CTSI Spotlight: Paula Fleisher

Paula Fleisher is a navigator with CTSI's Community Engagement and Health Policy (CE&HP) program and San Francisco Health Improvement Partnerships (SF HIP), an innovative collaboration between UCSF and public, private, and nonprofit partners to link research with practice to improve health in the Bay Area, beginning with San Francisco.

Paula Fleisher

How long have you been working at UCSF?

I’ve worked at UCSF for almost 12 years. I’ve been lucky enough to have had some interesting and rewarding jobs, met great colleagues, and learned a lot.

What do you do at UCSF and how is it connected to the UCSF mission?

I’m a navigator in the Community Engagement & Health Policy program of CTSI. I usually tell people I’m a “research navigator” and if they’ve ever encountered a clinical navigator – a guide – they kind of get the idea. If I want to boil it down further for people who aren’t familiar with clinical navigators or who don’t speak in code or acronyms, I tell them I’m a staff member at UCSF who helps make connections and partnerships between UCSF researchers and the outside world. I make and support those linkages with organizations, agencies, clinics, and neighborhoods where research also happens, and where research is needed and can be applied. There are lots of other good words for the work I do. At times I’ve found it helpful to tell people I’m a liaison, connector, bridge builder, translator, matchmaker, facilitator, mediator, counselor, broadcaster, and consultant who can get new partners involved in various facets of research projects. I can also provide support at various stages in the life of a research project, whether that involves a launch, moving research forward, or dissemination.

I’m part of a team of navigators and faculty that is mission critical to UCSF’s goal of improving health because our work is essential to making UCSF’s rich research resources and ideas acceptable, feasible, and relevant to real world applications. We also bring community skills, talent, and ideas to the academic table. Our efforts are aimed at bringing an end to health and health care disparities, and creating health equity in San Francisco and beyond. So our work is key to making UCSF’s vision of a healthier world possible.

What are the most challenging and rewarding parts of your job?

Those are intimately linked to me – challenging and rewarding – and there are a few answers to choose from here. If I had to pick one, it would be the broad scope of my work. Ideally our navigators would know at least a little bit about all the amazing work that goes on in the UCSF research arena and in local and regional health programs. That’s impossible, of course, but it’s very rewarding when my attempts pay off with a big “a-ha” moment when a new or unexpected research partner comes to the table or when a researcher finds great enthusiasm for their work in a community where they’ve never ventured before. We also get to know that our work makes a positive impact on people and communities (both in and outside of UCSF), and there’s no better feeling than that.

What do you like most about working at CTSI?

Over the years CTSI has become a place with its own sense of community where colleagues know each other, care about each other, and support each other by sharing their talents and by challenging one another to do their best. I also very much appreciate the value placed on innovation and forward thinking at CTSI. For example, CTSI is an excellent resource for bringing great minds from our communities and the university together to work on big ideas and problems that can shape health promotion and health care for the foreseeable future. We're already working with UCSF and community partners to address some important issues related to technology, such as how better access to useful health and research data can improve community health, and figuring out the best way to integrate health metrics into urban planning.

I get to try new ideas and approaches (for instance, we were early tweeters) and there’s almost always someone at CTSI willing to think through a new approach to solving a problem. The more I talk with colleagues around the country, the more I appreciate that my colleagues at CTSI understand the fundamental importance of community engagement and health policy in getting research “translated.” Being understood means we can take initiative and work hard to be leaders in our field.

If you chose another career path outside UCSF what would it be?

My mom was right to think I’d be happy in almost any job that offered something new and challenging, and the opportunity to come up with solutions to problems every day in the pursuit of social justice. I’m glad I found a niche where I could do cross-cultural work so close to home, where there’s a lot to be done to make health equity a reality. Once I took a career test and was told I’d answered the questions most like a flight attendant. That was confusing at the time, but I kind of see the likeness to being a research navigator now. There’s a long list of careers I considered more or less seriously and rejected – from diplomat to physician to librarian to rabbi (my dad’s prediction) to food truck manager – so I hope I’m headed for a mild midlife crisis.

What's something that members of the UCSF community would be surprised to know about you?

I think they might be surprised to know that my very cool job exists, in which case I’m grateful for this Spotlight opportunity. I don’t think there’s much about me that’s surprising. I’d like to think some colleagues would be surprised to know I’m turning 50 next year, but maybe that’s just vanity talking.

What are your favorite things to do with your free time?

Yes, I have no shortage of hobbies. These days I try hard to find time for photography, biking, knitting, gardening, watching Indian dance, and cooking. If someone can teach me how to meditate, I’d definitely be interested in learning. I try to spend as much non-work time as possible with my family, learning and traveling, and just hanging out. My partner is brilliant and has become very talented at the barbeque. I’m in a classic “sandwich generation” situation where it feels urgent to spend time with both my elders and the younger generation because time is flying by. My 12-year-old son is still a kid, but is beginning to envision himself as an adult and as a worker in the world. He certainly has taught me a lot about what’s important in life, so I’m eager to hear what he has to say every day. I like our conversations about work and whenever I can, I introduce him to the great people I work with. It’s very gratifying to share my work life with him and show him there are important reasons and creative ways to make the world a better, healthier place.

CTSI Spotlight is part of an ongoing series that offers an opportunity for faculty and staff to learn more about the wide range of people who make CTSI's work possible. See all featured faculty and staff