Rajni Rao
Clinical Professor
CLINICAL INTERESTS: Rajni Rao is a general non-invasive cardiologist with special interests in echocardiography, heart failure, valvular heart disease, cardio-oncology, plant based nutrition and women's health. She has led efforts in the division to enhance physician efficiency and improve patient education and the patient experience.
ACADEMIC INTERESTS: Dr. Rao has been an active leader in medical education, and has served as the course co-director for the cardiovascular curriculum for first-year medical students and the site leader of the innovative UCSF SOM Action Research Program pilot which helped inform today's Bridges Curriculum. She is also the faculty liaison for cardiovascular clerkships in the UCSF School of Medicine Parnassus campus, and teaches the end of the year CODA course to help prepare graduating students to handle cardiac emergencies during their residency.
ADMINISTRATIVE ROLES: Clinical Practice Chief and Ambulatory Clinical Chief of Cardiology 2012-2020.
ADMINISTRATIVE INTERESTS: As Clinical Chief, Dr. Rao helped design and build three new clinics in San Francisco and the East Bay, helped create the cardiology facets of the electronic health record at UCSF including designing risk calculators, billing tools, and resulting of tests to patients. She has implemented Lean management into the ambulatory clinics, has worked to improve patient experience, physician and staff experience. Dr. Rao created a pharmacist-run physical and virtual team based program for hypertension management to achieve high quality care with evidence based goals in a manner that optimizes patient engagement. She also helped found the Cardiology Outpatient Recovery (COR) program to address the special needs of Transitions of Care for cardiac patients being discharged from the hospital. Dr. Rao has worked with strategic partners to improve operational collaboration, and with various payers and Population Health programs to create high quality, cost-effective cardiac care.
ACADEMIC INTERESTS: Dr. Rao has been an active leader in medical education, and has served as the course co-director for the cardiovascular curriculum for first-year medical students and the site leader of the innovative UCSF SOM Action Research Program pilot which helped inform today's Bridges Curriculum. She is also the faculty liaison for cardiovascular clerkships in the UCSF School of Medicine Parnassus campus, and teaches the end of the year CODA course to help prepare graduating students to handle cardiac emergencies during their residency.
ADMINISTRATIVE ROLES: Clinical Practice Chief and Ambulatory Clinical Chief of Cardiology 2012-2020.
ADMINISTRATIVE INTERESTS: As Clinical Chief, Dr. Rao helped design and build three new clinics in San Francisco and the East Bay, helped create the cardiology facets of the electronic health record at UCSF including designing risk calculators, billing tools, and resulting of tests to patients. She has implemented Lean management into the ambulatory clinics, has worked to improve patient experience, physician and staff experience. Dr. Rao created a pharmacist-run physical and virtual team based program for hypertension management to achieve high quality care with evidence based goals in a manner that optimizes patient engagement. She also helped found the Cardiology Outpatient Recovery (COR) program to address the special needs of Transitions of Care for cardiac patients being discharged from the hospital. Dr. Rao has worked with strategic partners to improve operational collaboration, and with various payers and Population Health programs to create high quality, cost-effective cardiac care.