There are dozens of clinics at ZSFG, and in many of them you may find a volunteer from Health Advocates screening patients for social or legal issues that may prove difficult to navigate. As a result, patients benefit from a wide range of resources volunteers can access on their behalf, which address housing or food insecurity, mental health or educational concerns, or public assistance support. This unique program is helping patients improve their quality of life, which in turn improves their or their families’ health outcomes. Anais Amaya, the Health Advocates program director, says “There was this misconception that health [...]

At ZSFG, research plays an integral part not just in advancing knowledge about disease or the practice of medicine, but in the relationships between clinicians and patients formed either in trauma or primary care settings. With more than 800 active researchers on campus at any time, there are a lot of advances in research to follow. The Foundation recently honored one researcher, who is also a primary care physician and Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine, for applying his work on empowering patients with better health literacy and generating better health outcomes. Dr. Dean Schillinger’s numerous contributions in [...]