Summer 2019, Primary Care and Population Health

Amanda Pecoraro, administrative associate to Steve Asch, MD, vice chief for research in primary care and population health, divides her work days between the Menlo Park VA and Stanford, but her colleagues in MSOB wish they saw her more often. 

As Melanie Hanson, Program Coordinator for Quality Initiatives and Serious Illness Care Program, states, “We only get her in MSOB for 2 days per week, but those days are absolutely the highlight of my week. Not only is Amanda hilarious, she is also an incredibly hard worker who takes great pride in doing the best for her boss.  We are all so lucky to have her on the team and we love her so much!"

Amanda’s split-time work requires a lot from her: she handles calendaring & travel for Asch in two different systems, coordination and scheduling for the Stanford/Intermountain Fellowship and the VA HSR&D Fellowship, and also coordinates Fellows Weekly WIP at the VA Menlo Park.

And according to her colleagues, this is just the tip of the iceberg: she’s constantly involved in department events, both social and volunteering.  Her colleagues cite events she’s helped with including (but clearly not limited to) the annual holiday party, happy hours, birthday parties, showers, and creative arts events.  She’s also “a central member in the staff-led volunteerism organization, SCOPE which organized and completed over 200b hrs of volunteer work for local organizations that work to address homelessness in our local community,” as Jonathan Shaw, MD, clinical assistant professor of primary care and population health explains.

Loto Reed, associate coordinator in the division of primary care and population health, says, “She willingly offers great ideas, creative thinking and valuable solutions for any staff member who may need it.  She brings so much energy, thought and passion to both of these programs.  We are so fortunate to have Amanda as a GEM in our division!”  Kimya Stidum, education program coordinator in primary care and population health, adds, “She will volunteer in any way to make sure her colleagues are successful.”

But Amanda doesn’t stop there--she even reaches beyond her division to include people.  Briththa Seevaratnam, project manager of quality initiatives, explains, “She makes a point to include those of us who are not in PCPH to participate in team events. It allows those of us who don't quite belong to a large team feel included in the PCPH family, which makes being in our workspace an amazing environment.”

Amanda has been with the division for nearly four years—before Stanford, she worked as an Executive Assistant to the chief engineer for a small company in Woodside.  She loves her colleagues as much as they love her—"I don’t want to brag,” she says, “but PCPH has amazing faculty and staff.”  And of course, she adds, “I have also met so many wonderful people in other divisions.”

She was delighted to get the GEM award but was characteristically modest about receiving it: “We have so many wonderful staff members in our division who also deserve the award, I imagine it was difficult to just pick one of us,” she says.

In her free time, she also keeps herself busy with “lots and lots of homework” as she works toward a Master’s degree.  She also loves volunteering (both with a fostering/trap neuter release program for stray cats and SCOPE, the PCPH volunteer effort), crafting, hanging out with her husband and friends, and traveling.