Hospitals are seen by most of us as places that try to make us well. However, as in any human endeavor, there are communication challenges. This session will focus on how the Haas Leadership Communications Training helped doctors, nurses, and staff at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital become more effective communicators. In addition, these health care professionals became more empathetic, appreciative, and understanding of one another, resulting in better employee engagement as well as a more compassionate patient experience.

Speaker(s):
Mark Rittenberg
Lecturer, Haas School of Business

Mark Rittenberg is a Distinguished Teaching Fellow at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, where he was awarded the Earl F. Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching. For more than 20 years, Rittenberg has helped organizations create communities of excellence and empowered individuals to become true leaders with the ability to actualize a vision — all through the power of communication. Rittenberg was awarded the J. William Fulbright Senior Scholar Award and traveled to post-apartheid South Africa in an attempt to rebuild the self-esteem and confidence that had been shattered in Black communities during years of segregation. In 2015, Rittenberg and his team were invited to bring the MBA Leadership Communications work from Berkeley to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland/San Francisco.

Kurtis Auguste
Chief of Surgery, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland

Kurtis Auguste conducted his medical training, internship, and neurosurgery residency at UCSF. He completed a year-long fellowship in pediatric neurosurgery at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, returning to UCSF in 2008 as a staff neurosurgeon and to direct their pediatric epilepsy surgery program. Auguste has served as the division chief of neurosurgery at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland since 2014 and was elected chief of surgery there in 2016. In addition to the surgical management of pediatric seizure disorders, his practice also focuses on the management of complex hydrocephalus, spinal dysraphism, pediatric neuro-oncology, pediatric neurotrauma, and craniofacial disorders. His research interests have included neural stem cell transplantation for the study of central nervous system migrational disorders, and the use of immersive virtual reality imaging for neurosurgical planning.