Current Projects
Our lab is dedicated to advancing health equity through research in several key areas, including digital health, patient safety, social media, resilience and equity in academic medicine, as well as cancer survivorship and chronic diseases. By exploring these diverse research domains, we aim to drive positive change and address disparities in healthcare delivery and outcomes. Browse through the summaries below to learn more about the exciting work underway in our lab, and check back regularly for updates as we continue to advance health equity research.
CHARMED
This goal of the Comparing Hypertension Remote Monitoring Evaluation Redesign (CHARMED) study is to evaluate different ways to use home blood pressure checking. The study team will offer patients different ways of checking blood pressure at home and offer primary care clinics different types of training and support to help teams of nurses, pharmacists, medical assistants and doctors treat high blood pressure. The study team will include 2500 adults with hypertension in this study. This will be achieved by recruiting participants from primary care clinics at three large safety-net health systems. It is expected that the study will identify effective strategies to implement, maintain and scale home blood pressure monitoring for diverse patients.
CRUISE
The goal of the ongoing Cancer Registry for Understanding and Improving Survivorship Experiences (CRUISE) study is to learn more about patient experiences following cancer treatment and to explore the information health care providers give patients during and after cancer treatment. To respond to the growing population of cancer survivors, providers and organizations such as the American College of Surgeons have developed guidelines for survivorship care plans (SCPs).
An analysis of 16 SCPs collected from a wide range of health care settings revealed that SCPs often fail to incorporate criteria recommended by the Institute of Medicine, and that significant variation exists among the structure and content of these plans. The delivery and content of SCPs for underserved populations has not been well-studied. Our sample includes English-, Spanish-, and Cantonese-speaking patients across the Greater Bay Area, as well as clinicians, staff, and administrators across a range of health care settings, including the medical safety-net. CRUISE takes a comprehensive, multilevel approach to identify barriers and facilitators to effective implementation of SCPs in real-world settings serving diverse patients.
DIADEM
This project seeks to understand how error disclosure arises, challenges of responding to errors, and what types of tools/resources could support error disclosure through three focus groups: 1) frontline physicians directly involved in clinical care of diverse patients, 2) risk and patient safety professionals involved in the hospital response to care breakdowns, and 3) marginalized patients who have experienced a significant care breakdown.
IMPACTT
The goal of the IMProving Adherence to Colonoscopy through Teams and Technology (IMPACTT) study is to improve colorectal cancer (CRC) screening among vulnerable populations. The IMPACTT study will use a multilevel approach to support and increase the completion of a diagnostic colonoscopy following an abnormal fecal immunochemical test (FIT) by patients in the San Francisco Health Network.
INSPIRED
The purpose of this trial is to evaluate patient-level and clinic-level strategies to increase implementation of self-measured blood pressure (SMBP) monitoring programs with clinical support. SMBP monitoring is an evidence-based, guideline-recommended practice that is most effective when combined with clinical support. However, SMBP monitoring with clinical support has had limited adoption in many safety net clinical settings due to multi-level barriers. In response, Dr. Elaine Khoong and her team are working with patients and clinics to co-design implementation strategies to increase SMBP monitoring tailored with safety net patients and clinicians. The trial will take place at two SF clinics and four Alameda Health System-based clinics. Patients will be enrolled and use cellular-enabled BP monitors for 12 months. Clinical champions at each clinic site will be trained as well.
Machine Translation
Written discharge instructions from the emergency room improve patient understanding of their medical condition and key next steps maintaining health. There are challenges to providing instructions to patients with a non-English language preference. This study seeks to study if (1) machine translation tools (e.g., Google Translate) or large language models (e.g., ChatGPT) can safely and accurately translate discharge instructions into Chinese, Russian, and Spanish and (2) if improving readability of discharge instructions with a large language model can improve on the accuracy and safety of using machine translation.
PRISM
The Promoting Research in Social Media and Health Symposium (PRISM) is one of the few symposiums dedicated to social media and health research. An all-day event that fosters a collaborative learning community, PRISM provides a one-of-a-kind opportunity for participants to meet, collaborate, and advance their work. Now in its ninth year, PRISM has hosted academic researchers, industry partners, patients, and advocates from over 40 unique institutions.
REACH
The goal of the Remote Monitoring for Equity in Advancing Control of Hypertension (REACH) study is to support patients with hypertension self-management using both home blood pressure monitors and digital messaging programs. The investigators will first engage patients with technology training to use home monitors, online portal websites to view their medical record information online, and texting and mobile phone applications. Then investigators will assess the effectiveness of home blood pressure monitors and enhanced patient-clinician digital communication on blood pressure control during a 12-month intervention.
RecoverX
The purpose of this project is to support Recovery Exploration Tech, Inc. (RecoverX) in applying their innovative software platform to improve patient safety by validating RecoverX’s diagnosis and next best action AI engine on retrospective data.
UCSF S.O.L.V.E. Health Tech
The purpose of this program is to make digital health products more equitable by partnering directly with digital health companies. Despite billions of dollars invested in the digital health industry annually, we have not yet seen a meaningful, sustained reduction in health care expenditures or equitable improvement of health outcomes. This is because very little of the robust private investment in digital health goes to companies led by members of historically excluded groups, and privately developed digital health products rarely focus on marginalized populations. In response, Dr. Sarkar and Dr. Courtney Lyles founded UCSF S.O.L.V.E. Health Tech, the nation’s first health equity incubation partner dedicated to bridging innovation in the private sector with the needs of patients often excluded from digital health design, development, and implementation.