Positioning and Messaging Guide: Audience Messaging

The audience messaging below is for directional purposes only. Each section identifies an audience and lists key message points that resonate with the School of Pharmacy’s different audiences.

Individuals may fall into multiple audience groups, so messages should be crafted appropriately for the context and opportunity of each communication effort.

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Faculty

Who they are

The School’s paid faculty members. Highly accomplished researchers, clinicians, and educators at the top of their fields, who value the collaborative environment and public mission at UCSF.

What we want them to know

Through the contributions of our faculty, the UCSF School of Pharmacy is a world leader in the basic, bioengineering, translational, clinical, health policy, and health economics sciences; and in pharmacy practice. Faculty members routinely apply their research discoveries and ideas to the public good.

Takeaways

PharmD education messages

• The UCSF School of Pharmacy attracts and develops highly talented, compassionate, and patient-centric PharmD students who apply the scientific mindset they develop here to become leaders in health systems, community pharmacy practice, government, industry, and academia.

• The faculty is continually improving the PharmD curriculum.

• Faculty members share with their students the latest developments at the frontiers of science and practice; this is a unique aspect of PharmD education at UCSF.

PhD education messages

• UCSF PhD students are distinguished by their passion for research in the physical, biological, engineering, and quantitative sciences, and their ability to work across disciplines with ease.

• UCSF School of Pharmacy faculty members teach in many UCSF PhD degree programs. They are most closely associated with the five programs that comprise the Quantitative Biosciences Consortium.

• Faculty members benefit greatly from the intellect, curiosity, passion, and fresh perspectives of their PhD students.

• UCSF PhD graduates become scientific leaders in academia, industry, and through the startup companies they create, where they work to turn research discoveries into IPOs.

School of Pharmacy messages

• At the UCSF School of Pharmacy, a collaborative mindset, a passion for inquiry and public value, and a cross-disciplinary approach drives the faculty’s pioneering research across a wide spectrum.

• The UCSF School of Pharmacy faculty is distinguished nationwide for its continuing research success, which differentiates the School among pharmacy school faculties nationwide. Faculty discoveries:

  1. expand fundamental knowledge;

  2. drive progress;

  3. transform health.

• The School’s faculty members are curious, productive, and entrepreneurial.

• Faculty members take discoveries and ideas and transform them for the public good into new and/or improved: drugs, scientific tools and technologies, medical devices and diagnostic tests, patient care models, education models, and health policies.

• As part of UCSF, the world’s leading university focused on health, the faculty’s work is intensified in ways not possible elsewhere; faculty members contribute to UCSF’s culture of collaboration. UCSF’s focus and culture further differentiate the UCSF School of Pharmacy faculty among other pharmacy school and university faculty nationwide.

• UCSF’s location in the San Francisco Bay Area offers the faculty unparalleled opportunities to partner with leaders in science, industry, and health care.

Volunteer faculty

Who they are

The volunteer faculty members who provide the School, and PharmD and PhD students, with the benefit of their science expertise and pharmacy practice expertise beyond UCSF.

What we want them to know

The work they do every day is valued and vital to the ongoing success of the School of Pharmacy and its impact on society.

Takeaways

• The exceptional expertise and generosity of the School’s volunteer faculty members, across all three School departments, are critical to the School’s success.

• Volunteer faculty members bring to UCSF, from beyond UCSF, ideas and perspectives that broaden the School’s base of expertise and help ground the School’s work in meeting the needs of patients, as well as of business, industry, and government.

• The volunteer faculty members who teach in and precept the School’s PharmD students are essential to the School’s ability to deliver the program. They are examples of professional excellence to the students they teach.

Staff

Who they are

The expert administrative staff members responsible for the ongoing operations of the School.

What we want them to know

The work they do every day is valued and vital to the ongoing success of the School of Pharmacy and its impact on society.

Takeaways

• The expertise and collaborative spirit of the UCSF School of Pharmacy staff are critical to the overall excellence of the School and its achievements in research, education, and patient care.

• Through their varied contributions, the staff ensures the School’s steady, daily progress and positive impact on society.

• The diversity of backgrounds and ideas contributed by the staff enriches the School’s culture and reflects its public mission.

PharmD students

Who they are

Ambitious, curious, and accomplished individuals with a desire to apply their intellect, compassion, and problem-solving skills to leadership in the critical field of health care.

What we want them to know

The UCSF PharmD degree program is a dynamic, challenging, and supportive program through which students learn more than they can imagine about biology, therapeutics, pharmacy practice, collaboration, and compassionate patient care. Students learn how to approach and solve problems as a matter of course. The scientific thinking-based program model prepares students to be problem solvers rather than formula followers.

Takeaways

School of Pharmacy messages

• The drive to seek and apply new knowledge underpins the School’s work, across the board. The School is an international leader in furthering research, PharmD and PhD education, and patient care.

• At UCSF, students learn in an unrivaled environment marked by:

  1. a leading faculty

  2. a campus focused on science and health

  3. a sole academic focus on graduate-level education

  4. a collaborative spirit

• Students are surrounded by individuals who inspire and challenge them to excel.

PharmD program messages

• The UCSF PharmD curriculum, anchored in scientific thinking, prepares students to adapt and lead across a constantly changing health care landscape.

• The rigorous curriculum prepares students to be critical thinkers, problem-solvers, and skilled professionals who take a patient-centric approach to health care.

  • Students learn actively with peers, discussing and posing solutions to real-world problems.

  • The program exposes students to the latest developments in science and the latest innovations in practice with a faculty of renowned research and clinical leaders—possible here because of UCSF’s pioneering research and singular focus on health.

  • Students learn with peers in other health professional degree programs at UCSF.

• Because of UCSF’s location in the vibrant and diverse San Francisco Bay Area, and because of clinical practice experiences offered beyond San Francisco, students learn from richly diverse patient populations.

• The PharmD degree program readies students for additional advanced training and varied career opportunities.

• The School continues to graduate pharmacy leaders by continually transforming the curriculum.

Alumni

PhD alumni

Who they are

Graduates of the PhD degree programs administered by the School, many of whom have become scientific leaders in academia, industry, and startup companies. The PhD alumni associate with their degree programs and UCSF. They may enjoy an opportunity to re-engage with their degree programs and become engaged with the research under way in the School.

What we want them to know

UCSF continues as a world leader in research and PhD graduate education. UCSF PhD alumni are a key part of this success. The quality of UCSF’s PhD degree programs and the success of their alumni affirm a legacy of excellence in research and graduate education at UCSF. PhD alumni engagement and support of the graduate programs and graduate program faculty are critical to their continuing successes.

Takeaways

• Collaboration, an entrepreneurial mindset, and scientific rigor continue to be at the heart of UCSF’s PhD education. Collaboration is built into the graduate programs by curricular design.

• UCSF PhD students have formal opportunities to learn how to apply research and ideas to marketable products, while informally observing faculty members who are entrepreneurial by example.

• UCSF PhD graduates are recognized for their scientific leadership in academia, industry, and startup companies.

• The tremendous success of UCSF’s PhD degree programs is reflected by the successes of its PhD program alumni.

• PhD alumni support is critical for the continuing leadership of UCSF’s PhD degree programs and for the research success of the School of Pharmacy faculty members who deliver the graduate programs and mentor graduate students in their labs.

• UCSF’s location, in the San Francisco Bay Area, offers opportunities for collaboration with leaders in science and industry, and opportunities for research ideas to become IPOs.

PharmD alumni

Who they are

Graduates of the UCSF School of Pharmacy PharmD degree program (and BS), many of whom have become successful leaders in health care, industry, and government. Many of the PharmD alumni are highly connected to the School; others may enjoy an opportunity to re-engage with the School.

What we want them to know

The UCSF School of Pharmacy is a world leader in research, PharmD and PhD education, and patient care. The School is revolutionizing the role of pharmacy in health care and beyond. The quality of the UCSF PharmD program and the accomplishments of UCSF PharmD alumni are highlights of the School’s rich legacy. PharmD alumni engagement and support of the PharmD program are critical to its continuing excellence.

Takeaways

• The School’s scientific mindset and collaborative spirit fuel breakthroughs in research, PharmD and PhD education, and patient care.

• UCSF PharmD graduates are recognized for their leadership, both within pharmacy and far beyond traditional pharmacy roles. The School continues to graduate pharmacy leaders by continually transforming the curriculum to include the latest developments in science and practice.

• The tremendous successes of the UCSF School of Pharmacy and its PharmD degree program are reflected by the successes of its alumni.

• PharmD alumni support is critical for the continuing leadership of the School and the PharmD degree program.

Public

Who they are

The California general public—from the Bay Area to the broader California population. The general public has a limited understanding of what a pharmacist does, the role of pharmacy in health care today, and the potential for the kind of research under way by academic scientists in the UCSF School of Pharmacy.

What we want them to know

• UCSF School of Pharmacy faculty members are pioneering new and astonishingly effective ways to target and treat disease. At the same time, they are expanding our shared base of knowledge by revealing fundamentals of biology not immediately tied to disease.

• As medicines become more sophisticated, specialized, and costly, and as health care becomes increasingly complex, UCSF School of Pharmacy faculty members play critical roles in ensuring patients get access to medications and use them safely and effectively—saving lives, improving health, and reducing costs.

• The UCSF School of Pharmacy is a unique and critical part of UCSF.

Takeaways

• The School contributes uniquely to the mission and success of UCSF.

• UCSF School of Pharmacy faculty members are leaders in research, PharmD and PhD education, and patient care. They have deep scientific training, a patient focus, and a commitment to serving the public.

  • The UCSF School of Pharmacy faculty is developing new and needed medications, medical devices, and diagnostic tests for the public while ensuring patient access to medications, and safe and effective medication use.

  • The UCSF School of Pharmacy faculty is building tools and technologies to advance science, and it is building up the world’s shared, fundamental knowledge about biology.

  • The School trains leaders in pharmacy through its PharmD degree program and leaders in science through the PhD degree programs it administers.

• The School serves the public every day, through the life-saving work of the California Poison Control System, the adoption of antimicrobial use guidelines, the application of research discoveries, smoking cessation training by pharmacists in the community, and much more.

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