Current & Ongoing Projects

Title: Recovery After Transfer to a Long-Term Acute Care Hospital for Older Adults with COVID-19 (RAFT-COVID Study)

This study assesses the trajectory of recovery among older adults who were hospitalized with COVID-19 and then transferred to a long-term acute care hospital for ongoing care needs. 

Title: Silicon Valley Guaranteed Income Pilot

Homelessness is a national public health crisis in the United States. Over 600,000 people experience homelessness on any given night, and individuals experiencing homelessness have high rates of chronic physical and mental health conditions, are at higher risk for contracting, transmitting, and suffering complications from communicable illnesses, and more frequently need emergency and acute health services. Guaranteed income (i.e., unconditional cash transfer) is a promising intervention for reducing poverty and material hardship, there are no studies on the effectiveness of guaranteed income in ameliorating homelessness. This mixed methods randomized controlled trial is being conducted in partnership with key community stakeholders in Santa Clara County to assess the effectiveness of unconditional cash assistance (also known as 'guaranteed income') on housing stability and health among Bay Area families experiencing homelessness. Enrollment was completed in May 2024 and study activities are ongoing. 

Title: Understanding the Impact of Technology Access and Digital Literacy on Post-Hospital Recovery in Adults with Cardiovascular Disease (Connect2Tech Study)

Telemedicine has great potential to ameliorate health inequities, but current implementation strategies will worsen rather than improving both digital and cardiovascular health inequities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the growth of telemedicine by 6,000%, there was far lower use among low-income, Black, and Hispanic adults. Black, and Hispanic persons are disproportionately more likely to be affected by cardiovascular illness but less likely to have access to outpatient care. Instead, they are more likely to initiate cardiovascular care through hospitalization.  Thus, this study seeks to assess how obstacles to technology access and digital literacy influence post-hospital recovery in hospitalized adults with cardiovascular illness in a safety-net hospital setting.

Title: Variation in State Medicaid Formulary Restrictions for Sodium Glucose Co-Transporter 2 Inhibitors (SGLT2i) and Glucagon-Like Peptide 1 Receptor Agonists (GLP1ra) for Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) affects 1 in 10 Americans, disproportionately affects poor and minority populations, and is a significant risk factor for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) such as hospitalizations for heart failure and cardiovascular death. New classes of T2DM medications, specifically sodium glucose co-transporter inhibitors (SGLT2i) and glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP1ra), markedly reduce the risk of MACE and death, and are recommended as part of evidence-based T2DM treatment. However, given the substantial cost of these novel therapies, access to these medications among poor, minority populations with Medicaid insurance is uncertain. Thus, we are 1) describing state Medicaid formulary policies for SGLT-2 inhibitors and GLP-1 agonists across Medicaid plans in all 50 U.S. states; and 2) assessing the association between formulary restrictions to these medications and publicly reported state-level diabetes outcomes among Medicaid beneficiaries, using publicly available data on state Medicaid formulary policies and diabetes outcomes. 

Title: Evaluation of the Inpatient Addiction Care Team at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital

Although 1 in 9 hospitalizations in the U.S. occur among individuals suffering from alcohol or substance use disorders and hospitalization is an important opportunity to engage individuals in alcohol and substance use treatment, few hospitals are equipped to initiate and link patients to treatment. Thus, this program evaluation seeks to assess the comparative effectiveness of a novel inpatient Addiction Care Team, a hospital-based addiction medicine consultation team, versus usual care on post-discharge outcomes among hospitalized patients with substance use disorders using a mixed-methods approach grounded in an implementation science framework.