Josette Rivera and Evie Kalmar Appointed to Geriatrics Education Leadership

We are pleased to announce that Josette Rivera, MD has been selected as the Associate Chief for Geriatrics Education and Evie Kalmar, MD, MS has been selected as the Assistant Chief for Geriatrics Education, effective 7/1/26.  

Dr. Rivera completed medical school at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and completed her Internal Medicine Residency, training in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and her Geriatric Medicine Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She was a staff physician at On Lok Lifeways 2007-2008 before we were fortunate to recruit her to the UCSF Division of Geriatrics faculty.  Dr. Rivera is a UCSF Professor of Medicine with an extensive teaching and leadership portfolio. She has led education initiatives across all levels of medical education, including Co-Lead of the UCSF School of Medicine Interprofessional Education (IPE) program and she spearheaded the creation of the two-week Life Stages Geriatrics curriculum for UCSF medical students. She also has served as Principal Investigator for the Reynolds Foundation Next Steps II grant and the Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program and has created partnerships with the California Department of Public Health, health plans and health systems to widely teach Geriatrics to trainees and practicing clinicians.  Dr. Rivera is committed to creating and leading impactful Geriatrics education programs and supporting clinician educator faculty.

Dr. Kalmar completed the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program, receiving a master’s degree in health and medical sciences and completing medical school at UCSF. She completed her Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency at UCSF and was a Physician Pod Leader for Landmark Health before completing the UCSF Integrated Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program. We were fortunate to recruit her to the UCSF Division of Geriatrics faculty based at San Francisco VA Health Care System in 2020. Dr. Kalmar is a UCSF Associate Professor of Medicine with broad experience in Geriatrics education across multiple levels from medical school to fellowship. She holds several education leadership roles, including Associate Program Director for the UCSF Geriatrics Fellowship Program and the Associate Program Director for the UCSF Integrated Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program. She completed the Tideswell Emerging Leaders in Aging Program and chaired the national Association of Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs work group to update the Geriatric Program Director’s Handbook. Dr. Kalmar is committed to increasing access to high-quality Geriatrics education and instilling a sense of belonging and community in those she works with.

All these accomplishments are a testament to how fortunate we are that Drs. Rivera and Kalmar will be leading the UCSF Division of Geriatrics education mission, following in the footsteps of Dr. Anna Chang. We are grateful to Dr. Chang for her leadership of our education mission and congratulate Drs. Rivera and Kalmar as our new leaders focused on advancing our division’s education mission going forward.

-Louise C. Walter, MD