Core Faculty

 

Janet Chu, MD, MPH, MAS

Dr. Janet Chu is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the UCSF Division of General Internal Medicine, where she works as a primary care physician and clinician investigator. Her research focuses on using implementation science to understand and address the impact of multilevel social determinants of cancer disparities.

 

 

Orlando O. Harris, PhD, RN, FNP, MPH

Dr. Harris, is an Assistant Professor of Nursing in the Department of Community Health Systems, School of Nursing, and an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Prevention Science in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. His research focuses on the exploration of risk and protective factors in sexual and gender diverse communities of color. He also focuses on understanding the relationships between intersectional stigma, violence, mental health, HIV, and other health-related behavior outcomes. Dr. Harris leverages multi-methods data, using community-based participatory research methods, to inform culturally relevant interventions that improves the lives of vulnerable sexual and gender diverse communities. His research aims to reduce disparities in health within these communities by developing programs that improve self-efficacy and promote resilience. Dr. Harris was appointed as an expert panelist to the COVID-19 Prevention Network (CoVPN), a panel funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), to review all COVID-19 related vaccine trials. Most recently, his research has shifted to explore factors related to COVID-19 vaccination uptake among Black/African American communities.

Celia Kaplan, DrPh

Dr. Kaplan is a professor within the Division of General Internal Medicine (DGIM) in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Born and educated in Argentina, she obtained advanced degrees in the U.S. In her career as a public health researcher, she has focused her research on the processes and outcomes of medical care for minority populations. She joined the Center for Aging in Diverse Communities (CADC) in 2008, and is currently the Director of the Community Core and an active participant with the Investigator Development Core.

She has extensive experience conducting epidemiological, health services, and intervention health research among diverse populations, with an emphasis on Latino populations. Her expertise in analyzing both qualitative and quantitative data has allowed her to produce numerous publications assessing individual, community, and system factors associated with health indicators. She has conducted a number of studies testing and evaluating health interventions and has a particular interest in recruitment for and participation in clinical trials, particularly among diverse communities.

Grace Lin, MD, MAS

Grace Lin is Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies. Her research focuses on improving medical decision-making to ensure that all patients receive high quality, patient-centered care, and health technology assessment. Dr. Lin has experience using both quantitative and qualitative methods, including focus groups, interviews, and large administrative claims databases. She is also Medical Director for Health Technology Assessment for the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER). Ongoing projects include development and implementation of shared decision-making tools for patients with coronary artery disease and cancer screening, and evaluation of the value of genetic testing, telehealth, and drug treatments. She is a primary care physician and also teaches and mentors residents and medical students.

Pamela Ling, MD, MPH

Pam Ling is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.  Her research is on tobacco, media, and social marketing with an emphasis on young people.  She focuses on understanding how tobacco marketing encourages youth and young adults to initiate tobacco use, and counter-engineering these strategies to improve tobacco control programs.  This work includes analyses of thousands of previously secret tobacco industry documents detailing marketing strategies targeting young people, global marketing, marketing to women and other priority populations.  She also studies how marketing encourages the use of multiple tobacco products and the use of tobacco with other substances such as alcohol and marijuana.  She conducts research on marketing of smokeless tobacco products and other new and alternative tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes.  The goal of this work is to use market research strategies to improve clinical, policy, and public health interventions.  She also directs the Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Training Program in Tobacco Research and sees patients as a primary care provider.
Website: https://tobacco.ucsf.edu/people/pamela-ling-md

 

Karly Murphy, MD, MHS

Dr. Karly Murphy is a general internist and clinician investigator focused on reducing premature mortality for persons with serious mental illness (e.g. schizophrenia, bipolar disorder) through improving care delivery for preventive services and chronic conditions. Dr. Murphy is interested in understanding mechanisms that drive disparities in care delivery through administrative claims, electronic health record, and qualitative data and developing clinical and community-based interventions to address gaps in care delivery.

 

 

Sunita Mutha, MD

Dr. Sunita Mutha is Professor of Medicine in Division of General Internal Medicine and directs Healthforce Center at UCSF. Healthforce Center is a nationally recognized resource for health workforce research and policy analysis and programs that develop and connect leaders to work collectively to deliver equitable care. Her scholarly work has focused on overcoming language barriers in health, cultural competence education, evaluation, and quality improvement interventions to address disparities in care. She has served on national committees including the Joint Commission’s Expert Advisory Panel guiding the development of hospital standards for culturally competent patient-centered care and the National Quality Forum’s Cultural Competence Steering Committee. She is on the board of directors of Insure the Uninsured Project that aims promote innovative and workable policy solutions that expand health care access and improve the health of all Californians.

Tung Nguyen, MD

Dr. Nguyen is the Stephen J. McPhee, MD Endowed Chair in General Internal Medicine and Professor of Medicine at UCSF. He is Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Anti-Racism (IDEA) and Director of the UCSF CTSI Research Action Group for Equity (RAGE) Core. Dr. Nguyen is also Director of the Asian American Research Center on Health (ARCH), Co-Leader of the Cancer Control Program and Associate Director of DEIA at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, Dr. Nguyen’s research focuses on achieving health equity using community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods. He has led conducted intervention research with Asian American populations on breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening as well as tobacco control, hepatitis B and C screening, nutrition and physical activity, and end-of-life care. Dr. Nguyen was Chair of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders from 2014 to 2017.
Twitter: @ARCHDrNguyen
Website: https://profiles.ucsf.edu/tung.nguyen 

Nhung Nguyen, PhD

Dr. Nhung Nguyen is Assistant Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine at UCSF. Her research focuses on preventing and reducing substance use and related negative impacts among at-risk populations (e.g., young adults, sexual minorities, people with substance use disorders). She has experience in various study designs, such as population-based surveys, daily diaries, ecological momentary assessments, longitudinal panel surveys, qualitative studies, and mixed-methods studies. Her current research focuses on applying mobile health technology and machine learning to address dual use of e-cigarette and cigarette as well as co-use of tobacco and cannabis among young people.

Judith Walsh, MD, MPH

Judith Walsh is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine, and she has a joint appointment in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.  She is a general internist and her research focuses on interventions to increase cancer screening and optimize cancer prevention in primary care practice.  She conducts intervention research using an interactive Video Doctor to overcome barriers to breast, colorectal and cervical cancer screening in diverse primary care practices.  In addition, she has conducted  intervention studies focusing on increasing colorectal cancer screening in Latino and Vietnamese populations.  Dr. Walsh’s research involving interactive video based interventions also include hepatitis B and C screening in Asian American populations and smoking cessation in individuals undergoing lung cancer screening.  She provides primary care at UCSF Women’s Health Center of Excellence.   Dr. Walsh frequently works with students, residents and fellows who are interested in prevention research.

Veronica Yank, MD

Veronica Yank, MD, is a general internist, clinical trialist, and health services researcher in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of California San Francisco. Her research promotes effective health behavior change strategies among patients, family caregivers, and health systems to address disparities and improve care for chronic conditions that involve heavy family caregiver burden or elevated cardiovascular disease risk. Dr. Yank has content and methodological expertise in self-management research, digital technology and marketing interventions, and the effective translation of evidence into practice. Ongoing projects focus on isolated family caregivers of persons living with dementia in rural America and on Latinx patients with diabetes or chronic kidney disease and their families. Dr. Yank is a core faculty member for the UCSF Primary Care Research Fellowship and enjoys working with students, residents, and fellows who interested in research.