A conversation with Anna Levitt, Technical Director of Sustainability at UCSF
What do you really do at CLS? What does that actually mean in terms of your day-to-day work?
Good question, as this is a new role for UCSF. I have a half-Campus, half-Health appointment. My Campus title is Technical Director of Sustainability. The primary goal of that role is to advance decarbonization while maintaining what we absolutely need, which is energy reliability and resiliency. That is the overarching task of my CLS work.
What do you mean when you say energy resiliency? What does that mean to you?
On campus, we have critical research facilities that must maintain power at all times, or critically important research could be compromised. And on the Health side we have patients being cared for 24 hours a day. Energy resiliency means ensuring we can continue to deliver energy to the most critical needs at all times and have backup plans and systems in place, in the event of a non-normal situation like the major PG&E outage that happened last month.
How long have you worked at UCSF? Has your title always been what it is currently, or did you start as something else?
I've been at UCSF since late 2019 and started as Energy Manager. I was at UC San Diego Health and UC San Diego prior to that, also working in energy management. So, I've been in the UC system since 2009.
You created the first energy management program at UC San Diego Health. What did your experience at UC San Diego teach you, and what have you brought to UCSF from that experience?
In general, what is critical is having strong partnerships between Sustainability, Facilities, and Design and Construction, as well as between Campus and Health, because no one can do it alone.
It’s also critical to recognize and share that the work we do in sustainability is part of our core mission of advancing health worldwide. Sustainability and climate action work is really preventive and public health care at some of the earliest stages.
Levitt poses with members of the sustainability team.
What is your favorite part of your job?
I am happy to say that multiple things come to mind. One major thing that I feel great about is being able to impact long-term decisions that will impact how things work and are set up for decades to come.
My team influences how the hospitals will be designed and how the infrastructure will be set up in the building. That feels really important and impactful.
The other thing that comes to mind is that I believe deeply and personally in the mission at UCSF, knowing that all the work we do is in service of caring for patients and keeping people healthy around the world.
When you're talking about being part of long-term planning, is there anything you can share that's been put into motion recently?
The entire decarbonization program, which is in its infancy, but is really starting to move forward, and its connection to all of the new construction.
For example, the new Helen Diller Hospital at Parnassus Heights: In part through my participation in the project, it is going to be nearly carbon-free from opening day and will also tee us up for a decarbonized future in Parnassus by taking the initial steps toward a campus-wide hot water piping loop, a key component of our future decarbonized system. Similarly, the new hospital building at Benioff Children's Hospital in Oakland incorporates parts of the design that will tee us up to decarbonize the existing hospital in the future.
Rendering of the Helen Diller Hospital
I wanted to talk to you about your career before you came to UCSF. I know that you're a licensed mechanical engineer. At what stage in your career did sustainability become something that you're passionate about?
In college. I studied mechanical engineering in college, and the Second Gulf War was happening at that time. I was aware of the fact that access to oil was a major point of contention between countries. I thought about how my skills and interests in school and in my profession could somehow relate to that. My senior-year college project was on renewable energy. From there, I went into energy work as a career.
Also, my wife is a doctor and worked in Mozambique at a public hospital for a year. During that time, I had the opportunity to travel there and contribute to an infection control project for the facilities. That was actually my first job in healthcare.
What was it like for you being in Mozambique and helping with the facilities infrastructure there?
The big thing for me with travel in general is seeing and feeling that everyone across the world ultimately wants and is seeking the same things, which is to take care of their loved ones and be safe. That’s what I saw in the hospital in Maputo: people were working crazy hard to take care of each other.
Anna Levitt with her wife.
Did that guide you at all or impact your decision to work within the healthcare space?
My wife in general. Seeing her day-to-day work and how profoundly important it is made me interested in being closer to the healthcare space. Through her work in hospitals, particularly with patients who are at end-of-life, she’s gained clarity on what's really most important in life, because she sees what people care about at the end. That lesson carries through everything. It’s a good reminder of where to really focus.
Can you share a little bit about where you grew up?
I grew up in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, which is a very near suburb of Detroit. It’s the car capital of the world, the headquarters of Ford Motor Company. But my family was unusual in that we had nothing to do with the auto industry; my parents were professors. My mom is an anthropologist, and my dad, at different times in his life, taught business and also education.
What do you like to do when you're not working? Any hobbies or interests that you want to share?
Yeah. Well, I have a wife and two kids, ages five and nine, so they all keep me very busy. And music is, I would say, my number one passion aside from family.
So that's my real passion.
Anna Levitt with band mates.
Do you have any advice for people who are new to UCSF or Campus Life Services?
The big thing for me (and sometimes I have to remind myself to take my own advice), is to network heavily. Talk to as many people as you can, understand how other departments work, and what they're focused on. Personally, what works really well for me is one-on-one conversations, so I ask folks to have a coffee or lunch.
Don’t be shy about it. People are often interested in being mentors, providing formal or informal mentorship. Things just work better when people are talking to each other, and we don't necessarily always have that delivered to us. The people who do the best job manifest it themselves.
And second, truly, there are no stupid questions. If you don't understand something, ask. Chances are you're going to help somebody else.
I think one thing that comes to mind, and my impression is that CLS is pretty good at this, is that it is critical to remember that what matters most at work is each other.