Joel and Sina propose to increase education and awareness about stroke care and risk factors among high-risk populations, particularly low-income elderly individuals in the Bay Area. By leading targeted workshops, Sina and Joel aim to increase participants’ knowledge of stroke symptoms and risk factors, empower them to address controllable risk factors and make lifestyle/diet adjustments to prevent the disease, and increase their confidence in recognizing and responding to an acute stroke event. The project will be implemented through a partnered effort with multiple community agencies, including senior centers, and its efficacy will be evaluated using both subjective and objective metrics. Ultimately, the goal of this project is to design an adoptable and sustainable model for stroke education and training in low-resource communities.
Community Site: Avenidas
Misha and Liza are working with The Newcomers Health Program in collaboration with UCSF’s Family Health Center (FHC), which includes the Refugee Medical Clinic. The clinic provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary health care services and promotes continuity of primary care. One of their primary goals is specifically to integrate oral health into the Newcomers Health program and thus to bridge the gaps and discrepancies in dental care needs for the refugee, asylee and immigrant communities and empower them to find confidence in themselves through their smiles.
Community Site: Newcomers Health Program
Karen and Chiamaka are targeting food insecurity in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, specifically in diverse low income communities such as Redwood City and East Palo Alto. Using a multi-pronged, interdisciplinary approach, they are partnering with local community food banks to both empower community members by offering direct CalFresh case management services and providing tangible food resources to ensure short-term and long-term food security.
Community Site: Second Harvest of Silicon Valley
Jianna aims to to mitigate barriers to vaccination for members of the Black community by creating culturally and socially accessible health education programming that promotes health autonomy. She will work closely with Black churches in the Bay Area to advance health
education for Black Californians as well as other medically underserved communities that are served by The Stanford Flu/COVID crew.
In addition to supporting the operations of existing vaccine clinics, Jianna will also recruit undergraduate students to serve as Vaccine Health Educators in order to pair increased access with the promotion of participant education at vaccine clinics.
Community Site: Allen Temple
Kendall and Grace are working with Planned Parenthood to develop a mobile reproductive health education program for low-income individuals in Vallejo. They hope to empower people with the knowledge to make the best reproductive choices for themselves. In addition, their goal is to work with people experiencing inconsistent access to reproductive care by introducing them to existing community resources.
Community Site: Planned Parenthood, Vallejo
Liza is partnering with Family House, a non-profit organization providing free housing for low-income families of children receiving cancer treatment at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. She is providing personalized oral health education workshops, oral hygiene instruction in multiple languages, and oral hygiene kits to the children and their families in an effort to decrease the presence and growth of harmful bacteria and to help improve their oral and systemic health. Learning important oral health habits at an early age will allow the children and their families to halt the onset of dental caries and gum disease which are found to be more prevalent in immunocompromised individuals. Liza’s goal is to provide a safe space for the children and their families to receive important information and have their oral health needs met and questions answered.
Community Site: Family House San Francisco
Joanna will address the problem of loss to follow up in the management of eye health in systemic conditions such as hypertension and diabetes. Workshops will be focused on health literacy, as well as how to access and use resources within the West Oakland Health Center clinic. Patients will be empowered to use MyChart and other tools to manage their health. The bilingual educational materials that are developed will be made available to the clinic and other partner clinics. Additionally, health coaches will be provided to patients who need further support. Finally, other community organizations that support healthy lifestyles will be sought out as partners to increase interaction between them and their patients.
Community Site: West Oakland Health Center
Kristina and Selena will address health disparities in San Francisco Chinatown by hosting monthly workshops designed to improve health literacy and overcome language barriers in the non-English speaking elderly community. They will partner with the Chinatown Community Development Center to educate patients in this community, to dispel misconceptions about Western medicine and counsel them on their medication regimens to improve adherence and health outcomes.
Community Site: Chinatown Community Development Center
Christina is introducing a research-validated eating disorder prevention intervention to public middle and high schools in the Bay Area. This program is called Be Body Positive Palo Alto. It is a ten-week, after-school program that seeks to decrease eating disorder risk in marginalized youth by delivering a trauma-informed, culturally sensitive body positivity curriculum through an innovative near-peer mentorship model. This program was originally developed by a nonprofit organization called Body Empowerment Project that Christina previously co-founded in Philadelphia . The goal of the project is to help teens live peacefully and healthfully in their bodies.
Community Sites: East Palo Alto Academy, Aspire East Palo Alto Charter School
Catherine and Shivali are establishing Vallejo’s first Community Fridge for food insecure and unhoused individuals. The fridge will be housed in a public, 24/7 accessible location to make perishable, nutritious food available without restriction or monitoring. Borrowing from the mutual aid and urban food sharing models, it is intended to be a grassroots alternative to traditional food banks and distributions. Working with Food is Free Bay Area, we are tapping into local food waste streams that can be redirected to supply the fridge. Their goal is to create a self-sustaining neighborhood fixture that encourages not only the sharing of food but other tangible resources and nutrition education through monthly food pharmacies.
Community Site: Food is Free Bay Area
Willemijn and Jacky are working with Arbor Free Clinic and Samaritan House Free Clinic to develop a pipeline to connect uninsured patients with long-term affordable primary care, especially for Spanish-speaking patients with diabetes or hypertension. They hope to accomplish this by organizing community outreach events with blood pressure and finger stick glucose monitors to connect people to Arbor for an initial appointment while also developing a workflow to track the success rates of connecting patients from Arbor to primary care referral sites in the Bay Area.
Community Site: Arbor Free Clinic
Rashmi will be working to foster financial stability and access to education for at-risk, marginally housed youth in San Francisco’s Tenderloin community. She aims to achieve this by implementing a microloan program that incentivizes participation in a vocational training program. By adopting an accountability mechanism through a conditional microloan program, the project builds on the success of the guaranteed-income movement and addresses the sustainability issues of microfinance programs for underprivileged and marginalized youth. The pilot project will establish a currency of trust and create a viable economic model for sustaining this program, ultimately serving as a pipeline to entry-level employment opportunities and empowering at-risk youth to break the cycle of poverty.
Community Site: Larkin Street Youth Services
Mira and Maike have recognized that performing and excelling in the classroom and on the field every day means that high school student-athletes face unique stressors that greatly impact their mental health. They are partnering with UCSF PlaySafe Program to develop and implement a pro-active, community-centered mental health education program for student-athletes in underserved high schools in San Francisco. Specifically, their project aims to: reduce stigma around mental health topics amongst student-athletes; provide accessible mental health resources to underserved student-athletes; and facilitate sustainable connections between student-athletes, coaches, and the local wellness center staff so that students can access high-quality mental health care and resources in the future.
Community Site: UCSF PlaySafe Program
Max is working with the San Francisco African Advocacy Network and the Stanford Asylum Coalition to enable refugees, newly arrived immigrants and asylum seekers to access low-cost medical services for chronic condition management.
Community Site: African Advocacy Network
Svitlana and Colburn are working with the Student Run Free Clinic and with Drug Safe Solano to develop the first needle exchange and harm reduction program in Vallejo, CA. They hope to empower people with substance use disorders, reduce the stigma and unintended consequences of IV drug use, and decrease transmission rates of infectious diseases in Solano County. The SRFC Needle Exchange Program not only benefits community members, but provides opportunities for healthcare students at Touro University who are interested in combating the opioid crisis through harm reduction services and allows students to gain an interdisciplinary working experience.
Community Sites: Touro University Student Run Free Clinic, Drug Safe Solano
Freja and Lauren are partnering with Special Olympics Northern California and Best Buddies California to develop and publish a collection of community-based resources for people with intellectual disabilities and their families living in the Bay Area. They will then support these individuals by serving as liaisons between the healthcare system and community-based organizations to promote the awareness and utilization of resources such as meet-up groups, affordable independent living programs, and employment opportunities.
Community Sites: Special Olympics Northern California, Best Buddies California
Lara is focusing her project on individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), who often struggle to get proper oral hygiene and care, Her ultimate goal is to empower people with IDD to take charge of their own oral health and in order to accomplish this she will deliver oral health education workshops and, for those who report having experienced dental anxiety, she will also provide desensitization techniques.
Community Sites: The Arc San Francisco, KEEN San Francisco
Ivan, Sarthak and Chris are partnering with under-resourced Bay Area high schools to improve health literacy in students through the initiation of student-driven clubs. They will work alongside the students through one-on-one mentorship and educational modules about health literacy which they will provide. They aim to foster an empowering atmosphere conducive to building self-efficacy and confidence surrounding health literacy. Ultimately, they envision that the student-run clubs will allow students to monitor their own health and to follow through on what they have learned to make lasting impacts in their communities
Community Site: East Palo Alto Academy
Caroline is addressing vaccine inequities in Northern and Central California by partnering with community organizations to host vaccine clinics specifically focused on increasing access to vaccines for farmworkers. She will collaborate with the farmworkers themselves to address logistical gaps in vaccination opportunities, which will be used to develop a health curriculum and to design clinics to overcome identified barriers. The project will also provide opportunities for Stanford students to learn about the social and structural determinants of vaccination through the development of a community health curriculum for undergraduates.
Community Site: United Farm Workers Foundation
Aditya, Maria and Wasan are addressing opioid overdose and care coordination in an affordable housing complex in Palo Alto by implementing harm reduction services and specialty care referrals to local free clinics. This will include the development of a new social determinants of health screener administered by medical assistants to all patients in primary care, and follow-up referrals to resources like food banks. Additionally, they will work with student-run free clinics to develop a robust referrals program for specialty care. On the harm reduction front, they intend to distribute supplies such as fentanyl test strips, that have been shown to reduce the likelihood of overdose death. They will also develop community education materials tailored to needs identified in a needs assessment survey.
Community Sites: Opportunity Center, Peninsula Healthcare Connection
Michelle’s goal is to empower individuals to take control of their own reproductive health by understanding their changing bodies through both puberty and pregnancy. She is developing discussion-based reproductive health education classes for at-risk teens and young adults at the Berkeley Youth Alternatives. In addition, she will also teach home-safe, consistent manual therapies to help pregnant individuals gain relief for the musculoskeletal discomfort that often accompanies pregnancy.
Community Sites: Berkeley Youth Alternatives, Teaching Learning Center
Tiffany is working with Real Options for City Kids to make oral health solutions impactful, not just possible, for San Francisco’s socially and economically vulnerable youths through a curriculum that focuses on the interface between nutrition promotion, oral health education, and confidence building. While there is increased access to oral healthcare services for youths, cultural, socioeconomic, and general information barriers often stall parents from utilizing this care. Through weekly interactive activities during their after-school Enrichment Periods, Tiffany’s goal is to have these at-risk youths consider their oral health a priority, not a luxury.
Community Site: Real Options for City Kids
Michael and Joanne implemented a comprehensive medication reconciliation program for low-income patients at high risk for complications. With the help of Spanish translators, we have been able to reach a large non-English speaking population.
Site: Lestonnac Free Clinic
Lauro delivered total care with stable access to food, medications, primary care and mental health services to members of the Latinx community with diabetes.
Site: Clínica Martín Baró
Ana, Victoria (Tori) and Lucy partnered to expand COVID-19 vaccine distribution, advocate for equitable vaccine access and improve public health and vaccine education in underserved communities.
Jamie worked to improve oral health outcomes for adults affected by intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Site: The Arc
Davis and Divya partnered to expand social and medical referral services, implement COVID vaccine outreach and develop a diabetes education curriculum to support the unhoused community in Palo Alto.
Mohamed and Jude partnered to improve access to medical care, psychological evaluations, and legal services for asylum seekers in the Bay Area.
Community Site: Immigration Institute of the Bay Area, Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto
Anna and Stephanie partnered to provide weekly podiatric (foot and ankle) care for the underserved and unhoused populations in the East Bay.
Site: The Suitcase Clinic
Marycon developed a hybrid free clinic to provide accessible vision care for unhoused individuals at risk for preventable vision loss.
Site: UCSF Ophthalmology Shelter Clinic
Janis and Ryan partnered to create a “Berkeley Food Farmacy” nutrition counseling and meal program for an unhoused population facing food insecurity and chronic medical conditions.
Site: The Suitcase Clinic
Jar-Yee and Tatyana partnered to pilot a harm reduction education and safer consumption kit distribution program for people who use drugs throughout the Bay Area.
Jessica and Shradha (Sony) partnered to create and teach a comprehensive and LGBTQI inclusive sexual health education program for middle school students in Solano County.
Gianna tested, educated and vaccinated the community of predominantly low-income Spanish-monolingual farmworkers in rural Pescadero.
Site: Puente de la Costa Sur
Morgan provided oral health resources and STEM education for youth in the San Francisco Tenderloin.
Haruna will work with the Suitcase Clinic to increase access to resources and medical care for unhoused residents in Berkeley through outreach and developing mutually empowering partnerships with the community members.
Site: Suitcase Clinic
Marganick is working to counteract the effects of racial inequities to generate better health outcomes for Black women.
Site: Solano HEALS
Winny and Cornelia are partnering to improve health literacy and overcome language barriers in the elderly non-English speaking Chinese immigrant population.
Site: Chinatown YMCA
Melissa and Lillie partnered with the Indian Health Center of Santa Clara Valley (IHC), Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence, and the Stanford-O;Connor Family Residence Program to include clinical services for survivors of gender-based violence at Indian Health Center’s clinics, with specific focus on empowering Native American survivors.
Community Sites: Indian Health Center of Santa Clara Valley, Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence, Stanford O’Connor Family Residency Program
Nazineen is working with forcibly displaced Afghans and resettlement organizations to develop the educational curriculum for Sofreh Salamati, an initiative she designed to facilitate the agency of other Afghan refugee women through health education, social networking, and spiritual healing.
Site: Refugee Health Clinic, Eastmont Wellness Center, Alameda Health System
Kyle is co-building a support network for LatinX immigrant families affected by ‘shelter in place’ by creating a system to directly connect them with health professional students in San Francisco.
Cristina will be providing culturally-affirming post-partum client education and doula support to underserved African American women in the Bay Area.
Ada will be working with the San Mateo Pride Center to increase housing and transportation access for queer and trans people of color in San Mateo County. .
Site: San Mateo Pride Center
Raj collaborated with two free clinics to address health disparities through both treatment and prevention. Specifically, he improved health education and increased access to dermatology and respiratory care for low-income communities and people experiencing homelessness in the East Bay.
Sites: The Berkeley Free Clinic, The Suitcase Clinic
Hae Jin (Jin) and Chae Jin (CJ) provided oral health education, dental screenings and referrals for underserved Korean-American seniors in the Bay Area who often have very little access to these important resources.
Site: East Bay Korean-American Senior Services Center
Mai Zong partnered with prenatal support groups in the Central Valley to address childhood oral health disparities. She provided oral health education sessions, preventive screenings, and established partnerships within the Central Valley to improve dental service referral systems and access to dental care.
Site: First Five Fresno
Hiroe and Yasmin partnered with two youth-centered organizations in the East Bay to use the methodology of Community-based Participatory Research to assess the mental and emotional health needs of Asian American adolescents. They co-created a curriculum that empowers Asian American adolescents to take charge of their own mental and emotional wellbeing through a culturally informed lens.
Sites: James Morehouse Project, The Spot, Asian Health Center
Jimmy and Kinyee partnered with The Shanti Project to improve health outcomes in patients who are afflicted with chronic conditions and often lack continuity of care with their providers. To accomplish this, they created a series of workshops that empowered patients and improved medication adherence.
Site: The Shanti Project
Theresa worked with low income families in the Central Valley to develop Cottage Foods businesses that will help provide income security. Classes were developed in English and Spanish and were combined with practical help to provide both the science behind food safety regulations and the basic business skills and funding needed to ensure success going forward.
Site: Opportunity Stanislaus
Lindsey and Previn implemented a system for creating electronic medical records at the UCSF Shelter Clinic, which operates within the St. Vincent De Paul Society. This is the largest homeless shelter in Northern California and it is the first step toward improving continuity of care, referrals to existing community resources, and tracking data metrics that will direct future quality improvement projects.
Site: Multi-Service Center South, St. Vincent De Paul Society.
Ryan collaborated with local pediatricians to promote school readiness in low-income children. Operating out of several mid-peninsula clinics, he installedl “little libraries” in the waiting rooms where families can receive resources – including free books and individualized coaching – to create a rich learning environment at home.
Sites: Gardner-Packard Children’s Health Center, Ravenswood Family Health Center, Fair Oaks Health Center and MayView Community Health Centers
Tim helped alleviate problems caused by the existence of a food desert on Mare Island. This project began as a simple food access network but quickly changed into an efficient and inexpensive way to grow and distribute highly nutritious microgreens to residents without access to affordable and practical fresh foods. Tim created a non-profit business called Pharm Fresh to sustain the project going forward microgreens.
Sites: Solano Grown and Vallejo People’s Garden
Noah bridged relationships between the professional schools at UCSF and James Denman Middle School in San Francisco. He created interactive projects for students coming from low income populations to help them gain more exposure to STEM and other professional fields and give them the ability to explore their potential, and find a voice to advocate for themselves.
Site: James Denman Middle School
Katherine worked with the Transitions Clinic at La Clìnica de la Raza and the House of Acts Drug and Substance Abuse Treatment Center in Vallejo to improve health outcomes in formerly incarcerated patients living in Solano County. She developed a mindfulness-based peer support curriculum in order to build resiliency, reduce stress, and improve community integration.
Sites: La Clìnica de la Raza and House of Acts Drug and Substance Abuse Treatment Center
Bernadette created and implemented a health education and creative arts program for Southeast Asian girls who are at risk for, or already engaged in, sexual exploitation. She titled her program “We are the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For”.
Site: Asian Health Services and Banteay Srei
Thomas established a comprehensive oral health care for the marginalized members of the LGBTQI and homeless community in San Francisco. He found a way to provide the clinic with donated dental chairs and has explored ways to reach the homeless population in the Tenderloin to create access to the the care that they need. Upon graduation, he became the primary dental provider at the Clinic where he did his Schweitzer project.
Dee focused on the therapeutic benefit of the human-animal connection. Working mostly from physician referrals, she provided 50 senior citizens (age 55+) with senior companion animals (age 5+) who were at risk of euthanasia at local animal shelters. Animals were evaluated for health and temperament before placement and all fees were waived for these adoptions. In addition, costs for medications and special foods were covered and going forward if the seniors were unable to continue caring for the dogs, Umbrella of Hope agreed to take them back and re-home them.
Sheela and Deepika focused on the high-need/low income refugees, asylees, and immigrants who reside in the San Francisco and Oakland communities. They provided comprehensive dental care to children and adults, including oral health education, screenings, active preventative treatments and appropriate referrals to the free UCSF night clinic.
Site: Refugee Transitions
Courtney and Natalia addressed overlooked eye care deficits in Oakland Unified School District students. Their project, “Oakland in Focus,” is designed to screen for potential vision-related learning differences and other ocular pathologies. As part of their project they created a video that can be used by teachers and school nurses to help identify potential visual problems.
Site: Oakland Unified School District
Theresa created a volunteer program for adults with aphasia, a language impairment mostly caused by a stroke or brain injury, and providing them with opportunities to help children’s reading groups in Hayward. The goal of the project was to improve community reintegration of people with aphasia and raise awareness of aphasia in the local community.
Sites: Aphasia Treatment Program and Hayward Promise Neighborhood
Bright and Kevin worked to improve the availability of culturally competent clinical services and health education access for especially vulnerable youth, elderly, and immigrant residents in San Mateo County’s LGBTQI community.
Jessica created a bridge between a middle school and a dental clinic in East Oakland and organized the days on which the students were escorted to the clinic to receive dental care. She also conducted classroom sessions to teach about oral health education as well as spark career interest in dentistry.
Jaime worked with disadvantaged, low-income youth from immigrant families in Chinatown to address oral health, education, and opportunity disparities. She held a variety of workshops, inviting guest speakers and organizing weekend service projects.
Site: Donaldina Cameron House
Katie developed a breast health navigation program for women. She did health coaching, education and motivational interviewing with patients at Federally Qualified Health Centers in Palo Alto and Redwood City. This program helped women receive low-cost or free mammograms and provided screening support to clinics dedicated to serving underserved populations.
Sites: Samaritan House, Peninsula Health Care at Life Moves, Opportunity Center
Teal worked with the Rota Care Free Medical Clinic in Pittsburg, CA to create, implement and evaluate lifestyle management courses including education, cooking classes and one-on-one counseling. These courses and activities were offered to the residents of East Contra Costa County as a way to prevent and decrease the negative effects of chronic disease such as hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes and obesity by reducing modifiable risk factors.
Site: RotaCare Clinic
Sofia developed a pre-dental program for economically disadvantaged Bay Area students who demonstrated a desire to work with underserved communities. The program included a dental morphology course, assistance in completing the primary application, topics in dentistry including oral health instruction, and volunteering at local health fairs with the guidance of UCSF dental students. She also organized the Building Bridges conference at UOP and UCSF to attract minority applicants to the dental profession.
Site: San Francisco Day School
Julia worked in the Bayview Hunters Point district of San Francisco to improve electronic communication between health care providers and patients. She provided one-on-one sessions with formerly incarcerated patients to help them enroll in the clinic’s online patient portal, learn how to send secure messages to their providers and access online patient education materials. She also provided educational material on how to find reliable health information online and guidance on entering the digital world for those who were unfamiliar with current technology in general.
Site: Southeast Health Center
Simon built relationships with homeless and marginally housed individuals in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco, provided health coaching services and developed health literature on topics that are relevant to community members.
Galen promoted play and community engagement in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco through the installation of artistic outdoor ping pong tables.
Jason helped older adults in Oakland plan for the care they want to receive if they become unable to make medical decisions for themselves. He visited senior centers to explain the importance of advance care planning, and worked one-on-one with individuals to walk them through each step of filling out an advance directive, helped get their family and designated health proxies involved in the discussion, and then got the completed document to the individuals’ physicians and hospitals.
Sites: North Oakland Senior Center, Emeryville Senior Center, West Oakland Senior Center
Jason used teledermatology to help improve diagnosis and treatment of skin related ailments for individuals at the UCSF Homeless Clinic.
Laura developed interactive workshops that focused on promoting healthy lifestyles and stress management for children and their caregivers in the Mission District.
Sawsan provided health services to Syrian refugee families placed in either the Bay Area or the Central Valley.
Site: Muslim Community Center East Bay, Lighthouse Mosque of Oakland
Amy connected low-income patients at the Berkeley Free Clinic with free or low-cost vision care. She also taught them about common eye diseases and conditions that can cause irreversible vision loss to encourage them to get yearly comprehensive exams.
Site: Berkeley Free Clinic
Katherine focused on primary and secondary diabetes prevention through screenings and education classes for the Vallejo community. In doing so, she connected up with various community organizations to make sure that they are delivering a consistent message.
Sites: Vallejo’s Fighting Back Partnership; Touro University California Interprofessional Collaboration for Diabetes Outreach
Ashley supported healthy early childhood development in low-income and homeless families in San Francisco.
Phyllis provided sexual health education to low-income, currently or formerly homeless senior citizens in San Francisco.
Sites: ECS Canon Kip Senior Center, Curry Senior Center, SF Senior Center, Veterans Equity Center
Irene provided oral health education and access to dental care for children with disabilities and their families in San Francisco.
Troy provided smoking cessation counseling for underserved Pilipino populations in the South of Market community in San Francisco.
Site: Mabuhay Health Center
Hana provided nutrition and wellness classes for families who attended a school-based food pantry at West Oakland Middle School.
Mercy increased health care access for the homeless population in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco.
Site: City Team Medical Clinic
Roshan created an outreach team that made home visits to address the needs of pediatric patients and their families in the Fruitvale community of East Oakland.
Site: Roots Pediatrics Clinic
Cinthia provided tools and education for children with rheumatoid arthritis to help them transition to healthy adulthood.
Site: The Arthritis Foundation
Ivy provided oral health and nutrition education for underserved youths in Bayview Hunters Point and also assisted parents in identifying Denti-Cal providers.
Site: FacesSF
Rahwa and Helen provided a variety of educational workshops to address the specific challenges of Black families in East Oakland.
Mackensie developed a social needs screening and resource referral program for patients at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose.
Shirley developed a health navigators program to address specific health issues of concern to the senior community living in Strawberry Creek Lodge in Berkeley.
Site: Strawberry Creek Lodge
Martha and Tyler increased colorectal cancer screening through outreach, education and distribution of screening kits.
Lauren and Adam provided periodontal screenings, education and referrals for residents of the Bay View Hunters’ Point District who have chronic lung disease.
Site: Health and Environmental Resource Center and Rafiki Coalition
Jenny gave oral health education classes to caregivers of children 5 and younger in East Oakland.
Site: WIC Eastmont Mall
Gunsagar carried out a primary care education and health coaching program for patients at the Valley Health Center in Milpitas and at a local Sikh Temple.
Hengameh carryied out dental and oral screenings, and provided education on oral hygiene techniques for blind and visually impaired individuals in San Francisco.
Site: San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Ashley and Katie worked with youth in San Francisco to promote the prevention and treatment of mental illness.
Site: Larkin Street
Jennifer and Amy addressed nutritional deficits in formerly homeless, low-income residents of SROs in the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods in San Francisco.
Ruby worked at the Excelsior Health Services in San Francisco to encourage medication adherence in patients with hypertension.
Vanessa created a mindfulness program for adolescents in West Oakland to help them learn techniques for coping with the stressful situations they face on a daily basis.
Jecca addressed inadequate school readiness among pediatric patients under 5 at Fair Oaks Clinic in Redwood City.
Paula addressed health disparities in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties by providing health education pertaining to nutrition and physical activity through cooking and dance classes.
Site: Second Harvest Food Bank
Lisa is training a group of female inmates at San Francisco County Jail to become health ambassadors and peer counselors for other inmates in the facility.
Melissa provided produce, nutrition education, and garden starter kits to residents of food deserts in Vallejo using a mobile garden from the Vallejo People’s Garden (associated with the Global Center for Success). She also addressed nutrition education and other health concerns in transitional housing facilities associated with the Global Center for Success in Vallejo.
Jean worked with the Emeryville Senior Centers to provide oral health classes, oral health screenings for seniors and aided them in enrolling in the new State provided dental insurance.
Isabel partnered with the Over 60 Health Center – LifeLong Medical Care to improve medication adherence for low-income seniors during the care transition from hospitals to the health center.
Steve addressed the problem of summertime food insecurity in East Palo Alto by partnering with the Ravenswood City School District and the East Palo Alto YMCA to provide healthy meals to the district’s students and their families.
Eric and Angela partnered with the American Indian Model schools in Oakland to address common vision problems and provide screening, education and referral services for ocular health issues, as well as free glasses for those who qualify.
Kevin worked with the Asian Health Services in Oakland to conduct community outreach and education for young adults of color to help them navigate the complexities of becoming insured, accessing a health care provider and gaining services that promote health.
Shannon and Michelle partnered with Monument Crisis Center in Concord to offer vision screenings, plus education about eye health and eye care resources to low income individuals in Contra Costa County.
Shawna worked with the Homeless Prenatal Program to screen women for postpartum depression and maternal isolation. Her program reached out to women individually to address barriers to follow-up care and access to postpartum resources.
Alissa worked with the Rehabilitation Research Center of the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center to establish a peer support group for people in San Mateo County with acquired brain injury.
Jamie led a group of interdisciplinary health professional students to target health literacy and social isolation in patients at San Francisco General Hospital by providing health education and support.
Valentina worked with Not for Sale to provide access to dental care and education on proper oral health habits to survivors of human sex-trafficking in San Francisco.
Mark educated and empowered female inmates to become proactive agents of their own health through the Women’s Jail Health program in the San Francisco County Jail. He also established an elective class at UCSF that will sustain this program.
Community Site: San Francisco County Jail
Susan and Amlu implemented a concussion education program targeting middle and high school youth throughout the diverse classrooms of the Berkeley Unified School District. Their goal was to empower youth with the tools they need to understand what concussions are, why preventing them is important, and how to recognize and respond to them.
Community Site: Berkeley Unified School District
Michael developed and led a mindfulness-based stress reduction program for grade-school students in the Ravenswood City School District in East Palo Alto. The program embraced proven methods of meditation, yoga, attention-building exercises, and reflection to help students learn how to respond to stress.
Community Site: Ravenswood City School District
Jolie worked with homeless youth in San Francisco to address their unmet dental needs. She provided this population with prevention services, education, and a connection to dental care. Workers at the site are hoping to continue the project in order to ensure sustainability of the program.
Community Site: Larkin Street Youth Center
Karen worked with Prevent Blindness Northern California to provide vision
screening services to underserved preschool students in San Jose and other parts of Santa Clara County. She also collaborated with a team of undergraduates to screen preschoolers, connect them with care, and follow up with their treatment.
Community Site: Prevent Blindness/Northern California
Jocelyn developed, distributed, and assessed low-literacy, linguistically-appropriate community resource guides tailored to the needs of low-income postpartum women in San Francisco. As part of her project, she determined the unmet needs of these mothers and determined how to best provide them with resource support during this vulnerable and demanding time in their lives.
Community Site: Maternal, Child and Adoleslcent Health Section, San Francisco Department of Public Health
Timmy improved health literacy for the transgender community through group workshops and individual sessions that equipped the community with communication skills that will help them navigate through San Francisco’s healthcare system, while empowering them to be advocates of their own care.
Community Site: Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center
Melissa worked with the Women and Transgender Section of the Berkeley Free Clinic to develop an intimate partner violence screening protocol. She served clients who disclosed experiencing violence and provided them with referrals to shelters and legal resources.
Community Site: Berkeley Free Clinic
Ali collaborated with the African Advocacy network, a program of Dolores Street Services, to identify health issues that exist in this community and find the community resources and educational tools needed to combat the targeted health concerns.
Community Site: African Advocacy Network
Emily partnered with the Native American Health Center and CARACEN to develop and implement oral health education for underserved adults with Type II diabetes. The program included health interventions such as brushing, flossing, nutrition, blood glucose monitoring, and smoking cessation.
Community Site: Native American Health Center and CARACEN
Barrere and Virgen-Giron implemented an obesity wellness program and screenings for Hispanic children in Hayward.
Community Site: Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center
Burmaster and Orozco partnered with the Pacific Center to establish an LGBTQI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, and Intersex) Suitcase Clinic that offers free basic primary care services, health education, and resources for low-income and/or uninsured members of the East Bay LGBTQI community. The aim of the clinic is to offer a safe space for LGBTQI individuals to access vital basic medical services through the care of sensitive providers. The clinic operates bi-weekly.
Community Site: Pacific Center
Chow developed and implemented a linguistically- and culturally-appropriate well-baby group visit for Oakland’s low-income Chinese immigrant parents and their infants. The well-baby group visit emphasized health promotion in six key areas: infant nutrition, infant development, family dynamics, nurturing parenthood, safety and healthy environments, and stress resilience.
Community Site: Asian Health Services
Dizechi provided nutrition and fitness information to low income Hispanic/Latino families who are part of the Napa Valley Soccer League. This information will also help them access available health services in Solano County.
Community Site: Morton Field, Mare Island, Vallejo
Hirschmann-Levy and Pitts empowered inmates to become more proactive in managing and protecting their health. They developed a streamlined model for eligible women to be registered for health insurance upon release.
Community Site: San Francisco Women’s Jail, Department of Public Health
Leis established a vision screening program for underserved middle and high school students in Oakland, California. Her project identified vision problems, connected students with appropriate care, and taught basic eye health concepts to the classes.
Community Site: American Indian Public Charter School
Lin developed and implemented a patient follow-through program to help patients at Pacific Free Clinic keep track of upcoming appointments, prescriptions, tests, etc. As part of the program, an electronic medical record (EMR) program was developed to streamline the care that will be available to clinic patients.
Community Site: Pacific Free Clinic
Mathur and Stavrev developed and implemented a prevention, education, and screening program for the oral manifestations of HIV/AIDS, STIs, and oral cancer in underserved San Francisco youth who are LGBT, homeless, and/or low-income. They also focused on access and barriers to healthcare among these populations.
Community Site: 360 Positive Care Center
Peek worked with the John Muir Mobile Health Clinic to design and implement an educational program for patients with Type II diabetes, teaching them about self-care and helping uninsured patients locate primary care physicians for long term health care maintenance and monitoring.
Community Site: John Muir Mobile Health Clinic
Van Nuys created, developed, and executed a series of support/discussion groups on topics relevant to people living with HIV. His Schweitzer project was titled “More Than Just Positive,” emphasizing the fact that people living with HIV are more than just the disease and can thrive with full and satisfying lives.
Community Site: Stop AIDS Project, The Positive Force
Almario created and implemented a diabetes prevention program serving Native American youth. She integrated the 5-2-1-0 Healthy Kids Countdown, a health promotion initiative based on evidence-based messaging emphasizing healthy nutritional choices and behaviors.
Community Site: Indian Health Center of Santa Clara Valley
Visram identified and provided education about potentially serious/fatal medication errors and interactions among seniors and other vulnerable members of the community.
Community Site: San Francisco Senior Center, Lifelong Medical Care Clinic, Mission Creek Mercy Housing, San Francisco
Firouzian led a group class for underserved women in the third trimester of their pregnancy about labor and delivery, infant development, and baby care.
Community Site: Young Women’s Program, UCSF/Mt. Zion Medical Center
Grova and Grovey implemented a health education program for women experiencing drug addiction and/or homelessness aimed at providing health information and resources for them and their children.
Community Site: Jelani House, San Francisco
Kwon partnered with two community health clinics serving medically underinsured and uninsured patients to launch a tobacco cessation program and improve patient education on safe medication practices.
Community Site: North East Medical Services, San Francisco; Rotacare Free Clinic, Mountain View
Lutes and Mitchell-Sisler created an educational and treatment program for homeless individuals with dual diagnoses of diabetes and mental illness.
Community Site: Glide Health Services, San Francisco
Rajadhyksha carried out a health and science education program for underserved 5th graders. She integrated the 5-2-1-0 Healthy Kids Countdown, a health promotion initiative based on evidence-based messaging emphasizing healthy nutritional choices and behaviors.
Community Site: E.R. Taylor Elementary School, San Francisco
Russell carried out health education and screenings for Native American individuals. He integrated the 5-2-1-0 Healthy Kids Countdown, a health promotion initiative based on evidence-based messaging emphasizing healthy nutritional choices and behaviors.
Community Site: Intertribal Friendship House, Oakland
Tran carried out a campaign to increase minority representation in the national bone marrow registry.
Community Site: Asian American Donor Program
Tseng administered multi-disciplinary workshops on intimate partner violence and mental health for women and families living in San Francisco’s Chinatown.
Community Site: Chinatown Community Development Center and Donaldina Cameron House San Francisco
Beier provided underserved people in San Leandro with podiatric care, and educated patients on diabetic foot care to help prevent complications.
Community Site: Davis Street Clinic
Benavente addressed the overall health of low-income families by creating a health and wellness project aimed at giving community members the opportunity to determine what is important to them and their families.
Community Site: Making Waves Education Program
Derman and Lowenberg increased access to primary care and asthma education by implementing a weekly free pediatric asthma program in a low-income neighborhood with many serious environmental problems.
Community Site: Bayview Hunters Point Environmental Resource Center
Hall addressed the overall health of underserved children ages 6-18 by providing age-appropriate classes on topics such as nutrition, obesity, diabetes, vaccinations, OTC drug use, hygiene, recreational activities, environmental health and building a strong immune system.
Community Site: Tenderloin Boys & Girls Club in San Francisco
Ho improved the mental health status of Asian American adolescents living in Santa Clara County by increasing awareness of teen suicides and depression in the community, and providing tools and other resources that addressed such issues as stress management, communication skills, cross-cultural hardships and interpersonal skills.
Community Site: Asian Americans for Community Involvement
Lam improved maternal and prenatal health by bringing oral hygiene education to pregnant women and mothers of young children.
Community Site: Teen Pregnancy and Parenting Project of San Francisco
Liu addressed gaps in community hepatitis awareness and knowledge by developing hepatitis B resource guides and education models aimed at informing patients and encouraging them and their family members to get tested.
Community Site: Arbor Free Clinic
Menchavez addressed disparities in access to eye care services for Latino day loaboers by implementing a system of monthly vision screenings followed by referrals for those who need a full eye exam.
Community Site: Day Worker Center of Mountain View
Mireles created personalized discharge plans to provide access to services such as housing, transportation, follow-up care, food pantries, social services and work placement for patients being released from mental health facilities at San Francisco General Hospital.
Community Site: San Francisco General Hospital
Shen addressed disaster preparedness in San Francisco Chinatown single-room occupancy communities by offering monthly hands-on workshops focusing on infectious disease prevention and first-aid skills.
Community Site: Chinatown Community Development Center
Shin improved the oral health of disabled children by developing a targeted educational program that taught proper brushing and flossing techniques with special aids for individuals with dexterity problems and recruited local dentists for future referrals.
Community Site: Janet Pomeroy Center
Lauren worked with the domestic violence division of Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI) to start a peer counseling support group as well as promote women’s health awareness at their women’s shelter.
Community Site: Asian Americans for Community Involvement, San Mateo County
Pamela developed a community skin cancer screening project for uninsured Latino day laborers in Alameda County.
Community Site: Markstein Cancer Education and Preventive Services, Oakland
Greenfield and Ong worked with the Boys and Girls Clubs of San Francisco on a youth-led project to assess and improve the health and nutritional environment of the clubs.
Community Site: Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco
Herndon developed a program to bring aid to the Bay Area homeless by using a mobile outreach unit to provide food, water, clothing, basic hygiene kids and minor medical care to the people it served.
Community Site: Bay Area Rescue Mission, Richmond
Alice developed a series of bilingual dental educational workshops for underserved pregnant Chinese women.
Community Site: Tzu Chi Foundation, San Francisco
Huang created a teen health leadership program for at risk adolescents in the Asian community.
Community Site: Asian Health Services, Oakland
Lee developed a social work program to enroll uninsured patients in county and state assistance programs and provide them with basic social services.
Community Site: Pacific Free Clinic, Stanford
Ofili provided knowledge about preventing diabetes, managing associated symptoms and the importance of overall foot health in an underserved area of Oakland.
Community Site:Healthy Oakland, Oakland
Rocha developed the Junior Science Investigators Program and launched it at an after-school community center.
Community Site: City Crossroads Church, San Francisco
Samura and Schmidt expanded the mission of the women’s homeless clinic set up the previous year and created a women’s mental health group to provide a community of support and resources for the female residents of a San Francisco homeless shelter.
Community Site: St Vincent De Paul Society Multi Center South, San Francisco
Wong organized health outreach to a homeless population in Palo Alto to provide physical and mental health screening, patient education and advocacy.
Community Site: Opportunity Center
Wirth developed a health and wellness program for monolingual Spanish speaking immigrants in recovery from drugs and alcohol.
Community Site: Mission Council on Alcohol Abuse for the Spanish Speaking, San Francisco
Asiodu provided workshops for African American women to establish confidence in prospective mothers, promote early prenatal care, minimize fears around childbirth, promote skin-to-skin contact after delivery, encourage breastfeeding, and provide information about contraception.
Community Site: Prenatal Advantage Black Infant Health Project
Azwell developed a plant ecology program, which included establishing a community garden and providing a healthy foods curriculum for high school students.
Community Site: Mt. Diablo High School
Bekmezian developed a bilingual oral health education program for homeless pregnant women.
Community Sites: San Francisco Homeless Prenatal Program and San Mateo Medical Center Dental Clinic
Dakkak and Jannicelli created the first clinic in San Francisco specifically focused on the health of homeless women.
Community Site: St Vincent De Paul Society Multi Center South, San Francisco
Foo coordinated the case management of mental health and social needs of homeless individuals in Palo Alto.
Community Site: Opportunity Center, Palo Alto
Harris reconstituted a Community Advisory Board to help residents of the Western Addition in San Francisco by providing them with improved services.
Community Site: Maxine Hall Health Center, San Francisco
Huntington developed a Passport to Wellness program which created a role for pharmacists as preventative healthcare providers.
Community Site: Women’s HIV Program, UC San Francisco
Mitchell and Chen provided podiatric screenings, educated homeless individuals on the importance of preventative foot care and distributed clean shoes, socks and foot hygiene items.
Community Site: St Vincent De Paul Society Multi Center South
Mullen expanded a project done the previous year to provide oral health and nutrition education to children from the Boys & Girls Club of San Francisco during their stay at Camp Mendocino.
Community Site: Boys & Girls Club of San Francisco
Phung provided outreach to the general elderly and physically disabled population in Berkeley to advise them of available services and learn what other help they might need. She also created a Berkeley Disaster Registry to determine the location of those at risk during a disaster.
Community Site: Easy Does It, Berkeley
Simmons worked with local high school children to produce a publishable map documenting the air and metal toxins surrounding West Oakland schools.
Community Site: West Oakland Unified School District
Torres expanded on the work of a previous Fellow to provide information about the health care system in San Francisco to immigrants from Spanish speaking countries.
Community Site: Clinica Martin Baró
Zane designed and implemented an oral health education program for disadvantaged high school students in the Bay Area.
Community Site: Environmental Sciences Teaching Program, Berkeley
Cameron developed and strengthened community mental health networks in order to reduce the number of underinsured Alameda County residents who fall through the cracks.
Community Site: Berkeley Primary Care, Berkeley
Chong and Hahn created a Young Male Involvement Program focusing on at-risk Southeast Asian Youth in the area.
Community Site: Asian Health Center, Oakland
Dinh created a campus-community partnership to provide oral health education at a Boys & Girls Club summer camp.
Community Site: Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco
Hong implemented a health career mentoring program for young female teens by providing academic guidance, health professional shadowing programs, internship possibilities and community service projects.
Community Site: Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco
Lin and Chao created the first comprehensive Hepatitis B Free Clinic in the South Bay. The Clinic, still operating today, provides free testing, vaccination treatment and education for all APIs in East San Jose who have low income, no insurance and low English proficiency.
Community Site: Pacific Free Clinic
Okonsky created health education materials and provided HIV education sessions to the community while also designing and implementing a HIV medication adherence support group for patients receiving care and treatment at the health center.
Community Site: Southeast Health Center, Bayview Hunters Point, San Francisco
Palacios taught Native American women (school age and older) how to dance in different Native American styles. She also carried out workshops addressing women’s health issues, such as nutrition, physical activity, reproductive issues, mental health, violence and substance abuse.
Community Site: Intertribal Friendship House
Valles developed patient education modules on cancer that were culturally sensitive and specific to the needs of the Latino day laborer community.
Community Site: Clinica Martin Baró
Vose reorganized and streamlined the English and Spanish hotline data banks that provide rural, poor, minority women with information referrals, health education, peer counseling and advocacy.
Community Site: ACCESS, San Francisco