By Alyssa Tecklenburg. The UCSF Women in Tech group (WIT@UCSF) held a panel discussion on gender equity in technology at the UCSF Sharecase conference, October 10, at the Mission Bay campus. Sharecase is a biennial conference at UCSF that showcases the technology solutions found on campus and in the medical center, highlights innovations and research, and connects our employees.
We convened five speakers, Kay Burke, Sara Murray, Kevin Souza, Pranathi Sundaram, and Shannon Weber – from areas like informatics, governance, and management – who represent a diverse range of roles and vantage points at UCSF.
They discussed a variety of topics, including recruiting a diverse group of employees, supporting the professional development of people underrepresented in technology, and using the lens of diversity and inclusion to inform decision-making about technology development and deployment. About 60 people attended the session and about half stayed for the mixer held immediately after to mingle and chat more about the topic.
Our booth occupied prime real estate in the main exhibit hall, where we connected with current and prospective members about our group. Huge thanks go to our volunteers, Brittney Augerlavoie, Jenica Cimino, Clarice Estrada, Shannon Weber, and Rosemary Yau, who gave their time, energy, and warmth at the booth to share our mission. With their help we signed up nearly 100 new members!
Alyssa Tecklenburg is a WIT@UCSF co-founder and leadership team member, and is a project manager, Department of Medicine, UC San Francisco.