HEAL Together
HEAL Together connects palliative medicine clinicians with community-based organizations serving older adults and people living with serious illness across the Bay Area.
Together, they raise awareness of palliative care and advance care planning, build relationships across clinical and community settings, and bring trusted information into the places where people already receive support.
2026
YEAR STARTED
09
PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS
12
CLINICAL AMBASSADORS
03
SUPPORTED LANGUAGES
Bringing Palliative Care into Community Settings
Through HEAL Together, palliative medicine clinicians partner with community-based organizations to offer presentations, workshops, and conversations for community members and staff. Each session includes time for questions and discussion, so people can learn about palliative care and advance care planning in a setting they trust.
The learning goes both ways. Community members and partners gain access to clinical expertise, while clinicians learn directly from communities about culture, language, lived experience, and what people need and want from their care. Over time, these relationships help make serious illness care more connected, responsive, and community-centered.
What Clinical Ambassadors Do
Clinical Ambassadors work alongside their partner organizations to support the conversations each community wants and needs. This may include presentations or workshops for community members, education for staff, question-and-answer sessions about palliative care and advance care planning, and relationship-building conversations between clinical and community leaders.
Our Clinical Partners
HEAL Together was founded in partnership with University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), one of the nation's leading academic medical centers and a nationally recognized leader in palliative care research and practice. UCSF clinicians have been the backbone of this program since its beginning, bringing both clinical expertise and a deep commitment to community partnership and health equity.
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That founding relationship remains at the heart of the program. As the Supportive Care Collaborative grows, we are expanding to welcome additional clinical partners who share our commitment to community-centered care.
San Francisco
Peninsula & South Bay
East Bay
Current Ambassador Matches
HEAL Together was founded in partnership with the University of California, San Francisco, a nationally recognized leader in palliative care research, education, and practice. UCSF clinicians have helped shape the program from the beginning, bringing clinical expertise, a commitment to health equity, and a willingness to learn alongside community partners.
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The current Ambassador matches below show how palliative medicine clinicians and community-based organizations are working together across San Francisco. As the Supportive Care Collaborative grows, UCSF remains a core partner, and we are expanding HEAL Together to include additional clinical partners who share our commitment to community-centered serious illness care.
Community-Based Organization
Clinical Ambassador
Bayview Senior Services
Natalya Johnson, MDiv
Self Help for the Elderly
Donnie Nelson, RN
Lingsheng Li, MD
Curry Senior Center
Catherine Saiki, NP
San Francisco IHSS Public Authority
Sarah Nouri, MD
On Lok 30th Street Senior Center
Carly Zapata, MD
Jasmine Santoyo-Olsson, PhD
MNC Inspiring Success
Ryan McMahan, MD
Janet Ho, MD
Shanti Project
Bridget Sumser, LCSW
Openhouse SF
Hedieh Matinrad, MD
Centro Latino de San Francisco
Anne Kinderman, MD