About
I'm Dr. Vanessa Calderón. I’m a physician, certified professional coach and resiliency expert. I help people create wholehearted success they can be proud of.
Official Bio
Dr. Vanessa Calderón, MD, MPP is a Board Certified Emergency Medicine Physician, Resiliency Expert and Certified Professional Coach. She has over 10 years of physician leadership experience and has an active clinical practice in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the Wellness Champion and Resiliency Director of Vituity, a national multi-specialty physician organization and a member of the Green Cross Academy of Traumatology. She is a certified Compassion Fatigue Educator and Therapist and a recognized Positive Neuroplasticity Trainer. Dr. Calderón is a masterful educator and founder of ICAREMD, the Institute for Compassion, Awareness, Empathy and Resiliency in Medicine. She has spent over half a decade reconnecting healthcare providers to their original purpose in medicine through education and professional coaching.
She's a sought after international public speaker. Through her keen sense of human connection, she has inspired audiences around the world. Besides physician leadership and wellness, her speaking interests include diversity, equity and inclusion, compassion and empathy in healthcare, women in medicine, gender and neurodiversity in leadership, physician and patient advocacy. She's a regularly invited speaker at National Healthcare Conferences, CME Courses, Physician Leadership and Risk courses, Grand Rounds and podcasts.
Dr. Calderón currently serves as the Department Chief and Medical Director of the St. Mary’s Hospital Emergency Department in San Francisco. She is an alumnus of the Vituity Management Fellowship and earned her Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine. She completed her emergency medicine residency at Albert Einstein Montefiore/Jacobi Medical Centers in New York City, where she served as Chief Resident.
Dr. Calderón has avidly been involved in patient advocacy, student mentorship and healthcare policy. She holds a Master of Public Policy from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government and served as the Director of Health Disparities for the American Medical Student Association from 2006-2007 in Washington DC.
Care to get more personal?
I'm a first generation American. My mother immigrated from Mexico and my father from El Salvador. They were typical, hard working immigrants committed to achieving the American Dream. My mom’s compassionate heart inspired me to pursue a career in service, and my dad instilled an unwavering work ethic grounded in integrity and excellence.
Though I was born in the U.S., my mom was committed to raising my sisters and me bilingual so I didn't learn English until I went to school. In fact, I still remember playing make believe with my sisters and cousins, and the game was always pretending we spoke English. We would then speak gibberish and move our hand around with a lot of attitude.
Family is everything to me; it is my community, my tribe and my motivation. I have two young beautiful children and I’m blessed to be married to a supportive and loving husband. One of my favorite things to do is play make believe with my kids. It's amazing how creative and joyful they are. It reminds me to approach life with an open heart and a "yes, and" attitude.
Besides Professional Coaching and Medicine, in my past lives I've been a community organizer, health policy director, Mexican Folklore dancer, marathon runner, and avid world traveler.
On my spare time you can find me with my husband and kids jumping in a bounce house, creating super messy science projects or building Lego kingdoms and forts.
Why Living a Wholehearted Life Matters to Me
A few years back, I was living high on life. I had a job I loved, and, after overcoming three miscarriages, my family was growing and I celebrated the birth of my second child...
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