Population Health Division outlines hiring push, accreditation and mpox lessons learned

Dr. Susan Philip, director of Population Health and San Francisco city health officer, briefed the Health Commission on June 20 about a multi-pronged effort to rebuild division capacity after the COVID response and to center equity in core public-health functions.

Philip described a new organizational structure that groups branches under deputy directors to improve operational capacity, succession planning and the Division's ability to add functions (for example, climate and climate-health work). She said a hiring task force has set an ambitious goal to fill roughly 120'128 positions and has already made progress: "We've had a really excellent response rate for PhD of 78 percent" to an employee engagement survey and are recruiting for deputy and branch leadership.

On accreditation, Philip said the Department submitted its reaccreditation application in March and must supply supporting documentation by September; she said accreditation is labor-intensive but valuable for documenting performance and improving access to grant funding.

Philip also reviewed the city's mpox response and vaccination outreach: CityClinic accounted for 14 percent of mpox diagnoses in San Francisco and was the largest provider of Tecovirimat; mass vaccination efforts and partnerships with UCSF and Kaiser helped the city deliver about 50,000 vaccine doses citywide. She emphasized outreach to LGBTQIA+ community partners and the use of community-based clinics and walk-in sites to expand access.

Philip highlighted operational and harm-reduction innovations including a naloxone stocking pilot in restrooms at 25 Van Ness (a DPH nonclinical building) and said the Division will bring forward more detail on accreditation components and workforce development when requested.

Public commenters raised concerns about medical services for houseless seniors, data availability and disproportionate impacts on Black seniors; commissioners asked Philip for follow-up on accreditation areas that may need attention and for updates on hiring progress.