Mid-Career People

Ifeyinwa Asiodu, PhD, RN, IBCLC, FAAN
Mid-Career Scholar

Ifeyinwa Asiodu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Health Care Nursing at UCSF School of Nursing, and an Affiliated Faculty member of the UCSF Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health and UCSF Center for Health Equity.

She is a public health-oriented, community-engaged, nurse-scientist, and lactation consultant. She also leads the Motivating Interdisciplinary Lactation Knowledge (MILK) Research Lab at UCSF.

Her research focuses on identifying and addressing the impact of social and structural determinants of health during the reproductive life course, with a specific focus on contraceptive use, maternity care practices, and increasing equitable access to breastfeeding resources, lactation support, and donor human milk in Black communities.

Jennifer James, PhD, MSW, MSSP
Mid-Career Scholar

Jennifer James, PhD, MSW, MSSP, is an Associate Professor in the Institute for Health and Aging, the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and the Bioethics Program at UCSF. Jen is a qualitative researcher and Black Feminist scholar who conducts community-engaged qualitative research on racism and health. She is a sociologist and empirical ethics researcher whose research interests include cancer, chronic illness, reproductive justice, patient-provider relationships, and health decision-making. Her current work is focused on experiences of health and illness for people who are or have been incarcerated.

Meghan Morris, PhD, MPH
Mid-Career Scholar

Meghan Morris is an Associate Professor and Vice Chair in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UCSF.

Her research centers on the critical intersection of public health, homelessness, and substance use, advocating for systemic change to uplift vulnerable populations. As a longtime member of End Hep C SF, a San Francisco-based initiative to eliminate hepatitis C, and a core faculty member of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, Meghan plays a pivotal role in addressing two overlapping public health challenges.

In addition to her research program, Meghan is among the leadership of SF BUILD, a vibrant partnership between SFSU and UCSF to enhance diversity in the biomedical research workforce by transforming institutions, faculty, and students.

Eni Obadan-Udoh, DDS, MPH, Dr.Med.Sc.
Mid-Career Scholar

Enihomo (“Eni”) M. Obadan-Udoh, DDS, MPH, Dr.Med.Sc., is an Associate Professor of Oral Epidemiology and Dental Public Health, and the Director of the Dental Public Health Postgraduate Program at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Dentistry. A Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Public Health, she is passionate about innovation and discovery in oral health.

Her research interests reside at the intersection of patient engagement, access to care, health information technology (Health IT), quality improvement, and patient safety. She seeks to expand access to dental care for vulnerable, disadvantaged, and underserved populations using innovative care delivery models and technology-driven solutions while engaging patients in activities that promote the quality and safety of dental care, leading to better health outcomes.

Marissa Raymond-Flesch, MD, MPH
Mid-Career Scholar

Marissa Raymond-Flesch is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine and the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies.  She is the Director of the CTSI K Prep program which helps to prepare fellows and junior faculty from historically underrepresented backgrounds to apply for NIH K awards.

Her research focuses on the health and health care access of California's Latinx and immigrant populations, with a particular focus on mental and reproductive health. Her current projects include a longitudinal cohort study following the reproductive and mental health outcomes and health care access of a cohort of adolescents from Salinas, CA, who are now transitioning into young adulthood; multiple studies related to adolescent and young adult access to abortion services following the fall of Roe v. Wade; and a bilingual clinical trial to test the use of psilocybin-assisted therapy for the treatment of anorexia nervosa in young adults.

Clinically she practices Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine with patients 12 to 26 years old, including treatment of depression, anxiety and eating disorders; providing all types of contraception; and providing primary care for patients with complex medical and mental health conditions.

Carina Marquez, MD
Mid-Career Scholar

Carina Marquez is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG) and the Equity Lead of the UCSF Center For AIDS Research (CFAR).

Her research focuses on two areas (1) elucidating TB transmission dynamics in East Africa and developing interventions to improve the TB care continuum and (2) COVID-19 epidemiology in Latinx communities and interventions to reduce disparities.

She is a co-founder of Unidos en Salud, a community-academic partnership between UCSF and the San Francisco Latino Task-COVID 1. She is an ID and HIV specialist and directs the SALUD clinic, a clinic within the Positive Health Practice "Ward 86" at ZSFG, that is dedicated to providing multidisciplinary care to Latinx patients with HIV.

Nynikka Palmer, DrPH, MPH
Mid-Career Scholar

Nynikka Palmer is an Associate Professor in the UCSF Department of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.

She has secondary appointments in the Departments of Urology and Radiation Oncology, co-leads the Prostate Cancer Task Force of the San Francisco Cancer Initiative, and is Director of the Research Education Component of the Center for Aging in Diverse Communities.

Her research focuses on developing actionable solutions with cultural influences to enhance delivery of high-quality prostate cancer care for African American men in low resource settings, such as peer navigation and training in relationship-centered communication to achieve health equity.

Mercedes Paredes, MD, PhD
Mid-Career Scholar

Mercedes Paredes is an Associate Professor in the Weill Institute of Neuroscience and is part of the Developmental and Stem Cell Biology and Biomedical Sciences graduate programs at UCSF.

Her lab investigates the cellular and molecular regulation of neuronal progenitor proliferation and migration that are enriched in the gyrated brain, as a model for human neurodevelopment.

She is a practicing neurologist with a focus on patients with epilepsy and neurodevelopmental disorders. She also serves as an Associate Director for the UCSF Medical Scientist Training Program and holds a passion for mentoring trainees in careers in STEM, and neurology.

Gabriela Schmajuk, MD
Mid-Career Scholar

Gabriela Schmajuk is an Associate Professor and Rheumatology Section chief at the San Francisco VA Medical Center.

She is also core faculty at the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies and co-directs the Quality and Informatics Lab in the UCSF Division of Rheumatology.

Her research focuses on improving quality of care and medication safety through the use of health IT.

Maria Chao, DrPH, MPA
Former Mid-Career Scholar

Maria T. Chao, DrPH, MPA is an associate professor at the University of California San Francisco’s Osher Center for Integrative Medicine and the Division of General Internal Medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. Dr. Chao’s overarching goal is to investigate how complementary and integrative health approaches can advance health equity and improve quality of life among underserved populations living with chronic conditions.

Dr. Chao's Mentees:

• Helen Weng, PhD
• Ariana Thompson-Lastad, PhD
• Emilio Esquivel, MS
• Lee Hullender Rubin, DAOM, MS, LAc
• Diane Qi, BA
• ​Gia Naranjo-Rivera, PhD

Courtney Lyles, PhD
Former Mid-Career Scholar

Courtney Lyles, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the UCSF Departments of Medicine and the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. She is also core faculty in the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations at San Francisco General Hospital and co-directs the UCSF CTSI Innovation in Research and Informatics Core. Her research specifically focuses on harnessing health information technology to improve chronic disease self-management and to ultimately reduce disparities in health and healthcare outcomes for marginalized populations.

Dr. Lyles' Mentees:

• Elaine Khoong, MD, MS
• Valy Fontil, MD, MAS, MPH
• Sarah Nouri, MD, MPH
• Wagahta Semere, MD
• Alejandra Casillas, MD

Jae Sevelius, PhD
Former Mid-Career Scholar

Jae Sevelius, PhD, is the Director of the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS) and the Center of Excellence for Transgender Health. Dr. Sevelius is a licensed clinical psychologist whose research focuses on the investigation of risk and protective factors in transgender and gender diverse communities and relationships between intersectional stigma, gender affirmation, and health-related behaviors and outcomes. Most recently, their research has focused on developing and testing peer-led interventions to promote sexual health and resilience among transgender people by addressing intersectional stigma among transgender women of color and those affected by HIV in the San Francisco Bay Area and in São Paulo, Brazil.

Dr. Sevelius' Mentees:

• Sophia Zamudio-Haas, DrPH
• Stanley Vance, JR., MD
• Judy Tan, PhD
• Miranda Hill, PhD, MPH
• Orlando Harris, PhD, FNP, MPH

Christina Mangurian, MD
Mid-Career Program Director

Dr. Mangurian is a Professor of Psychiatry and Vice Chair for Diversity and Health Equity in the UCSF Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. Dr. Mangurian founded and directs the UCSF Program of Research on Mental health Integration among Underserved and Minority populations (PReMIUM) and her NIH-funded research program focuses on improving preventative health care of people with severe mental illness (e.g., schizophrenia, bipolar disorder), particularly among underserved minority populations. Dr. Mangurian received the 2018 UCSF Academic Senate Distinction in Mentoring award and the 2017 UCSF Chancellor’s Award for the Advancement of Women.

Urmimala Sarkar, MD, MPH
Mid-Career Program Faculty

Urmimala Sarkar MD, MPH is Professor of Medicine at UCSF in the Division of General Internal Medicine, Associate Chair for Faculty Experience for the Department of Medicine, Associate Director of the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations. Dr. Sarkar’s research expertise is innovating for health equity, using novel approaches to enhance the quality and safety of outpatient care in safety-net health care settings. She holds a K24 mentoring grant from the National Cancer Institute, serves as the principal investigator for the primary care research training T32 grant, and joint principal investigator for UCSF‘s LEAP learning health systems K12 early-career faculty training grant. She received the 2017 School of Medicine’s Pathways to Discovery Mentoring Award, the 2019 ZSFG Department of Medicine’s Mentoring Award, and the 2021 Society for General Internal Medicine National Mid-Career Mentoring Award.

Katrina Abuabara, MD
Mid-Career Program Faculty

Dr. Abuabara has a joint appointment with Department of Dermatology, the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health, and the new UCSF-UCB Computational Precision Health graduate group. Her research examines how biological, sociocultural, and environmental factors influence chronic inflammatory disease. This includes research on atopic dermatitis disease course and comorbidities, the role of skin barrier function in aging, the impact of environmental microbes and climate on immune medicated disease, and how salt in the diet influences sodium storage in the skin and autoimmune and chronic inflammatory disease.

Claire Brindis, DrPH
Mid-Career Program Faculty

Dr. Claire Brindis is a Distinguished Emerita Professor of Pediatrics and Health Policy (on Recall), Department of Pediatrics and Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Health Sciences and Emerita Director of the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Brindis is also the Co-Director of the Adolescent and Young Adult Health National Resource Center. She is also a Founding Director of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences and IHPS, UCSF. As a bicultural, bilingual researcher, she Incorporates a variety of quantitative and qualitative methodologies, as well as community participatory research. Dr. Brindis’ research focuses on program evaluation and the translation of research into policy at the local, state, and national level.