nationally recognized initiatives such as E*Drive, an award-winning clinical information hub, and advanced projects in digital health and human-centered workflow redesign. Connect with Dr. Peabody on LinkedIn |
Program Leadership & Faculty
Fellows receive tailored guidance from faculty within the UC San Francisco Department of Emergency Medicine and UCSF Acute Care Innovation Center. Faculty affiliated with our program are interdisciplinary leaders in digital health strategy, human-centered design, clinical operations, and implementation science.
In addition to Dr. Peabody, our emergency medicine innovation faculty includes:
- Christopher Colwell, MD – Chief, Emergency Medicine, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG)
- Malini Singh, MD, MBA, MPH – Vice Chief, Emergency Medicine, ZSFG
- Steven Straube, MD, MBA – Assistant Medical Director, Emergency Medicine, ZSFG
- Hemal Kanzaria, MD, MSc – Chief, Performance Excellence, ZSFG
- Theresa Cheng, MD, JD – Director, Health Equity, UCSF Acute Care Innovation Center (ACIC)
- Aaron E. Kornblith, MD – Director, Data Science, UCSF ACIC
- SOM Dean's Office Strategic Programs & Digital Innovation
How to Apply
Eligibility
- MD or DO degree with board certification or eligibility in Emergency Medicine
- Strong interest in innovation, design thinking, and systems-level improvement
- Excellent communication, teamwork, adaptability, project leadership, and interpersonal skills
- Ability to manage multiple projects and work in a fast-paced environment
- Prior experience in quality improvement or health care innovation
Please note that we cannot sponsor J-1 or H-1B visas for this non-ACGME fellowship.
Application Materials
If you are interested in applying to our program, please submit the following application materials via email to
[email protected][email protected]
:
- A cover letter outlining your interest in the Innovation Fellowship and relevant experience
- Curriculum vitae
- Two letters of recommendation.
- At least one letter should describe your leadership and project management abilities, based on prior experiences
- One letter, at a minimum, must come from a clinician and include commentary on your clinical skills
Deadline & Process
Application Deadline: September 15, 2025
- Early submissions are encouraged and are reviewed on a rolling basis
Interviews: Invitations for virtual Zoom interviews will be sent out by September 29, 2025.
*UCSF does not use race, gender, sex, or other protected categories or proxies for protected categories in the selection process.
Contact
For questions about the program or application process, please reach out to the Fellowship Program Director,
[email protected][email protected]
, MD, MPH.
Fellows on the EM Innovation Program
“Being an Innovation fellow at ZSFG has been the perfect way to gain insight into how innovative tools can move from idea to actual implementation in the clinical setting and make a difference in the lives of patients. To date, I have already led a hospital-wide informatics and design project that has deepened my understanding of how to be a driver of change in complex health care organizations.
The mentorship I’ve received has been incredible, from leaders in digital health and artificial intelligence (AI) to operations leaders at ZSFG who are always thinking about how to innovate care delivery. From the beginning of my Innovation training, Toff and program leadership have been actively invested in developing my career interest in responsible AI implementation. The ability to shape the fellowship around your interests makes this program one of a kind and certainly, a compelling option for anyone considering the next step in their emergency medicine career.”
– Karan Bains, MD, MBA, 2025 – 2026 Fellow
Meet 2025 – 2026 Fellow Karan Bains, MD, MBA
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| Dr. Karan Bains grew up in Northeast Ohio, between Cleveland and Akron. He attended Amherst College and majored in economics before moving to New York City to work in economic consulting for Cornerstone. He then attended medical school at Cornell, where he also completed an MBA with a focus on health care entrepreneurship and technology before coming to UCSF for his emergency medicine residency. He is interested in using innovative tools to improve emergency department operations and experience, with an emphasis on deploying artificial intelligence to reduce documentation burden and on-shift cognitive load. He has consulted for a variety of health care companies on topics ranging from valuation modeling to clinical strategy. In his free time, you can find him playing basketball and tennis, watching his hometown Cleveland sports teams (especially the Cavs), and staying active through HIIT workouts and hikes. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, Sara. Connect with Dr. Bains on LinkedIn |
