As a medical anthropologist, health services researcher, and certified yoga therapist, my research focuses on improving pain, function, and quality of life outcomes for older adults, women, and veterans through nonpharmacologic and complementary and integrative health (CIH) interventions and care models. I have broad expertise in research methodology related to the design of mixed methods studies in aging, CIH, and implementation science.
Jerry John Ouner (né Nutor) a tenured Associate Professor and registered nurse in the Department of Family Health Care Nursing with a joint appointment with Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). As a nurse scientist, his research goals are to develop new methods of improving healthcare for underrepresented segments of the population, such as rural and urban communities in sub-Saharan Africa. Dr.
Dr. Van Ta Park is a Professor at UCSF, School of Nursing, Department of Community Health Systems, and teaches in the Advanced Public Health Nursing (APHN) program. Her primary research interest is to address issues related to racial and ethnic minority health and healthcare disparities, especially among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI), through community-based participatory research. Her research areas include mental health and Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) caregiving.
Dr. Elena Portacolone is a Professor of Sociology in the Institute for Health & Aging and a Pepper Center Scholar at the Division of Geriatric Medicine at UCSF. She is also affiliated with the Philip Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, and the Global Health Sciences Institute, both at UCSF. Her research aims at developing equitable policies and programs for older adults living alone with cognitive impairment in the United States, and worldwide. Dr.
I am a sociologist who specializes in the study of violence, trauma, and pain across healthcare contexts. My work uses mixed methods drawn from the social sciences and the humanities, as well as program-evaluation and implementation-science techniques.
I am jointly appointed at UCSF and at the San Francisco VA Health Care System, where I serve as the Whole Health Program Director and Qualitative Core Director at the Center for Data to Discovery and Delivery Innovation.
Aisha serves as the Director of Community Engaged Learning at UCSF’s Center for Community Engagement. Her work focuses on developing infrastructure and pathways for faculty, staff, students, and community members to create mutually beneficial community/campus partnerships across the university. Bringing over 16 years of experience at UCSF, as the previous Administrative Program Director for PRIME-US (Program in Medical Education for the Urban Underserved), where she led the Community Engagement Curriculum.
Jae Rouse Iñiguez, MSHA, MA is a healthcare management expert with over 20 years of professional experience in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area. They’ve managed projects with public health departments, academic health center teams, and clinic-based teams in various practice settings. As a Family & Community Medicine Unit Manager they are responsible for administration and operations, contracts, finance, personnel, and HR for all grants awarded to the Training & Health Equity Collaborative administrative unit.
Areas of Interest: Sociology of health and illness; social inequalities in health; science, technology, and medicine studies; race, gender, and class; qualitative research methods.
Alissa Bernstein, PhD, MPH, MA is a medical anthropologist and health policy researcher focused on understanding and improving the assessment, diagnosis, and care of people with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, with a specific focus on primary care in safety net settings. She also conducts research focused on care navigation to support people with dementia and their caregivers and building palliative care approaches in memory care settings. Dr.
Joanne Spetz is Director and Brenda and Jeffrey L. Kang Presidential Chair in Health Care Financing at the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies (IHPS), University of California San Francisco. IHPS is a 50-year-old organization that conducts innovative research to support, guide, and enable policymakers, communities, and clinicians in making evidence-informed decisions that improve health and health care for individuals and families.
Kattia Vargas is a seasoned professional who earned her B.A. in general Psychology at UCB. She previously held key roles in two departments at UCSF as a clinical research coordinator: the Institute of Global Health Sciences (IGHS) and the Department of Medicine at ZSFG. Her expertise has been pivotal in evaluating interventions aimed at reducing birth inequities in one study and understanding the impact of healthy eating and nutrition support services on the well-being of individuals with Type 2 Diabetes in another.
