Staff appreciation brunch honors DOM staffers headed to other U of A posts

A staff appreciation event hosted by the Department of Medicine on Nov. 19 included recognition for three staff members leaving the department for other posts. See a mini-photo gallery from the event below.

They included:
Julio Valencia, a clinical associate director with the DOM who most recently was in charge of the Division of Dermatology, but also served earlier as an AD for several other divisions, including the Division of Endocrinology, Division of Inpatient Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine and Division of Rheumatology. As a division manager prior to that, he’s worked with just about every DOM division. He’s now administrator for the Department of Dermatology, which became the newest department at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson this past July.

Valencia started in 2009 as clinic supervisor on the Banner (then UAHN — University of Arizona Health Network) side overseeing the Family & Community Medicine and Endocrinology clinics at the Abrams Public Health Center on what’s now the Banner – University Medical Center South campus. His most memorable time, he said, was during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I had the hospitalist or Inpatient Medicine and PACCS divisions, and most other divisions were very limited or even closed at some point, while I was supporting the two divisions that were the busiest at that time. We expanded our services in the hospital division from 16 teams to 22 teams to keep the service going and PACCS critical care physicians were a big part of that. It was a scary time, but we thrived then because we had to — all of the community really depended on us,” Valenica said.

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Angelica Bonfiglio, an administrative assistant with the Division of Dermatology since August 2015. She’s also still with Dermatology, but now in its capacity as a department. Bonfiglio previously was an administrative assistant for Tucson’s Community Partnership of Southern Arizona.

Ali Kellerman, a DOM division manager, she left to be a finance administration manager for the Division of Agriculture, Life and Veterinary Sciences and Cooperative Extension in the U of A College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences and College of Veterinary Medicine. Previously an assistant division manager, she was with the DOM for three years, over the Division of General Internal Medicine, Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine and the U of A Center on Aging. A CPA, she worked in the accounting industry prior to joining the U of A.

Certificates of appreciation were presented to Valencia, Kellerman and Bonfiglio — who was not present at the event, which was held on the day Valencia and Bonfiglio officially switched their employment to the Dermatology department.

Another DOM staffer leaving for the Department of Dermatology is Bersabe Lopez, now its senior medical education program professional. At the DOM since 2019, she was administrative lead for the DOM Medical Education Office and senior program coordinator for the Nephrology Fellowship in the Division of Nephrology. Before that, she was the PACCS division’s Allergy & Immunology Fellowship coordinator and a staffer in the college’s Graduate Medical Education office. Her departure wasn’t known until after the brunch. She also wasn’t present at the event.

ALSO SEE:
“Three from DOM nominated for college’s highest staff award” | Posted May 29, 2025
“Four DOM staff win awards for Administrative Professionals Day” | Posted May 2, 2025

(Photos courtesy of David Mogollon, Department of Medicine)

For additional photos from this event, click here.

MINI-PHOTO GALLERY
Click images to enlarge and for captions: