Our Scholars

Our Scholars

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.

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.

Elizabeth Broden, PhD, RN

Yale

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

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.

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.

 

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. 

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

Stefanie Gillson, MD

Yale

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Matthew Klebanoff, MD

Penn

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

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.

Nicolas Muñoz, MD

Penn

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

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.

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

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.

Andrea Quiñones-Rivera, MD, MPH

UCSF

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

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.

 

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.

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.  

Luis E. Seija, MD

Penn

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

Brian Stamm, MD

(VA Scholar)
Michigan

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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