Population Health and Health Equity Scholars (PHHE) Program: The PHHE program supports current junior faculty at the assistant professor level. The award provides flexible funding to accelerate and increase the impact of population health and health equity research.
Award: $20,000
Application cycle is October- December.
Applications closed December 4th, 2024 by 11:59 PM PST.
The pilot awards go to support innovative research or programming already underway and led by the scholars.
2025 Scholars
Nicky Mehtani, MD, MPH School of Medicine, DOM, Division of General Internal Medicine
Proposal Title: Long-Acting Injectable ART & PrEP for People Experiencing Homelessness
Abstract: This proposal aims to advance the evaluation and dissemination of innovative HIV treatment and prevention strategies implemented through the SFDPH Whole Person Integrated Care (WPIC) program, also known as Street Medicine. Specifically, it seeks to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of integrating existing long-acting injectable (LAI) antiretroviral therapy (ART) and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) medications into a low-barrier care model designated for people who face substantial barriers to traditional healthcare, while also establishing pathways for incorporating emerging LAI antiretroviral options. By addressing critical disparities in HIV care and prevention among people experiencing homelessness and people who use drugs in San Francisco, this initiative strives to create a scalable model for community-based health programs serving unhoused individuals. In doing so, it supports the broader adoption of LAI ART and PrEP and contributes to the visionary goal of Ending the HIV Epidemic.
About Dr. Mehtani: Nicky Mehtani, MD MPH is an addiction medicine physician and assistant professor in UCSF Division of General Internal Medicine at ZSFG, where her research focuses on understanding the role and accessibility of psychedelic therapies in addressing substance use disorders among medically and socially complex patients. She is currently involved in several clinical trials and observational studies of psychedelic therapies at UCSF, including leading the first pilot trial of a ketamine-assisted psychotherapy intervention directed toward publicly insured patients with methamphetamine use disorder, specifically those living with or at risk for HIV. Her clinical work is based out of SFDPH WPIC, focused on providing low-barrier addiction and HIV care, including the implementation of novel long-acting injectable HIV therapies, for people experiencing homelessness and unstable housing.
Sarah Levkoff Maxwell, MD School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics
Proposal Title: Food Insecurity and Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD): A Fruit and Vegetable Voucher Intervention
Abstract: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is the most common chronic liver disease among children in the US, with the highest burden among children from low-income families, those with obesity, and those who are Hispanic, and a leading indication for liver transplantation in adults. Management is weight loss via healthy eating and physical activity. However, 30% of households with children in San Francisco experience food insecurity (FI), and FI in early childhood independently predicts MASLD in middle childhood. This research seeks to: 1) delineate the association between FI in children and MASLD severity; 2) pilot the EatSF Vouchers for Veggies Program, as a means of potentially mitigating adverse consequences of FI; and 3) conduct qualitative interviews with families on how participation in the program affects their child’s dietary intake. This program of research will contribute to my long-term goal of improving health equity for pediatric patients with MASLD.
About Dr. Maxwell: Sarah L. Maxwell, MD is as an Assistant Professor in Pediatric Gastroenterology and Hepatology at University of California, San Francisco. She recently completed her pediatric gastroenterology and transplant hepatology fellowships at UCSF. Her research seeks to identify early childhood risk factors for metabolic dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). With support from a career development award and a separate pilot award from the American Gastroenterological Association as well as the Population Health and Health Equity award, she will be piloting an intervention, the EatSF fruit/vegetable voucher program, in children with exposure to household food insecurity and MASLD.
Michelle Nakphong, PhD School of Medicine, DOM, Division of Prevention Science
Proposal Title: “Credit is everything”: elucidating pathways between the consumer credit system and health among low-income Black young adults
Abstract: A long history of structural racism has borne deep racial disparities in access to credit through redlining, discriminatory lending, and exclusion from formal financial institutions. Scant research has examined how the credit system shapes population health outcomes and racial health disparities for Black young adults. This research aims to investigate how low-income Black young adults interact with the credit system and the pathways by which it influences their health over time. I will leverage the data and infrastructure of the Black Economic Equity Movement Project and conduct a mixed-methods study using multiple qualitative and quantitative data sources (e.g., in-depth interviews, key informant interviews, survey data) to develop a rich, nuanced conceptual understanding and provide empirical evidence elucidating linkages between credit and health. This needed line of research will yield policy-relevant and actionable insights into how credit-related, structural interventions (e.g., credit counseling, augmenting credit scoring models, access to low-cost loans) may reduce racial health disparities.
About Dr. Nakphong: Dr. Michelle Nakphong (she/her) is a social epidemiologist and Assistant Professor in the Division of Prevention Science. Her research focuses on how social exclusion and inclusive policies impact the health of marginalized populations. Her current work focuses on the health impacts of guaranteed income—an inclusive policy—in the Black Economic Equity Movement (BEEM) Guaranteed Income trial. Building on over 2 decades of community-based policy advocacy work, she strives to amplify voices from low-income and minoritized communities and illuminate structural drivers of health to advance health equity through policy change.
Sepideh Banava, DDS, MBA, MPH School of Dentistry, Department of Preventative and Restorative Dental Sciences
Proposal Title: Analyzing Intimate Partner Violence Prevalence and Trends in California Using California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) Data (2001-2023): A County-Level Comparison
Abstract: This research project aims to assess the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) and related factors in California by analyzing data from the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) from 2001-2023. As the nation’s largest state health survey, CHIS conducts continuous web and telephone interviews, providing timely annual estimates. Participants are randomly selected, with a sample size large enough to statistically represent California’s diverse population.
The study will examine IPV prevalence by county, age, gender, race/ethnicity, and federal poverty level (FPL) and explore associations between IPV and last-year dental visits, tobacco/drug/alcohol use, and emergency department visits. These insights will assist public health departments across California in designing targeted interventions to reduce IPV, effectively allocate resources, advance population health and health equity, and improve public health outcomes statewide. Quantitative data analysis will be conducted using Stata 18.
About Dr. Banava: With over 30 years of clinical experience and 20 years in research, Sepideh contributes to dental science through education, research, and innovation. Her expertise includes caries diagnosis and prevention, dental materials, oral health disparities, health messaging, oral health literacy, and clinical informatics. Her current research focuses on using Machine Learning and AI tools to develop a clinical decision support tool to assist dentists in screening for intimate partner violence to improve patient care quality.
Erin McCauley, PhD, MEd, MA School of Nursing, Department of Social & Behavioral Sciences
Proposal Title: Delays in Justice: Health Implications of Competency Waitlists for People with Disabilities in the Criminal Legal System
Abstract: People with disabilities experience health disparities and are overrepresented in the criminal legal system. They can be incarcerated pretrial – pending a determination of their competency – ushering them into a subpar carceral healthcare system and worsening health through delayed healthcare, stress and trauma, and poor conditions. Yet, little is understood about the scope of this incarceration, the reasons for competency waitlist placement, the length of time and conditions of confinement for those on this list, and how this experience affects health. This pilot project will (1) document the size, scope, and process of competency waitlist incarceration for those with mental and neurological disabilities in California and Colorado and (2) develop an understanding of the lived experience of this process. This project will lay the groundwork for a national project to understand the burdens of this delayed justice for the liberty, health, and wellbeing of disabled people and how to curtail these consequences.
About Dr. McCauley: Erin J. McCauley, PhD Med, is a Sociologist and Demographer who is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences in the UCSF School of Nursing and an affiliated faculty member in the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies (IHPS). Her research focuses on the prevalence, causes, and consequences of criminal legal system involvement for individuals and families, with a particular interest in the reciprocal processes of social marginalization and institutionalization for those with disabilities. She obtained her PhD in Sociology joint with Policy Analysis and Management from Cornell University in 2021 and her MEd in Community Development and Action from Vanderbilt University in 2016.
