Joanne R. Wile, MSW, LCSW
Longtime UCSF clinical professor, mental health advocate, and community leader Joanne R. Wile, MSW, LCSW, passed away on June 4, 2025. She was 79 years old.
Over the course of her 27-year career in the UCSF and San Francisco General Hospital’s Department of Psychiatry, Wile held various leadership positions, including Director of Social Work Training, Director of Psychiatric Social Services, Co-Director of the Cultural Competence and Diversity Committee, and co-founder of the Women’s Consultation Team. She was known and treasured by her colleagues for her high energy, curiosity, clear thinking, collaborative leadership style, and excellent organizational skills.
An innovator in ethnic and gender mental health equity, she also led the creation of Community Focus, an assertive community treatment program at SFGH for Latino, Asian/Pacific Islanders, LGBTQ, and HIV-positive clients who were high users of acute services. It later merged with Citywide Case Management to form what is now known as Citywide Focus, the largest single program providing intensive case management services across San Francisco.
Wile also worked at the Contra Costa Social Services Department, California Medical Clinic for Psychotherapy, Oakes Children’s Center, Mt. Zion Hospital and Medical Center, Westside Community Services, San Francisco Community Behavioral Health Services, and was affiliated with the Psychotherapy Institute of Berkeley.
Following her retirement from UCSF in 2006, Wile was elected twice to the Albany City Council and served two terms as mayor. She was also instrumental in the development and launch of mental health and trauma treatment programs for children and teens in the Albany Unified School District. For further information about her life and career, please see her obituary online.
A celebration of life for Wile will be held this Saturday, February 21, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley. All who wish to join in honoring her leadership, humility, generosity, and compassion are welcome to attend. The memorial service will be streamed live on the UUCB Facebook page and YouTube channel.
In lieu of flowers, friends and colleagues are asked to consider a donation to Fundación En Vía — a nonprofit based in Oaxaca, Mexico, that supports women and their creation of income-generating businesses — or to the Milo Foundation, an East Bay nonprofit dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating homeless animals.
