Christina Mangurian, MD
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
Faculty Lead
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
Faculty Lead
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.
Ryan Hernandez, PhD
Faculty Lead
Dr. Ryan Hernandez’ research focuses on computational genomics and complements the department’s emerging strengths in quantitative sciences and genomics: First, he seeks to characterize the patterns of genetic variation within and between populations using large-scale genome resequencing data. A second branch of research in his lab focuses on developing novel population genetic simulation techniques. Such simulations are used to lend insight into the plausible evolutionary forces that have shaped patterns of genetic variation, including the implications of complex interactions among selected alleles in non-stationary demographic environments. His third branch of research seeks to exploit population genetic models of demographic history and natural selection to interrogate the genetic basis of disease. By capitalizing on recent theoretical advances, Dr. Hernandez is constructing models of population dynamics that will utilize genomic re-sequencing data to discover novel regions of the genome that underlie genetic susceptibility to disease and drug response.
Steve Mack, PhD
Faculty Lead
Dr. Steve Mack is an Adjunct Professor in Pediatrics who does basic science at Benioff Children’s Hospital, Oakland. His work focuses on histocompatibility and immunogenetics — understanding how variation in immune genes impacts infectious disease, autoimmune disease and cancer, and the developing novel informatic tools and systems aimed at maximizing bone-marrow transplant outcomes. He is also an avid science-fiction fan, does not believe it is possible to consume too much chocolate, and serves as the President of his daughter’s High School PTA.
Claire Brindis, DrPH
Faculty Lead
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.