ARC Leadership & Staff

​​​​​​Margot Kushel, MD is Professor of Medicine and Division Chief at the Division of Health and Society at ZSFG, Director of ARC for Health, Director of UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, and a primary care physician ZSFG’s Richard H. Fine People’s Clinic. Dr. Kushel’s research focuses on reducing the burden of homelessness on health through examining efforts to prevent and end homelessness and mitigating the effects of housing instability on health care outcomes.

Urmimala Sarkar MD, MPH is Professor of Medicine at UCSF in the Division of General Internal Medicine at ZSFG, Associate Chair for Faculty Experience for the Department of Medicine, Co-Director of UCSF’s IgNITE Lab (Investigating Novel Interventions using Technology to advance Equity), Associate Director of ARC for Health, and a primary care physician at ZSFG’s Richard H. Fine People's Clinic. Dr. Sarkar’s work centers on innovating for more accessible health access and opportunities and improving the safety and quality of outpatient care for everyone; her expertise spans topics including medical errors and patient safety, diabetes, and cancer prevention and survivorship.

​​​​​​Brie Williams, MD, MS is Professor of Medicine at UCSF in the Division of Health and Society, Founder and Director of Amend at UCSF, Co-Director of the Aging Research In Criminal Justice Health (ARCH) Network, Associate Director for Policy of the UCSF Action Research Center for Health, and a physician trained in internal medicine, geriatrics, and palliative care. Dr. Williams’ work focuses on transforming correctional culture to focus on the health of residents and staff, dignity and humanity, and on bringing the science of geriatrics and palliative care to improve carceral practices.

Ellie Gladstone is Manager of the UCSF Action Research Center for Health where she provides strategic direction, develops partnerships, and oversees overall program operations. She brings more than 20 years of experience at the intersection of research, law, policy, and health to her collaborative work with Center faculty and staff.

Dr. Hargrave-Bouagnon is an internal medicine physician committed to patient-oriented and policy-relevant research aimed at improving health outcomes for people who have experienced trauma through identifying and addressing gaps in care using implementation science strategies. Her work aims to leverage research as a tool to reduce health disparities, address gaps in patient care, and advance effective trauma-informed interventions.

​​​​​​Hilary Seligman, MD, MAS is Professor at the University of California San Francisco with appointments in the Departments of Medicine and of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Director of the CDC’s Nutrition and Obesity Policy, Research and Evaluation Network (NOPREN), Director of UCSF’s IMPACT Program, Director of UCSF’s National Clinical Scholars Program, Founder of EatSF, and a physician trained in internal medicine. Dr. Seligman is an expert in food insecurity; her policy and advocacy expertise focus on federal nutrition programs (particularly SNAP), food banking and the charitable food network, hunger policy, food affordability and access, and income-related drivers of food choice.

​​​​​Dr. Ma Somsouk leads programmatic implementation of population-based colorectal cancer screening and follow-up of abnormal screening results. His work embraces big data and technology to design, develop, and deliver economic and effective services for patients and health systems. He also utilizes human gut samples to study HIV, Covid-19, barrier function, systemic inflammation, inflammatory bowel disease, and microbiome. His approaches employed include: organoid models, isolation of epithelial cells and lymphocytes, single cell, spatial transcriptomic analysis, microbial profiling, and blood-based profiling.

Dr. Ryan Assaf is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Health Equity and Society. His work applies community-engaged practices, social determinants of health frameworks, and epidemiological methods to examine the intersections of infectious diseases, substance use and drug-related overdose, and sexual health among people experiencing homelessness and sexual and gender diverse populations.

Dr. Beck is a general pediatrician and health services researcher focused on improving the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity in safety-net clinical settings. In her research, Dr. Beck uses both qualitative and quantitative methodologies to develop and test clinical interventions and to better understand the factors that contribute to disparities in children's cardiometabolic health.

Alicia Fernández, MD is Professor of Medicine at UCSF in the Division of General Internal Medicine at ZSFG, Associate Dean of Population Health and Health Equity for the School of Medicine, founding Director of the UCSF Latinx Center of Excellence, and a general internist at ZSFG. Dr. Fernández's research expertise includes language and literacy barriers in healthcare, Latinx health, immigrant health, health care access in chronic disease, particularly diabetes, and adversity to access opportunities and resources in medicine.