SAN FRANCISCO—UCSF recognized its continued reputation as one of the most environmentally sustainable medical center in the country on June 22 with its 5th Annual Sustainability Awards. The awards are given out to those students, faculty and staff members of UCSF and its affiliates that contribute to the community’s effort to operate as model for a green health care institution.

The awards were first created back in 2011 by the UCSF Advisory Committee on Sustainability, then known as the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Sustainability.

This year’s ceremony was reportedly attended for the first time by UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood who commented, his center is “not only a leader in health care, but it is also a leader in health care sustainability.” Ceremony host Theresa O’Brien, became the UCSF associate chancellor at the age of 34 and was recently named the new co-chair of the UCSF Advisory Committee on Sustainability. She obtained her Ph.D. at UCSF.

Pictured are the winners of UCSF's fifth Annual Sustainability Awards.
Pictured are some of the winners of UCSF’s 5th Annual Sustainability Awards.

Among the projects recognized with an award were for reducing water use, as well as completely introduce the use of 100 percent recycled paper at a lower cost than non-recycled paper. In the student category, third-year med student Anya Desai collected and donated unused medical supplies to Medshare and also sent them to international clinics. For the faculty category, Dr. Gina Solomon was recognized for helping revive, alongside her faculty sponsorship, an environmental health elective course last year.

Awards include both individual and group categories. The Living Green Certifications recognize the efforts of offices, laboratories, and clinics to reduce material and water consumption.

UCSF enrolls almost 3,000 students and about 1,600 medical residents, but employs close to 39,000 people in its entire system. Its affiliates include the San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, the SF Veterans Affair Medical Center, the J. David Gladstone Institutes, a prominent HIV/AIDS and Alzheimer’s research center, as well as the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Maryland.