What We Do

Partnerships

We strengthen collaborations between implementation science researchers, public health practitioners and healthcare quality improvement teams. To foster partnerships, the PRISE Center provides institutional support for creating “collaboratories” including researchers and receptive units in partner organizations. Our approach is to optimally position implementers and researchers to co-produce “practice-based evidence” primed to inform real-life “evidence-based practice.” Our current partnerships are listed below:

Academic and Society Partners: Emory University, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, San Francisco State University, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala University of Zagreb, University of the Witwatersrand, University of California, San Diego, Texas A&M, University of Jordan, Hashemite University, The Royal Scientific Society in Jordan, UC Center for Climate & Health Equity, and ZSFG Women’s Health Center.

Community Partners: Little Manila Rising, Golden Gate Senior Center, Self-Help for the Elderly, Leaders4EARTH, NICOS Chinese Health Coalition, Southwest Community Corporation, Rafiki, The Coalition on Homelessness, GM Consulting Group, Central California Asthma Collaborative, LifeLong Medical Care, Homeless Prenatal Program, and Mujeres Unidas y Activas.

Government Partners: San Francisco Department of Public Health, Office of Resilience & Capitol Planning, San Francisco Health Network, Contra Costa Health Services, and California Department of Public Health.

Current Projects

Driving Environmental Justice: Community Monitoring of Diesel Truck Emissions and Impacts on Asthma Morbidity in Immigrant Communities

Lead Investigator: Neeta Thakur (UCSF)

Funder: National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)

In August 2024, in collaboration with the University of California, Berkeley and community partners (Lifelong Medical, Central California Asthma Collaborative, and Little Manila Rising), Dr. Neeta Thakur and the CLEAR lab received funding from the NIEHS to increase understanding of the short-term health effects of diesel exhaust pollution (measured as black carbon) for individuals with asthma who reside near roadways and other environmental hazards.

This grant aims to: 1) estimate the short-term health effects of black carbon exposure on daily rescue medication use and symptom burden; 2) understand how acculturative stress and discrimination may modify or enhance this association; 3) identify multilevel protective factors that reduce the health effects of black carbon exposure in asthma; and 4) co-prioritize protective strategies at the individual, household, and community level.

The results of this research will inform a community stakeholder engaged effort aimed at prioritizing promising protective strategies for consideration of inclusion in local community emissions reduction plans.

Assessing the effects of a multisectoral climate-smart agricultural intervention on the reproductive and sexual health of adolescent girls and young women (AGYW)

Lead Investigator: Sheri Weiser (UCSF)

Co-Investigators: Jennifer Velloza (UCSF), Maricianah Onono (Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI))

Funder: National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

In July 2024, Dr. Velloza, in collaboration with Dr. Weiser and Dr. Onono received funding from the NIMH to examine the effectiveness and implementation of a Shamba Maisha ("Family Life" in KiSwahili; SM) intervention, including the provision of a water pump and agricultural implements for use at home, training in climate-adaptive farming agriculture delivered at school-based demonstration farms, and adolescent-caregiver relationship strengthening training.

This grant aims to: 1) determine the impact of SM on adolescent HIV prevention and sexual and reproductive health outcomes (primary outcome is gonorrhea and/or chlamydia incidence); 2) assess the effect of SM on intermediate outcomes theorized from our published conceptual framework to be on the causal pathway, including household food security and wealth, and adolescent and caregiver factors including mental health and aspects of the caregiver-AGYW relationship dyad (e.g., communication); and 3) identify critical implementation facilitators and barriers influencing SM effectiveness and delivery and conduct a programmatic cost assessment.

The results of this research may provide a model for a multi-pronged approach to halt the cycle of extreme weather events, food insecurity, and poor HIV-related outcomes among AGYW, in line with NIH priorities for HIV and climate and health research.

Accelerating Climate Emergency Response to Wildfire Smoke to Improve Health and Resilience – AIM 2

Lead Investigator: Neeta Thakur (UCSF)

Funder: University of California, Office of the President (UCOP)

In April 2023, in collaboration with the UC Center for Climate Health and Equity, the PRISE Center received UCOP funding to research the health impacts of wildfire smoke to support emergency preparation and response, and climate adaptation planning in the Bay Area.

The grant has four aims: 1) apply machine learning techniques to better understand populations most at risk of negative health effects from wildfire smoke; 2) utilize implementation science methods to identify facilitators and barriers to adoption of recommended wildfire smoke mitigation strategies; 3) apply quasi-experimental methods to assess the effectiveness of wildfire smoke mitigation strategies; and 4) integrate learnings into UCSF and Bay Area community health system emergency response planning efforts.

The PRISE Center is leading Aim 2 which involves identifying organizations working at the intersection of wildfire smoke and health in nine Bay Area Counties. Dr. Thakur and her team will survey these organizations to better understand populations served and activities implemented to address wildfire smoke health impacts.

PROTECT in Environmental Justice Communities – AIM 4

Lead Investigator: Neeta Thakur

Funder: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

In collaboration with UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and community-based organizations (CBOs) in Fresno, Richmond, and San Francisco Counties, Dr. Thakur expanded her climate and health work in California with the receipt of an EPA grant focused on learning more about the health effects of short-term surges in PM2.5 due to wildfire smoke and how these surges affect low-income, environmental justice (EJ) communities of color.

The PRISE Center is supporting Aim 4 of the grant to survey residents from EJ communities on barriers and facilitators to taking household protective actions

The Partnerships for Research in Implementation Science for Equity in Heart-Lung Diseases (PRISE-HL) T32 Training Program

Lead Investigators: Neeta Thakur (UCSF), Adithya Cattamanchi (UCSF/UCI)

Funder: National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI)

In March 2023, the PRISE Center was awarded a T32 grant from NHLBI. The PRISE-HL T32 program has an explicit focus on addressing health equity through implementation science research.

The program brings together research mentors and front-line implementers within local healthcare delivery systems and public health programs. We take a multidisciplinary approach to prepare trainees for independent research careers using implementation science methods and health equity approaches to increase the uptake and improve the delivery of evidence-based interventions to prevent, diagnose, and treat heart and lung diseases in clinical and community settings.

More information about the PRISE-HL T32 program, including application details can be found below under Training and Career Development.

Adaptation and optimization of the Friendship Bench mental health intervention for adolescent girls and young women in South African PrEP delivery settings

Lead Investigator: Jennifer Velloza (UCSF)

Funder: National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

In March 2022, Dr. Velloza received funding from the NIMH to adapt, test, and optimize the Friendship Bench intervention for South African adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in PrEP delivery. The Friendship Bench is a promising evidence-based problem-solving therapy (PST) intervention option for AGYW in PrEP settings. The intervention was developed for delivery in busy HIV clinics, is currently being scaled-up in South Africa, and preliminary data suggests it can be adapted to improve HIV treatment adherence among African women.

The specific aims are to: 1) Conduct a hybrid Type II implementation-effectiveness trial to assess preliminary effectiveness of Youth Friendship Bench SA on PrEP adherence and mental health while optimizing implementation for cost constraints in PrEP delivery; and 2) Identify themes around intervention acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility.

This innovative work has the potential to improve PrEP adherence and mental health among AGYW and findings will lay the groundwork for an R01 proposal to test the impact of the adapted intervention package at scale. The grant is currently in its final year; participant follow-up is now closed, and the team is cleaning and analyzing the quantitative and qualitative data. Final results will be available by March 2025.

Past Projects

Building Capacity for Research to Address Climate-Impacted Health Conditions

Lead Investigator: Neeta Thakur (UCSF)

Funder: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)

From December 2021 to February 2024, the PRISE Center partnered with the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH), the San Francisco Office of Resilience and Capital Planning (ORCP), and GM Consulting, LLC, a Latina-owned community engagement firm in the Bay Area on a participatory action research project focused on climate and health.

The research convened a community stakeholder group (CSG) with seven representatives from community-based organizations serving residents from climate-sensitive populations in San Francisco. The research team and the CSG identified key populations vulnerable to extreme heat and wildfire smoke events, created models to assess health impacts, developed and disseminated a community climate survey, and conducted key informant interviews to explore barriers and facilitators to promising climate adaptation strategies.

All project partners reviewed research findings and developed a research agenda on community-level climate adaptation interventions. Project deliverables include a Community Climate Survey Report, and an academic manuscript–co-authored with community and local government partners–that is currently under review for publication.

COVID-19 Health Disparities in San Francisco

Lead Investigator: Elaine Khoong (UCSF)

Funder: Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) / San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH)

Between June 2021 and May 2024, the PRISE Center partnered with SFDPH and community-based organizations (CBOs) on a CDC-funded COVID-19 Health Disparities grant focused on reducing COVID-related health disparities in San Francisco neighborhoods experiencing a disproportionate burden of COVID infections. Research activities included:

Qualitative Interviews with CBOs: PRISE Center faculty Dr. Elaine Khoong and former staff member Elizabeth Sherwin led qualitative interviews with 36 CBOs to better understand how CBOs collect, monitor, and track data related to their clients and barriers and facilitators to data and information sharing between SFDPH and other health care systems. Major findings show that CBOs desire to deepen collaboration with SFDPH in a manner that emphasizes equal partnership, more sustainable funding, especially for mental health services, improved communication, and more opportunities for information sharing.

Neigborhood Tours: Building on CBO interview findings, SFDPH and community partners piloted neighborhood walking tours. These guided tours educated health clinic staff on how the history, culture, environment, and other social determinants of health specific to their clinic’s neighborhood impact their patient’s health and treatment. A PRISE Center evaluation of the pilot, led by former staff member Akilan Saami, found that participants better understand the needs of the neighborhoods and the resources available to their patients.

Data Visualization Toolkit and Seminars: The SFDPH Center for Data Science, PRISE Center Faculty and Staff, and partners at San Franscisco State University and Mujeres Unidas, developed a data visualization toolkit aimed at building capacity within CBOs that have limited data abilities to make informed decisions. Additionally, the team (including partners from the UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences, Medical College Wisconsin and UC Berkeley) developed a series of seminars focused on data visualization with a lens on equity, diversity and inclusion. The seminar topics included: Equity and Data Visualization, Community Engagement with Data Visualization, Visualizations for Impact and Equity, and Building Out Geographies of Inclusion.

Implementation Science for Public Health Training Grant

Lead Investigator: Dr. Margaret Handley (UCSF)

Funder: California Department of Public Health (CDPH)/Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

In October 2022, CDPH partnered with the PRISE Center and the UCSF Implementation Science Training Program to develop a comprehensive and robust implementation science training program for public health staff at CDPH.

CDPH and UCSF teams, made up of CDPH Advisory Panel members, staff from the CDPH Director’s Office, the CDPH Academic Partnership Team, and UCSF faculty and project staff, collaborated on the design, development, and execution of three training activities aimed at building implementation science capacity among CDPH staff. The training activities included the following:

Implementation Science Mini-Course: This 14-module online, predominately asynchronous course is offered to all CDPH staff through the UCSF online collaborative learning environment (CLE). This is a foundational course on how to apply implementation science methods in public health research and practice settings.

Implementation Science Workshops: Four half-day to full-day live workshop sessions on select topics designed for CDPH staff who want more focused training in implementation science methods to apply to specific projects. The workshops covered the following topics:

• Applying Quasi-Experimental Evaluation Methods
• Rapid Qualitative Methods
• Intervention Adaptation
• Rapid Cycle Research

CDPH Champion Courses: Select CDPH staff have been chosen to complete three courses in the UCSF Online Implementation Science Certificate Program. The goal is to equip more CDPH staff with the knowledge to use implementation science methods to identify, adapt, implement, and evaluate evidence-based interventions in public health practice settings.

Support Sisters: Perinatal Community Health Workers

Lead Investigator: Melanie Thomas (UCSF)

Co-Investigators: Elaine Khoong (UCSF), Jennifer Velloza (UCSF)

Funder: UCLA-UCSF ACEs Aware Family Resilience Network (UCAAN)

Between January 2022- December 2023, the PRISE Center collaborated on a UCAAN funded community-academic research partnership with Dr. Melanie Thomas, UCSF Associate Professor of Psychiatry, healthcare providers at ZSFG Women’s Health Center, and the Homeless Prenatal Program.

The project focused on designing, implementing and evaluating the impact of a trauma-informed perinatal community-health worker (CHW) program on engagement in care and linkages to social resources among at-risk pregnant individuals in San Francisco. The innovative model of care trains and engages “Support Sisters”–a colloquial phrase for perinatal CHWs– to provide patient-centered, trauma-informed support and referrals to social resources within a perinatal network of care.

Led by PRISE Center faculty, Drs Jennifer Velloza and Elaine Khoong, our team provided implementation science and applied research support to evaluate the capacity building and pilot phases of the project. We also supported policy and advocacy efforts by contributing to an article published in Health Affairs highlighting lessons learned while caring for Medicaid-insured pregnant people in California and recommendations for policymakers.

Participatory Data Literacy

Lead Investigator: Margaret Handley (UCSF)

Funder: Patrick J. McGovern Foundation

In July 2021, Dr. Margaret Handley, PRISE Center Co-Director, and partners from San Francisco State University and Mujeres Unidas y Activas were awarded a grant from the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation focused on integrating COVID-19 data literacy and data visualization bilingual education into English as a second language (ESL) classrooms in San Francisco and the Bay Area.

The grant expanded a pilot launched during the pandemic with a University of California Office of the President (UCOP) grant. The additional funding enabled Dr. Handley and collaborators Dr. Maricel Santos and Maria Jose Bastías to engage women from indigenous backgrounds who may require more intensive support with data and digital learning spaces. The grant also supported the development of a first-of-its-kind Communicative Justice Leadership Program that 1) combines language instruction with data literacy skill-building, public speaking, and health coaching; 2) develops a web-based toolkit of data visualization teaching resources for use in community-based programs serving linguistically minorized leaders; and 3) establishes a Bay Area Task Force committed to scale-up and integrate with community health worker programs. Learn more about the Communicative Justice Initiative through the project website: https://www.communicativejustice.com

The Patrick J. McGovern Foundation grant built on over twelve years of work by Dr. Handley and colleagues collaborating with ESL teaching partners throughout California to develop and refine a model to engage adult ESL learners as “expert interpreters” in the process of translating health research and health messages into information that their own communities can understand.

Social and Economic Barriers to Public Health and Clinical Interventions for COVID-19 in Vulnerable Populations

Lead Investigators: Neeta Thakur (UCSF) and Priya Shete (UCSF)

Funder: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)

PRISE faculty Dr. Neeta Thakur and Dr. Priya Shete led a multi-site research study to better understand the impact of the pandemic across ten unique geographic regions in the U.S., oversampling in communities at greater risk of exposure to COVID19 and reduced access to healthcare.

The goal of this work was to inform and prioritize intervention targets that can improve health across vulnerable communities (low-income communities, non-US born communities, and predominantly Black/African American, Latinx, and Indigenous communities). Specific goals included: (1) collect clinical, demographic, behavioral, and socio-economic measurements from 1000 participants (100/site); (2) identify key intervention targets represented by drivers of barriers to both health care access, with special attention to barriers to COVID-19 testing and treatment; telemedicine; and shelter in place regulation adherence; and (3) apply the COM-B model to inform intervention development.

Findings from this research generated intervention content aimed at facilitating care access and reducing the socioeconomic impact of the pandemic in vulnerable communities.

Identifying modifiable barriers to prevent COVID-19 in high-risk populations participating in the San Francisco Contact Tracing program

Lead Investigators: Margaret Handley and Lucia Abascal (UCSF); Susan Philip and D Sanchev (SFDPH)

Funder: PRISE Center and UCSF DEB Research Enhancement Fund

Increasing uptake of COVID-19 prevention measures is a key priority for the San Francisco Department of Public Health Contact Tracing and Case Investigation (CT-CI) Program. To address this priority, PRISE faculty and CT-CI Program leadership co-designed a prospective study consisting of in-depth interviews based on implementation science frameworks with 50 contacts, oversampling Spanish speakers as Latinx groups are disproportionality affected by COVID-19.

The goals of this project included: (1) identify modifiable barriers and potential enablers of adherence to COVID-19 prevention recommendations among contacts, including self-isolation/quarantine, testing and vaccine uptake and (2) develop specific strategies to enhance uptake of COVID-19 prevention recommendations that align with contacts’ needs and preferences.

Findings from this research generated actionable information to guide contact tracing and support contacts of COVID-19 cases, and their social and community networks.

Evaluating San Francisco's Street Crisis Response Team as a model for mental health and substance-use treatment for adults experiencing homelessness

Lead Investigators: Matthew Goldman, MD, MS (SFDPH), and Phillip Coffin, MD, MIA (SFDPH) and Janet Myers, Christina Mangurian and Margaret Handley (UCSF)

Funder: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)

In December 2020, researchers at SFDPH, the PRISE Center, the UCSF Clinical and Translational Science institute, and Heluna Health (fiscal sponsor) collaborated to implement the Street Crisis Response Team (SCRT) as part of the Mental Health San Francisco initiative. Mental illness and substance use disorders are highly prevalent among adults experiencing homelessness in San Francisco, yet access to appropriate services is limited.

To help address this gap, the research team used an interrupted time series design to evaluate the impact of this program on post-crisis episode outcomes such as linkage to outpatient treatment, reutilization of crisis services, assessment for housing placement, and jail entry. An additional analysis stratified by race and ethnicity examined potential disparities in crisis service outcomes before and after the SCRT intervention. The research team also conducted semi-structured interviews with clients who had positive or negative post-crisis outcomes to identify facilitators and barriers to effective care.

Training and Career Development

Through the UCSF Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and our partnership with the Implementation Science Training Program, we offer a variety of training and career development programs in implementation science for researchers, clinicians and public health practitioners.

The PRISE-HL T32 Training Program for Post-Doctoral Scholars

In March 2023, the PRISE Center was awarded a T32 grant from The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). The goal of the Partnerships for Research in Implementation Science for Equity in Heart and Lung Diseases (PRISE-HL) T32 program is to provide support to outstanding post-doctoral scholars with interdisciplinary training in implementation science and health equity approaches to help transform the uptake and delivery of evidence-based interventions for heart and lung diseases in clinical and community settings. Trainees will benefit from a team-based approach to mentoring through a career development committee that includes one faculty member with content expertise in clinical or translational research in heart and lung diseases, one faculty member with methodological expertise in implementation science-based methods, and one faculty member with expertise in health equity research (if not already covered).

The location for this postdoc position is University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) or University of California, Irvine (UCI). The position may be fully remote or hybrid depending on research scope.

One-year training slots are typically available on a competitive basis to trainees proposing implementation science research in NHLBI priority areas (heart, lung, blood, and sleep disorders), with a focus on health disparities.

Applications are now being accepted for 2025/2026 cycle. Please click the following link to view application requirements: 2025/2026 PRISE T32 Post Doc Application. For enquiries, please reach out to the PRISE Center Program Manager, Tiese Etim-Inyang (Tiese.Etim-Inyang@ucsf.edu).

Implementation Science Mini-course

This self-directed, online mini-course provides a brief introduction to the field of implementation science through short video lectures, readings and case studies. These introductory materials provide high-level insight into what implementation science is and briefly introduce a few frameworks commonly used in the field.

Implementation Science Certificate Program

The Online Certificate in Implementation Science is a part-time program focused on theories and methods relevant to designing strategies to facilitate the uptake of health interventions. Scholars can choose to take individual courses or complete four required and two elective courses in order to obtain the certificate. The courses and certificate program are designed for people from a broad range of professional settings, both in the U.S. and globally, who are currently engaged in the development, implementation and evaluation of strategies to promote and improve health and health care quality. The target audience includes clinical and public health researchers, quality improvement officers, community-based clinic staff, public health and public policy practitioners and clinicians.

Implementation Science Intensive

This two-day course, now held in an online interactive format, is an introduction to understanding and applying key concepts of Implementation Science in a small group setting with individualized attention. The Short Course provides a one-of-a-kind opportunity for learners to advance their in-depth understanding of the growing field of Implementation Science, while simultaneously advancing their own work and research ideas in this space.

Research in Implementation Science for Equity (RISE)

RISE is an all-expenses-paid training opportunity for junior faculty who belong to groups underrepresented in the biomedical sciences. RISE is designed to train competitive scientists and enhance the diversity of the biomedical research workforce. The program involves a two-week Summer Institute focused on implementation science and career mentoring, followed by monthly works-in-progress sessions and a second institute the following summer.

Seminars, Workshops, and Consultation

We conduct a range of interactive online and in-person workshops and seminars on essential topics in implementation research. Click the link above to see our upcoming seminars and workshops, and watch recordings of previous seminars.

Our team also provides expert advice at every stage of inquiry to investigators and practitioners whose goal is to improve health equity using implementation science research. Our Implementation Science Consultation Services can be requested through the UCSF CTSI Consultation Service under “Study Design and Implementation.”