Karina Delgado-Carrasco Wins Program Coordinator Award


Karina Delgado-Carrasco with Laurence Katznelson, MD (left) and Ron Witteles, MD (right)

On August 14, Karina Delgado-Carrasco, the Program Manager for Medicine Residency, received the 2017-2018 Outstanding Program Coordinator Award.  The award calls for recognition of a program coordinator who “has had a significant positive impact on the program and its team,” and Karina, who’s been at Stanford since 2010, clearly fit the bill.

Her nomination letter, signed by 2017-18 Internal Medicine Chief Residents Ashish Sarraju, MD, Naomi Serling-Boyd, MD, and Tanya Gupta, MD, emphasized her “above-and-beyond contributions to the program and the positive tone she sets on a first-hand basis.” The letter states, “From our standpoint, she has undoubtedly elevated our residency program with her abilities, dedication, and attitude.”

Karina began at Stanford as a Recruitment and Alumni Relations Administrator in Medicine Residency and worked her way up to Program Manager, where she’s remained since May 2013.  “I can’t believe it has been over eight years in the Department of Medicine,” she says. “It has been such a pleasure to work with department and program leadership who are truly committed to education.” In her current position, she’s responsible for the program administration, management and supervision of staff supporting the Medicine Residency Program.

Her nominators describe her “extraordinary dedication” to house staff and how effortlessly she performs the “near-Herculean endeavors” involved in her daily work, including coordinating and swapping resident schedules to ensure balance as well as “an outstanding internal medicine training experience.”

But Karina clearly isn’t satisfied with just doing her job well; she also expands the scope of it.  “She has a record of proactively taking on projects to improve our residents' experience,” the letter states.  “For example, she recently spearheaded an ambitious new IM wellness initiative named REACH (Resilience, Education, Advocacy, Community, and Health), which she envisioned and developed proactively.  She has set up holiday card making events for residents to make cards for their families, partnered with the children's hospital for our residents to send inspirational messages and positivity cards, and hosted numerous events involving impromptu breakfasts, dinners, or afternoon ice cream sessions, all of which have been incredibly popular among the residents.”

Beyond all the exemplary work, though, her personality also shines through: “Her attitude greatly contributes to a culture of warmth and collaboration within the program, and everyone around her benefits from her positivity.”

Karina was “really honored” to win the award, “partly because there are so many well-deserving coordinators at Stanford.” She wishes she could share the award with “the amazing, hard-working and dedicated team in the Medicine Residency Office. They motivate me daily and our program wouldn’t be the same without them.”

Clearly, the feeling is mutual.  As her nomination letter concludes, “We believe she is truly indispensable to our program; if she were to leave, it would be a loss that hurts our program more than any other.”