San Francisco DPH honors HR teams after expedited hiring fills 207 behavioral‑health roles

The San Francisco Health Commission recognized Department of Public Health human resources staff on April 5 for expedited hiring that filled 207 positions to staff behavioral‑health roles responding to the Tenderloin emergency.

Commissioner Guillermo presented the employee recognition award and said the HR merit and operations teams partnered across the city to "hire for critical positions at unprecedented rates." Luana Kim, DPH director of human resources, credited about 40 HR staff and multiple onboarding events for the milestone: "This major milestone could not have been done without the dedication of the 40 staff within HR," she said.

Commissioners praised the accomplishment and urged DPH to make successful practices sustainable rather than reserved for emergencies. Commissioner Chao said accelerated hiring demonstrated what was possible and urged the department to work with the city to institutionalize faster, fair and reasonable processes. Dr. Colfax and other commissioners echoed support and noted planned budget investments to right‑size HR capacity.

Secretary Morwitz noted that a slide listing the names of team members did not display because of technical difficulties and said the department will post the full roster online. There was no public comment on the recognition item.