Helena Addison, PhD, MSN, RN
Advancing health equity by addressing the mental health harms of structural racism, incarceration, and violence exposures and improving access to quality care.
Our Scholars
Harry Adynski, PhD, RN
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
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.
Emily Ager, MD, MPH
Investigating gaps in care and developing interventions to improve the quality and equity of reproductive and sexual health care in the Emergency Department.
Zainab Ahmed, MD
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.
Sameen Ansari, MD
Assessing state-level policies that focus on reducing healthcare disparities and improving access to care for systemically disadvantaged populations.
Vivek Ashok, MD
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
Using epidemiologic methods to investigate the drivers of disparities in oncologic outcomes and to design effective interventions.
Diana Bongiorno, MD, MPH
Investigating how emergency care can be optimized to address social determinants of health and improve health equity, with a particular interest in reproductive health issues
Rahael Borchers, MD
Investigating sociopolitical determinants of health for immigrants, and promoting evidence-based policies that would improve access to quality preventative healthcare.
Mariaelena Boyle, MD
Understanding the financial impact families endure when supporting children receiving pediatric surgical care
Elizabeth Broden, PhD, RN
Leveraging health systems to improve children and families’ end-of-life experiences through nurse-led interventions.
Tashalee Brown, MD, PhD
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.
Joniqua Ceasar, MD
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
Investigating health care delivery and access within primary care, with a focus in the treatment of obesity in older adults.
Elizabeth Choa, PhD, RN
Exploring the nexus of climate change, health, and aging to uncover community and structural factors influencing climate resilience at the population level
Caitlin Russell, PhD, WHNP-BC
Investigating the healthcare needs of female service members and veterans to include healthcare access, disparities in care, medical mistrust, and gender-related health concerns.
Ashley Cohen, MD
Investigating disparities in acute care delivery and developing mitigation strategies to improve outcomes for vulnerable populations, with a particular interest in addressing socioeconomic barriers through health systems and policy reform.
Caroline Dancu, PhD(c), RN
Understanding cardiovascular disease risk and prevention in women Veterans, integrating lifestyle and mental health factors to inform effective interventions and improve cardiovascular health outcomes.
Caroline Darlington, PhD(c), MSN, WHNP-BC
Exploring the influence of ethical and legal factors on care access and health outcomes among pregnant and parenting women with substance use disorders.
Ashley Demory, MD
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.
Cassandra Dictus, PhD, MPH, RN
Investigating long-term care, systems, and policy to improve quality of life and health equity for older adults and their caregivers
Jean Digitale, PhD, MPH, RN
Improving quality, safety, and equity in pediatric hospital care using electronic health record data, clinical informatics, and advanced analytics.
Justinna Dixon, PhD(c), MPhil, BSN, RN
Promoting health equity by investigating the impact of social, environmental, and organizational factors on the health outcomes of individuals with mental health conditions.
Emma Ernst, MD, MPH
Exploring serious illness communication preferences among patients and families, particularly when language or cultural barriers exist, and examing ways to empower primary care providers with serious illness communication skills.
Marc Henry Gary Estriplet, MD, MPH
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
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
Sarah Follman, MD
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.
Emma Gerstenzang, MD
Improving care for children with medical complexity, with focus on transition between care settings, structure and delivery of in-home services, and associated racial, socioeconomic and geographic disparities in experience and outcomes
Stefanie Gillson, MD
Utilizing community-based research, partnership, and culture to address mental health disparities for Indigenous Youth.
Amy Goh, PhD, MPhil, CNM, FACNM
Examining midwifery and birth center utilization within the Asian American community and identifying interventions to improve birthing outcomes for Asian birthing people.
Daniel M. Gonzalez, MD
Investigating healthcare access and policy factors impacting care for marginalized populations, including Medi-Cal patients.
Felisha Gonzalez, MD
Combating the effect of bias and structural discrimination on patient outcomes and healthcare provider diversity with evidence-based solutions.
Desire' Guillory, MD
Deepening an understanding of the issues that reinforce health disparities and advocating for policy and systemic changes that ensure equitable care for all children
Anand Habib, MD
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.
Caleb Haley, MD
Investigating how policies and systems affect healthcare access, delivery, and outcomes for gender-affirming medical and surgical care.
Safraz Hamid, MD
Understanding how the patient experience surrounding surgical complications can help inform changes to the pre-operative counseling session prior to breast cancer surgery.
Latesha K. Harris, PhD(c), RN
Investigating how racism-related stressors, particularly expectations of police violence, impact intergenerational cardiometabolic risk among pregnant Black American women and their infants.
Stephanie Hart, PhD, NP-C
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
Investigating the interplay of physical health, mental health, and social services needs to improve care for vulnerable patient populations.
Nina Hill, MD
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.
Erin Isenberg, MD
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)
Exploring how social and structural adversities, trauma, and violence influence mental health and resilience in marginalized youth transitioning to adulthood.
Shewit Jaynes, PhD(c), MSPH, RN
Advancing maternal health equity by (1) critically examining social determinants of health and structural inequality, including gendered racism (2) leveraging a community-engaged approach to design interventions and inform policy solutions.
Catherine Jensen, MD
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
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
Investigating evidence-based policy solutions for people experiencing homelessness and substance use disorder.
Ryan Kane, MD, MPH
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.
Pranav Kaul, MD
Expanding access to care for vulnerable populations seeking emergency care with an emphasis on uninsured and underinsured patients with Medicaid/Medicare
Jacqueline Marie Kent-Marvick, PhD, BSN
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.
Joseph A Kern, MD
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
Examining obstacles to prescription drug access, affordability, and adherence.
Jamie Ko, MD, MPH
Utilizing epidemiological approaches to explore mechanisms contributing to disparities in surgical access and outcomes; investigating health policies targeting these mechanisms to mitigate surgical disparities
Ryan Koski-Vacirca, MD, MPH, MSc
Exploring rural health equity, healthcare affordability, sustainable rural development, and public health initiatives to improve access and outcomes.
Kera Kwan, MD
Investigating and mitigating disparities in colorectal and anal diseases, including cancer and inflammatory bowel disease, using implementation science and epidemiologic approaches.
Grace Sunah Lee, MD
Investigating gaps in health coverage and benefits enrollment among patients with congenital heart disease with functional disabilities; determining drivers for disparities in successful transition of care from pediatric to adult specialists among patients with congenital heart disease.
James Lee, MD
Investigating the impacts of state-level price regulations on healthcare access, quality, and equity to help advance future reforms.
Terrence Liu, MD
Investigating innovative primary care delivery models for vulnerable populations in clinic-based and non-clinic based settings through multidisciplinary care teams.
Juan Carlos Lozano, MD
Investigating the sequelae of oppressive systems affecting underrepresented communities' health outcomes and researching health disparities to impact health policy and local program development.
Olivia Lynch, MD, MPH
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.
Lisa-Qiao MacDonald, MD
Investigating ambulatory follow-up after acute unscheduled care, value-based care models, and the impact of social determinants of health.
Emika Miller, PhD(c), MSc, APRN, CNP
Addressing caregiving for Black Americans with ADRD, tackling palliative care disparities, and improving communication between caregivers and healthcare teams.
Nicole Mott, MD
De-implementing low-value preoperative testing before common surgical procedures and optimizing perioperative care.
Cody Mullens, MD
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
Implementing interventions to address healthcare inequities in transplantation for patients with liver disease.
Thye Peng Ngo, RN, MSN, FNP, CNE, CHSE
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
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
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
Investigating the barriers and alternatives to traditional housing and exploring community-based interventions that improve the health of individuals and families experiencing homelessness.
Kristen Obiakor, MD, MS
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.
Whitney Orji, MD, MSHP
Developing strategies to mitigate inequities in care for elective and emergency pediatric surgery patients.
Isabel Ostrer, MD
Integrating social and medical care to improve wellbeing at a population level.
Deborah Oyeyemi Walton, MD
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
Sabreea Parnell, MD
Investigating injury and violence prevention with a focus on trauma informed care and hospital-based violence intervention programs.
Madeline Perry, MD
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.
Rebecca Piasecki, PhD, RN
Harnessing existing data to improve health services access and delivery, with a focus on rapid response systems and cardiac arrest care.
Jamila Picart, MD
Investigating how diversity is defined and recruited for in surgical specialties to refine recruitment strategies and advance the diversification of the surgical workforce.
Griffin Plattner, MD
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.
Melissa Powell, PhD, RN, CPHQ
Exploring mental health interventions to support the psychological well-being of nurses and their retention in the nursing profession.
Maxwell Presser, MD, MPH
Investigating injury and violence prevention strategies with a specific focus on hospital-based violence intervention programs.
Kellen Quigg, MD
Investigating how social determinants of health impact access to multidisciplinary clinics, maintenance of care, and participation in research for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Andrea Quiñones-Rivera, MD, MPH
Designing social determinants of health interventions that address health disparities and drive health policy innovation.
Rohan Rastogi, MD MPH
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.
Lauren Raymond, MD
Evaluating disparities in advanced care planning, referral patterns to palliative care, and how to optimize goal-concordant care delivery for surgical patients.
Naveen Reddy, MD
Examining the Veterans Health Administration's method of adopting emerging medical technologies and developing policies to promote their sustainable utilization.
Courtney Rentas, MD
Studying barriers surrounding access to care for rural patients in the United States.
Sarah Revak, MD
Investigating policy and practice-based interventions to improve health-promoting government assistance programs for children and their families living in poverty.
Caroline Richburg, MD
Conducting qualitative and mixed-methods research, examining psychosocial risk and postoperative morbidity in young colorectal cancer patients, and promoting workforce diversity in surgery.
Asmaa Rimawi, MD
Investigating and addressing barriers to equitable care, particularly regarding patient language preference, gender, and race.
William Roberts, MS, MSc
Investigating health policy, community empowerment, quality improvement, and payment reform to improve health equity and delivery of primary care.
Karthik Rohatgi, MD
Optimizing interventions to address health-related social needs within the healthcare setting, and developing care models for patients with complex medical and social needs.
Kathleen E. Fitzpatrick Rosenbaum, PhD, RN
Identifying and engaging healthcare change agents to improve patient-centered care, patient experience, and patient outcomes by leveraging nursing.
Aminah Sallam, MD
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.
Jessica Santos-Parker, MD, PhD
Improving access to surgical care for low-income and vulnerable populations, with a focus on thoracic surgery.
Lindsey Scheller, PhD(c), BSN, RN
Investigating how multi-level structural drivers influence health inequities in hospital and community settings among children with complex medical needs and chronic conditions.
Kristan Scott, MD
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
Investigating patient-centered information exchanges, early childhood literacy, and voting as a social determinant of health.
Kaustav P. Shah, MD
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.
Patrick Smith, PhD(c), BSN, RN
Investigating how social policies impact population health and health equity, with particular emphasis on the links between housing policies and health.
Walter Solorzano, MD, MPH
Improving delivery of care for underserved communities in federally qualified health centers and investigating diabetes disparities with a focus on technology access.
Jung Yong Son, PhD(c), MSN, RN, GNP-C
Promoting physical activity, reducing sedentary time in care homes, linking activity to cognition in older adults, and creating health interventions for improved outcomes.
Brian Stamm, MD
Investigating hypertension related stroke disparities and designing more equitable systems of stroke care.
Dan C. Stokes, MD, MS
Measuring the impact of social connectedness on healthy aging and on aging in place; exploring ways to preserve and expand the social lives of older adults; and developing novel models of care delivery that prioritize aging in community
Eric Sun, MD, MPH
Investigating primary care transformation, health services research, and improving maternal and child health outcomes.
Rachel Sweeney, MD, MPH
Exploring carceral health, medical-legal partnerships, and ethical issues in healthcare delivery within justice-involved populations.
Crystal Taylor, MD
Investigating the utility of preoperative testing for low risk procedures and the de-implementation of low-value treatments in older women with breast cancer.
Allison O. Taylor, MD, MS
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.
Katie Trainum, PhD(c), BSN, RN
Investigating emerging models of care (e.g., care robots) in long-term and acute care settings to promote cost-effective and equitable healthcare while prioritizing healthy work environments
Sean Emerson Treacy Abarca, MD
Exploring the integration of AI, mHealth, and telehealth to expand emergency department access, enhance equitable, cost-effective care, and improve outcomes, with a focus on underserved populations through data-driven innovations.
Rebecca Tsevat, MD, MS
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
Applying implementation science methodology to improve the quality of nurse practitioner care for rural populations with mental health conditions.
Hurnan Vongsachang, MD, MPH
Addressing disparities in access and referral to care related to mental health, substance use disorders, and homelessness from the emergency department
Michael C. Wang, MD
Studying the impact of policy changes and innovations on the delivery of preventive care and equity in cardiometabolic health outcomes
Andrew Wong, MD
Development and ethical implementation of provider-facing machine learning and artificial intelligence tools for clinical diagnosis, hospital operations, and medical education.
Hilary Wright, MD, MPH
Enhancing health systems and policies to improve mental health outcomes among people experiencing homelessness.
Annie Yang, MD
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.
Portia Zaire, PhD, MSNEd, BSN
Investigating the delivery of health and preventive care services to historically marginalized communities.
Alan Zambeli-Ljepović, MD, MHS
Making surgical care more accessible and equitable, at home and abroad.
Jessica Zhang, MD
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.
Hashem Emad Zikry, MD
Economically quantifying and thinking about acute care health system readiness and disaster preparedness.
Sarah Zollweg, MPhil, BSN, RN
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