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Our Scholars

Our Scholars
Abdelnabi, Samia_Michigan

Samia Abdelnabi, PhD, MSN, FNP-C, CNM

Michigan

Developing and implementing interventions using traditional Arabic and Islamic medicine to reduce Infertility-related stress and improve psychosocial well-being among Muslim couples experiencing infertility.

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Helena Addison, PhD, MSN, RN

(VA Scholar)
Yale

Advancing health equity by addressing the mental health harms of structural racism, incarceration, and violence exposures and improving access to quality care.

Harry Adynski, PhD, RN

UCSF

Investigating the interactions between social and biological drivers of child health, well-being, and developmental outcomes and their families to inform intervention development, clinical care, and policy.

Doreen Agboh, MD

Yale

Optimizing emergency department utilization in underserved communities by examining health disparities that preclude timely access to preventative healthcare; investigating methods to increase equitable access to care in urban health settings.

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Emily Ager, MD, MPH

UCSF

Investigating gaps in care and developing interventions to improve the quality and equity of reproductive and sexual health care in the Emergency Department.

Charisse Ahmed, PhD, RN

UCLA

Exploring culturally sensitive and trauma-informed models of care to improve mental health outcomes among socially and economically disadvantaged adolescents and young adults.

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Zainab Ahmed, MD

UCLA

Investigating both policy and clinical solutions to replace arrest and jail for those with psychiatric conditions; exploring the intersections between public health interventions at home and health equity abroad.

Ancheta, April

April J. Ancheta, MPhil, BS, RN

Penn

Investigating the impacts of social and school-based policies on violence victimization and weight-related health disparities among sexual and gender minority adolescents.

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Sameen Ansari, MD

UCSF

Assessing state-level policies that focus on reducing healthcare disparities and improving access to care for systemically disadvantaged populations.

Abigail Arons MD, MPAff

UCSF

Advancing the next generation of social determinants of health interventions through translating science to policy.

Vivek Ashok, MD

Penn

Investigating applications of restorative justice to clinical medicine to repair harm from inequitable care and racism, and to improve trust and trustworthiness.

Edgar Asiimwe, MD

UCSF

Using epidemiologic methods to investigate the drivers of disparities in oncologic outcomes and to design effective interventions.

Lilian G. Bravo, PhD, RN

UCLA

Investigating how to improve adolescent mental healthcare access and delivery, especially as it relates to suicide prevention services for racial-ethnic minorities.

Elizabeth Broden, PhD, RN

Yale

Leveraging health systems to improve children and families’ end-of-life experiences through nurse-led interventions.

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Tashalee Brown, MD, PhD

UCLA

Investigating social determinants of mental health, the role of racism in perpetuating racial/ethnic disparities in mental health care, community-partnered mental health interventions, and the implementation of evidence-based anti-racism training in mental health care.

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Joniqua Ceasar, MD

Penn

Using mixed methods to explore the relationship between neighborhoods and health, especially as it relates to structural racism, environmental justice, the built environment and climate change.

Alissa S. Chen, MD, MPH

Yale

Investigating health care delivery and access within primary care, with a focus in the treatment of obesity in older adults.

Arina E. Chesnokova

Arina E. Chesnokova, MD, MPH

(VA Scholar)
Penn

Investigating mechanisms to effectively un-silo OBGYN care for the poor and underserved, trialing interventions to support providers caring for the underserved, and researching patient trust to increase patient engagement.

Caitlin Clason, PhD, WHNP-BC

(VA Scholar)
Penn

Investigating the healthcare needs of female service members and veterans to include healthcare access, disparities in care, medical mistrust, and gender-related health concerns.

 

Jeylan Close, MD

Duke

Implementing evidence-based mental health treatments in nontraditional settings, such as schools and primary care, with a focus on increasing overall access and equity in access to mental health care for youth.

Hannah Decker, MD

(VA Scholar)
UCSF

Understanding barriers in access to high-quality surgical care in vulnerable populations; exploring the ways that housing impacts surgical outcomes, including surgery for cancer.

Ashley Demory, MD

Yale

Identifying characteristics of healthcare workplace environments that impact diverse clinician recruitment and retention; investigating the relationship between workforce diversity, equitable patient outcomes, and high value care. 

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Cassandra Dictus, PhD, MPH, RN

(VA Scholar)
Duke

Investigating long-term care, systems, and policy to improve quality of life and health equity for older adults and their caregivers

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Jean Digitale, PhD, MPH, RN

UCSF

Improving quality, safety, and equity in pediatric hospital care using electronic health record data, clinical informatics, and advanced analytics.

Edna Esquer, PhD, FNP-BC

UCSF

Identifying cardio-metabolic risk factors, high-risk health behaviors, health policy and equity, health outcomes research focusing on the social determinants of health that adversely affect the well-being of vulnerable minority populations.

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Marc Henry Gary Estriplet, MD, MPH

Yale

Investigating the implementation sciences surrounding value-based healthcare and its impact on outcomes; unraveling the relationship between the political determinants of health, access to care, and interventions that drive equity.

Frederick Ferguson, MD

UCLA

Investigating pediatric obesity, local school practices, and disparities in access to community services with coordination of current and new services to address long term health outcomes

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Sarah Follman, MD

Yale

Improving quality of care for vulnerable emergency department patients including those with substance use disorders and psychiatric emergencies, victims of trauma, and patients with obstetric and gynecologic complications.

James S. Ford, MD

UCSF

Investigating pivotal clinical challenges for patient care and patient/staff safety, at the intersection of emergency medicine and infectious diseases.

Gathers, Cody-Aaron_Penn

Cody Gathers, MD

Penn

Investigating racial and socioeconomic disparities in pediatric cardiac arrest, designing and implementing interventions to mitigate disparities in pediatric critical care.

Stefanie Gillson, MD

Yale

Utilizing community-based research, partnership, and culture to address mental health disparities for Indigenous Youth.

Tyra Girdwood, RN, PhD

(VA Scholar)
Duke

Investigating structural barriers to successful transitions to adult health care in young, vulnerable populations and exploring health policy innovations to enhance transitional care outcomes.  

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Amy Goh, PhD, MPhil, CNM, FACNM

Yale

Examining midwifery and birth center utilization within the Asian American community and identifying interventions to improve birthing outcomes for Asian birthing people.

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Daniel M. Gonzalez, MD

UCLA

Investigating healthcare access and policy factors impacting care for marginalized populations, including Medi-Cal patients.

Josephine Granner, PhD, RN

(VA Scholar)
Yale

Exploring the experiences and intervention needs of new fathers who are survivors of child maltreatment to break intergenerational cycles of child maltreatment and psychiatric vulnerability.

Anand Habib, MD

Yale

Interrogating the political economy of pharmaceutical development and the financial toxicity of current pharmaceutical provisioning with the aim of designing new regulatory frameworks that align price, value, and healthcare equity.

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Caleb Haley, MD

Michigan

Investigating how policies and systems affect healthcare access, delivery, and outcomes for gender-affirming medical and surgical care.

Safraz Hamid, MD

Yale

Understanding how the patient experience surrounding surgical complications can help inform changes to the pre-operative counseling session prior to breast cancer surgery.

Ceshae Harding, MD

Duke

Optimizing chronic disease management prior to pregnancy; improving postpartum follow-up care; establishing the healthcare infrastructure needed to provide comprehensive care for women of childbearing age.

Stephanie Hart, PhD, NP-C

Duke

Improving quality of stroke care and stroke outcomes by examining and addressing health disparities and social determinants of health through policy and community-engaged approaches.

Meghan Hewlett, MD, MS, MPH

UCSF

Investigating the interplay of physical health, mental health, and social services needs to improve care for vulnerable patient populations.

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Nina Hill, MD

Michigan

Characterizing impact of health-related social needs on vulnerable adolescents and young adults, and developing primary care-based interventions to improve disparities in chronic disease development.

Hattie Huston-Paterson, MD, MA

(VA Scholar)
UCLA

Developing interventions to reduce rural-urban disparities in surgically-treated cancers; improving access to the highest quality breast, endocrine and melanoma cancer care; and mitigating the impact of racism and structural violence on surgical outcomes.

Nadir Ijaz, MD

Yale

Investigating implementation strategies to sustainably adapt evidence-based practices and technologies in pediatric acute care to resource-diverse settings.

Erin Isenberg, MD

(VA Scholar)
Michigan

Improving health disparities and equity in surgical populations, reducing low value care via quality improvement and policy change, and addressing financial toxicity of the healthcare system

Brianna Jackson, PhD, MScN, RN, CPMHN(C)

UCSF

Exploring how social and structural adversities, trauma, and violence influence mental health and resilience in marginalized youth transitioning to adulthood.

Janke, Alexander_Michigan

Alexander Janke, MD

(VA Scholar)
Michigan

Integrating diverse data sources and research methods to better understand the U.S. acute care system and advocate for the people who use it.

Catherine Jensen, MD

Michigan

Investigating the impact of emotions on cancer-related decisions with a focus on identifying unmet psychosocial needs, enhancing communication, and improving patient-centered outcomes.

Florence Johnson, PhD, RN

Michigan

Examining disparities in community support services use and how it affects the mental health of Black caregivers of people living with dementia in the community.

Salmaan Kamal, MD

UCLA

Investigating evidence-based policy solutions for people experiencing homelessness and substance use disorder.

Ryan Kane, MD, MPH

Duke

Utilizing community engaged research methods, health system integration, and political advocacy to address inequities in socially derived metabolic diseases with a particular focus on co-occurring obesity and food insecurity.

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Jacqueline Marie Kent-Marvick, PhD, BSN

(VA Scholar)
Penn

Investigating how characteristics of social networks are associated with postpartum diet, activity, and weight as an important first step in addressing postpartum health behaviors from a multi-level/domain approach.

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Joseph A Kern, MD

Penn

Understanding the economic and policy factors impacting victims of violent injury and developing targeted, sustainable interventions that will improve patient outcomes and ultimately reduce rates of violent injury.

Matthew Klebanoff, MD

Penn

Examining obstacles to prescription drug access, affordability, and adherence.

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Kera Kwan, MD

(VA Scholar)
UCLA

Investigating and mitigating disparities in colorectal and anal diseases, including cancer and inflammatory bowel disease, using implementation science and epidemiologic approaches.

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James Lee, MD

(VA Scholar)
Michigan

Investigating the impacts of state-level price regulations on healthcare access, quality, and equity to help advance future reforms.

Terrence Liu, MD

(VA Scholar)
Michigan

Investigating innovative primary care delivery models for vulnerable populations in clinic-based and non-clinic based settings through multidisciplinary care teams.

Jocelyn Lo, MD, MS

UCLA

Investigating health disparities in chronic disease outcomes within primary care; identifying cost-effective, community-partnered approaches to managing chronic diseases in underserved communities.

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Juan Carlos Lozano, MD

UCSF

Investigating the sequelae of oppressive systems affecting underrepresented communities' health outcomes and researching health disparities to impact health policy and local program development.

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Olivia Lynch, MD, MPH

Yale

Investigating inequalities and inefficiencies in the perioperative period and the resultant impact on patient and provider experiences, as well as health system costs and utilization.

Meltzer, Kerry

Kerry Meltzer, MD

(VA Scholar)
Penn

Improving outcomes for uninsured and underinsured populations through systems-level healthcare reform that also reduces costs and lowers barriers to care.

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Nicole Mott, MD

(VA Scholar)
Michigan

De-implementing low-value preoperative testing before common surgical procedures and optimizing perioperative care.

K. Jane Muir, PhD, RN

Penn

Investigating interventions to transform healthcare work environments to retain a diverse health workforce for the provision of equitable and cost-effective care.

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Cody Mullens, MD

Michigan

Investigating the unique challenges in the delivery of surgical care for rural patients and working towards improving access, quality, and costs of care for rural patients in the United States.

Nicolas Muñoz, MD

Penn

Implementing interventions to address healthcare inequities in transplantation for patients with liver disease.

Deanna Nardella, MD

Yale

Using CBPR-based methods to mitigate racial and ethnic health disparities with a focus on infant/child nutrition, maintenance of maternal lactation, and food insecurity.

Thye Peng Ngo, RN, MSN, FNP, CNE, CHSE

(VA Scholar)
UCSF

Exploring cognitive biases impacting healthcare professionals' clinical decision-making and collaboration in caring for underrepresented groups, including LGBTQ and immigrants, using healthcare technology.

My Hanh (Theresa) Nguyen, PhD, PMHNP-BC

UCLA

Investigating health inequities in mental health and substance use during the perinatal period and addressing gaps in data disaggregation in Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders mental health research.

Vanessa Niba, MD

Michigan

Exploring the impact of health care policy reform on access to specialized surgical care by historically marginalized patient populations; investigating community-based interventions in targeting unmet social determinants in vascular surgery patients.

Margaret Nkansah, MD, MS

UCLA

Investigating the barriers and alternatives to traditional housing and exploring community-based interventions that improve the health of individuals and families experiencing homelessness.

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Kristen Obiakor, MD, MS

UCLA

Using an intersectional lens to investigate early intervention strategies to attenuate adverse childhood events within vulnerable, historically minoritized pediatric populations and how it impacts the health outcomes and inequities experienced.

Kenechukwu Ojukwu, MD, MPP

UCLA

Designing inclusive curricula and collaborating in a multi-disciplinary manner to disseminate innovative methods of medical education for healthcare providers, medical trainees, patients, and community members.

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Whitney Orji, MD, MSHP

UCLA

Developing strategies to mitigate inequities in care for elective and emergency pediatric surgery patients.

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Isabel Ostrer, MD

UCSF

Integrating social and medical care to improve wellbeing at a population level.

Dalia Owda, MD

Yale

Evaluating emergency services utilization by marginalized communities; developing medical education curriculum to improve health equity and exploring solutions to advance workforce diversity. 

Deborah Oyeyemi Walton, MD

UCLA

Investigating how contextual factors like race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status intersect with dementia outcomes, and strategies for increasing representation of ethnoracially diverse older adults and caregivers in clinical research

Lucero Paredes, MD

(VA Scholar)
Yale

Exploring healthcare disparities across marginalized communities, focusing on public health initiatives and policy change to address health inequity of the surgical patient.

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Madeline Perry, MD

Penn

Investigating how state-level policies differentially influence perinatal outcomes and utilizing health policy implementation science to challenge obstetric health disparities, especially among people with high risk maternal health conditions.

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Jamila Picart, MD

Michigan

Investigating how diversity is defined and recruited for in surgical specialties to refine recruitment strategies and advance the diversification of the surgical workforce.

Gabriela Plasencia, MD, MAS

Duke

Assessing the impact of community engagement in decreasing health disparities in access to COVID-19 resources and COVID-19 health outcomes.

Griffin Plattner, MD

UCSF

Quantifying the impact of social determinants of health with the goal of guiding and evaluating policy and resource utilization designed to reduce inequities through innovative and equitably accessible primary care.

Carri Polick, PhD, BSN, RN, CEN

(VA Scholar)
Duke

Investigating the impacts of social determinants of health, such as trauma and adversity, on biopsychosocial health outcomes and healthcare service disparities spanning the general population, veterans, and multiple sclerosis populations.

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Melissa Powell, PhD, RN, CPHQ

UCLA

Exploring mental health interventions to support the psychological well-being of nurses and their retention in the nursing profession.

Maxwell Presser, MD, MPH

UCSF

Investigating injury and violence prevention strategies with a specific focus on hospital-based violence intervention programs.

Andrea Quiñones-Rivera, MD, MPH

UCSF

Designing social determinants of health interventions that address health disparities and drive health policy innovation.

Joshua Rager, MD, MA

(VA Scholar)
Michigan

Using ethics-informed approaches to examine and enhance preventive health interventions and shared decision-making in adult primary care with patients of low socioeconomic status.

Rohan Rastogi, MD MPH

UCSF

Strengthening the healthcare safety net through evidence-based policy interventions and advancing health equity for socially disadvantaged populations in the US, particularly by improving access to insurance among immigrants.

 

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Lauren Raymond, MD

Yale

Evaluating disparities in advanced care planning, referral patterns to palliative care, and how to optimize goal-concordant care delivery for surgical patients.

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Naveen Reddy, MD

(VA Scholar)
UCSF

Examining the Veterans Health Administration's method of adopting emerging medical technologies and developing policies to promote their sustainable utilization.

Katherine Reeves, PhD, PMHNP-BC

(VA Scholar)
UCSF

Investigating suicide risk and how the assessment of symptoms, behaviors, and environment, on the individual level using innovative technologies, may improve the efficacy and equity of psychiatric triage and treatment.

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Sarah Revak, MD

Penn

Investigating policy and practice-based interventions to improve health-promoting government assistance programs for children and their families living in poverty. 

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William Roberts, MS, MSc

Yale

Investigating health policy, community empowerment, quality improvement, and payment reform to improve health equity and delivery of primary care.

Diana Ceballos Robles, MD

UCSF

Exploring the intrinsic strengths of immigrant communities that facilitate engagement in perinatal health services and identifying interventions to improve perinatal outcomes for this patient population.

Jordan Rook, MD

(VA Scholar)
UCLA

Investigating the impact of high-deductibles on health outcomes and access to care for low-income and minority populations; exploring the impact of providers' implicit biases on patient care.

Kathleen E. Fitzpatrick Rosenbaum, PhD, RN

Yale

Identifying and engaging healthcare change agents to improve patient-centered care, patient experience, and patient outcomes by leveraging nursing.

Victor Roy, PhD, MD

(VA Scholar)
Yale

Building systems of accompaniment to improve health for structurally vulnerable patients in the U.S. and globally; investigating the political economy of care infrastructure and access to health technologies.

Aminah Sallam, MD

UCLA

Leveraging community based participatory research to identify root causes for disparities in outcomes of patients undergoing cardiac surgery, including identifying reasons for underrepresentation of minorities undergoing minimally invasive cardiac surgery.  

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Jessica Santos-Parker, MD, PhD

UCSF

Improving access to surgical care for low-income and vulnerable populations, with a focus on thoracic surgery.

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Kristan Scott, MD

Penn

Examining the drivers of disparities in maternal and infant morbidity and mortality and establishing strategies and interventions to mitigate these disparities.

Luis E. Seija, MD

Penn

Investigating patient-centered information exchanges, early childhood literacy, and voting as a social determinant of health.

Rishi Sekar, MD

Michigan

Investigating the impact of health policy and health care delivery model innovation in fostering high-value care in urologic oncology and leveraging patient/community centered outcomes in designing targeted interventions.

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Kaustav P. Shah, MD

(VA Scholar)
Penn

Investigating how medical professionals interface with electronic health records (EHR) and how novel machine learning tools can integrate into the EHR to both improve quality of care and provider wellness.

Michelle Shankar, MD

Yale

Exploring the role of education and justice systems on child health outcomes; investigating the role of school-based health centers in improving child and adolescent health.

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Walter Solorzano, MD, MPH

UCLA

Improving delivery of care for underserved communities in federally qualified health centers and investigating diabetes disparities with a focus on technology access.

Brian Stamm, MD

(VA Scholar)
Michigan

Investigating hypertension related stroke disparities and designing more equitable systems of stroke care.

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Allison O. Taylor, MD, MS

Duke

Understanding disparities in diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes for patients with hematologic malignancies from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds, and developing relevant interventions to address these inequities through community engagement.

Crystal Taylor, MD

Michigan

Investigating the utility of preoperative testing for low risk procedures and the de-implementation of low-value treatments in older women with breast cancer.

Joshua Tiao, MD

UCLA

Working with local communities to research and develop sustainable solutions that reduce firearm injuries.

Rebecca Tsevat, MD, MS

UCLA

Improving the health and well-being of adolescents and young adults with chronic medical conditions as they transition from pediatric to adult-centered healthcare; developing interventions to mitigate the effects of adverse childhood experiences throughout the lifespan.

Eleanor Turi, MPhil, BSN, RN, CCRN

Penn

Applying implementation science methodology to improve the quality of nurse practitioner care for rural populations with mental health conditions.

Judith Vick, MD, MPH

(VA Scholar)
Duke

Understanding and intervening upon the frictions of health care to design a more user-friendly system and coproduce goal-concordant care, particularly for older adults and their families in the inpatient setting.

Hurnan Vongsachang, MD, MPH

UCLA

Addressing disparities in access and referral to care related to mental health, substance use disorders, and homelessness from the emergency department

Catherine Wagner, MD

Michigan

Investigating outcomes disparities in cardiac surgery and improving diversity within cardiac surgery.

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Andrew Wong, MD

Michigan

Development and ethical implementation of provider-facing machine learning and artificial intelligence tools for clinical diagnosis, hospital operations, and medical education.

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Hilary Wright, MD, MPH

UCLA

Enhancing health systems and policies to improve mental health outcomes among people experiencing homelessness.

Mary Jue Xu, MD

UCSF

Aiming to improve care of head and neck cancer patients in resource-constrained health systems.

Cecile Yama, MD

UCLA

Evaluating clinical and economic impacts of inadequate housing; exploring how housing policy and urban planning shapes patient outcomes; addressing housing inequities through multidisciplinary collaborations to support pediatric health and development.

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Annie Yang, MD

(VA Scholar)
Yale

Improving the quality of care within skilled nursing facilities and long-term care for older, vulnerable adults; evaluating the impact of Medicaid policies and changes on care delivery and beneficiary outcomes.

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Portia Zaire, PhD, MSNEd, BSN

Michigan

Investigating the delivery of health and preventive care services to historically marginalized communities.

Alan Zambeli-Ljepović, MD, MHS

UCSF

Making surgical care more accessible and equitable, at home and abroad.

Jessica Zhang, MD

UCLA

Understanding health disparities using behavioral economics, identifying modifiable factors associated with patient-centered outcomes in transitions of care, and designing health system interventions that incentivize long-term health.

Daniel Zheng

Daniel Zheng, MD, MHS

Penn

Examining how poverty-related disparities develop across the pediatric cancer care continuum and developing interventions to mitigate these disparities in long-term survivors.

Hashem Emad Zikry, MD

UCLA

Economically quantifying and thinking about acute care health system readiness and disaster preparedness.

Sarah Zollweg, MPhil, BSN, RN

UCLA

Conducting research on the influence of social and structural determinants of adverse substance use outcomes to advocate for meaningful policy change and reduce health inequities