A Call to Action

At UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals, we’re committed to training the next generation of pediatric specialists to deliver world-class medical care. We’re also focused on building a future where all children have an equal opportunity to achieve good health.

To advance both of these goals, we created the Pediatric Leadership for the Underserved (PLUS) program. This innovative residency develops new doctors into leaders who advance health equity for children.
 
In addition to their clinical education, residents receive intensive leadership training that focuses on transformation of self, systems, people, and organizations, with the ultimate goal of building a health care system that allows every child to reach their full potential. 

“We’re training young leaders with a passion for health equity to go on to make a difference in the world,” says Jyothi Marbin, MD, PLUS Program Director.

Established in 2004, PLUS became the first program in the nation to incorporate explicit leadership development to serve vulnerable children into its core curriculum. PLUS residents have 7 weeks of protected time each year to participate in an intensive leadership curriculum. The PLUS curriculum helps residents understand existing systems of health care delivery through a structural competency framework, and provides residents with tools for health systems innovation. Over the course of their residency, PLUS residents partner with community organizations to participate in a project to help meet a critical community need. 

The PLUS program has graduated more than 50 residents, with over 85% going on to pursue careers focused on the needs of vulnerable populations of children. Graduates have taken on leadership roles in public health, health policy, and academics at the local, regional, national, and international levels.

“The PLUS community, and what I learned about advocacy, leadership, and non-profit management, have been more wonderful than I had even hoped for,” says PLUS alum Jean Junior, MD, MPhil. “I just want to try my best in my lifetime to reduce poverty, hunger, illness, and human suffering.”