United Health Services (UHS) at UC Berkeley has hired Dr. Guy Nicolette as its new assistant vice chancellor.
“These have been the best first two days at work,” Nicolette said.
Prior to his new role, Nicolette served as the director of student health at the University of Florida (UF). He also was director of the UF’s Primary Care Sports Medicine Program and medical co-director of UF’s Undergraduate Athletic Training program where he provided primary and sports medicine care for students and student athletes.
Nicolette decided to take on the assistant vice chancellor role at UHS because of UC Berkeley’s reputation and health services, the collaborative care program in particular, he told The Daily Californian.
The program integrates primary care and mental health care and is something that other institutions are “just starting or dreaming about” Nicolette said, who in his previous positions hoped to launch a program of this type.
Nicolette has always enjoyed working on higher ed campuses because of the “energizing and invigorating” environment, he said. Nicolette’s interest in UC Berekely began after learning about the institutions history, “mystique” and innovation.
As assistant vice chancellor, Nicolette hopes to alter health practice to make it more proactive. One of his many goals in this new role is to advance health and health care literacy to determine better ways to adequately serve the campus, especially for students who don’t have a huge understanding of the U.S. health system.
“I want to help create programs that are not reactive but proactive … to find ways to help others help themselves before they need clinical care,” Nicolette said.
He also hopes to determine ways to improve students’ sleep hygiene, though he understands that it is too early to determine what programs he hopes to execute at the moment.
“It’ll take a few months to get my head around what the next step is,” Nicolette said. “The overall vision is to serve the entire campus, we can do it by being more proactive.”
