Rebecca Shunk, MD

PROF OF CLIN-HCOMP

Rebecca Shunk, MD is the Associate Chief of Staff for Education at the SFVAHCS/ Designated Educational Officer ( DEO) and the physician Co-Director of an interprofessional team-based training program called EdPACT at the San Francisco VA Health Care System (SFVAHCS). Rebecca is board certified in Internal Medicine and has been a primary care provider and clinician educator at the SFVAHCS and University of California San Francisco (UCSF) for the past 22 years.

She began her career as an Associate Program Director at Johns Hopkins Bayview then as the Associate Director of the UCSF/San Francisco VA (SFVA) PRIME program for UCSF internal Medicine Residents. Her primary educational focus is EdPACT, now over 10 years old, where she teaches interprofessional learners to deliver team-based patient centered care. The key principle of this curriculum is workplace learning. Her trainees include UCSF internal medicine residents, UCSF nurse practitioner (NP) students, NP Residents and other interprofessional trainees. With a team of interprofessional faculty she has developed, published and won awards for their interprofessional curricula for GME learners on topics such as interprofessional huddling, quality improvement, population health and team-based care. Her curricular focus now is on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, She and her team have created an evolving curriculum to promote gender and racial equity for trainees, staff and veterans.

Her current primary leadership position is the DEO or the Associate Chief of Staff for Education at the SFVA. In this role she leads a team managing VA’s 4th largest educational portfolio including 207 FTE for ACGME learners and 280 UCSF medical students rotating yearly. As the ACOS-Education, she participates in and leads strategic committees at both UCSF and VA locally and nationally. As a member of the national VA Strategic Academic Affiliation committee and the national EARs working group, she advocates for the needs of educational mission at VA. At UCSF she is a member of the Office of GME Leadership Committee, the GME Curriculum Committee, the UCSF GME Executive Oversight Committee and the Curriculum and the Education Policy.

She has received several teaching awards, including the Calvin L. Chou PRIME Teaching Award. In 2014, she was awarded the California Society of General Internal Medicine Leader in GIM Award at the California regional meeting. She is also a member of the Academy of Medical Educators. As the Educational Leader at VA she strives to improve trainee education through creating a diverse, equitable and collaborative learning environment. She does this as a member of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Committee, promotion of DEI initiatives and support of numerous programs such as Gender Equity training workshops for faculty, staff and learners alike.

Dr. Shunk received her medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina. She attended University of Chicago Internal Medicine Residency and transferred to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center to complete her residency and her Chief Resident year. She is currently a Health Sciences Professor of Clinical Medicine at UCSF.

Publications
  1. Weppner WG, Singh MK, Wipf JE, Shunk R, Woodard L, Brienza R. Culture change and lessons learned from ten years in the VA centers of excellence in primary care education. BMC medical education 2024. PMID: 38671440


  2. Dulay M, Saxe JM, Odden K, Strewler A, Lau A, O'Brien B, Shunk R. Promoting Quality Improvement in Primary Care Through a Longitudinal, Project-Based, Interprofessional Curriculum. MedEdPORTAL : the journal of teaching and learning resources 2020. PMID: 32934977


  3. Hulen E, Edwards ST, Poppe AP, Singh MK, Shunk R, Tuepker A. Creating change, challenging structure: graduate and faculty perspectives on the implementation of an interprofessional education program in veterans affairs primary care. Journal of interprofessional care 2019. PMID: 31696759


  4. Patel S, O'Brien BC, Dulay M, Earnest G, Shunk RL. Team Retreats for Interprofessional Trainees and Clinic Staff: Accelerating the Development of High-Functioning Teams. MedEdPORTAL : the journal of teaching and learning resources 2018. PMID: 30800986


  5. Gardner AL, Shunk R, Dulay M, Strewler A, O'Brien B. Huddling for High-Performing Teams. Federal practitioner : for the health care professionals of the VA, DoD, and PHS 2018. PMID: 30766382


  6. Olayiwola JN, Willard-Grace R, Dubé K, Hessler D, Shunk R, Grumbach K, Gottlieb L. Higher Perceived Clinic Capacity to Address Patients' Social Needs Associated with Lower Burnout in Primary Care Providers. Volume 29 of Issue 1. Journal of health care for the poor and underserved 2018. PMID: 29503309


  7. O'Brien BC, Patel SR, Pearson M, Eastburn AP, Earnest GE, Strewler A, Gager K, Manuel JK, Dulay M, Bachhuber MR, Shunk R. Twelve tips for delivering successful interprofessional case conferences. Volume 39 of Issue 12. Medical teacher 2017. PMID: 28685632


  8. I.C. King, A. Strewler, J.E. Wipf, M. Singh, E. Painter, R. Shunk, R. Brienza, R. Tivis, W.G. Weppner, M. Davidson, J. Willis, T. Gordon, C. S. Smith.. Translating innovation: Exploring dissemination of a unique case conference Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice. 2017. PMID:


  9. Kohlwes J, O'Brien B, Stanley M, Grant R, Shunk R, Connor D, Cornett P, Hollander H. Does Research Training During Residency Promote Scholarship and Influence Career Choice? A Cross-Sectional Analysis of a 10-Year Cohort of the UCSF-PRIME Internal Medicine Residency Program. Volume 28 of Issue 3. Teaching and learning in medicine 2016. PMID: 27143394


  10. Willard-Grace R, Dubé K, Hessler D, O'Brien B, Earnest G, Gupta R, Shunk R, Grumbach K. Panel management, team culture, and worklife experience. Volume 33 of Issue 3. Families, systems & health : the journal of collaborative family healthcare 2015. PMID: 25730504


  11. Shunk R, Dulay M, Chou CL, Janson S, O'Brien BC. Huddle-coaching: a dynamic intervention for trainees and staff to support team-based care. Volume 89 of Issue 2. Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges 2014. PMID: 24362383


  12. Shunk RL. Professionalism: a piercing dilemma. Volume 173 of Issue 6. JAMA internal medicine 2013. PMID: 23420355


  13. Kohlwes RJ, Cornett P, Dandu M, Julian K, Vidyarthi A, Minichiello T, Shunk R, Jain S, Harleman E, Ranji S, Sharpe B, O'Sullivan P, Hollander H. Developing educators, investigators, and leaders during internal medicine residency: the area of distinction program. Volume 3 of Issue 4. Journal of graduate medical education 2011. PMID: 23205204


  14. Shunk R, Dulay M, Julian K, Cornett P, Kohlwes J, Tarter L, Hollander H, O'Brien B, O'Sullivan P. Using the american board of internal medicine practice improvement modules to teach internal medicine residents practice improvement. Volume 2 of Issue 1. Journal of graduate medical education 2010. PMID: 21975892


  15. Kohlwes RJ, Shunk RL, Avins A, Garber J, Bent S, Shlipak MG. The PRIME curriculum. Clinical research training during residency. Volume 21 of Issue 5. Journal of general internal medicine 2006. PMID: 16704399


  16. Kohlwes RJ, Shunk R. An electrocardiogram curriculum for resident doctors. Volume 39 of Issue 11. Medical education 2005. PMID: 16262838


  17. Shunk R. A cardiac physical examination curriculum. Volume 75 of Issue 5. Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges 2000. PMID: 10824836