The Northern California Institute for Research and Education, Inc. (NCIRE) is excited to welcome new Board members, Drs. Salomeh Keyhani and Karen Seal, to its Board of Directors!

Dr. Salomeh Keyhani is a Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and Staff Physician and Investigator at the San Francisco VA Health Care System (SFVAHCS). She is also the Director of the Center for Data to Discovery and Delivery Innovation (3DI), a VA-funded Center of Innovation focused on improving health and health care delivery.

Dr. Karen Seal is the Service Chief of Integrative Health at SFVAHCS, and Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry in Residence at UCSF. She serves in leadership roles with the 3DI Center for Innovation and NCIRE’s Women Veterans Research Collaborative, through which she is mentoring the next generation of health services researchers.

The Northern California Institute for Research and Education, Inc. (NCIRE) is excited to endorse our supported Principal Investigators (PIs), Drs. Karen Seal and Carolyn Gibson, in their creation of the Women Veterans Research Collaborative!

​

The Women Veterans Research Collaborative (WVRC) is a women-led team of health services clinician researchers and project management staff focused on advancing comprehensive, trauma-informed health care for women Veterans. WVRC specializes in priority areas for women Veterans like chronic pain, PTSD, opioid dependence, menopause-related health, sleep disorders, and complementary and integrative health interventions, spearheaded by WVRC’s nationally recognized experts.

NCIRE-supported Principal Investigators, Drs. Rebecca Sudore and Michael Steinman, co-published an article in the Journal of General Internal Medicine titled “eConsultation for Deprescribing Among Older Adults: Clinician Perspectives on Implementation Barriers and Facilitators”.

​

Along with a research team led by fellow University of California, San Francisco colleague, Dr. Matthew Growdon, Sudore and Steinman investigated clinician perspectives on barriers/facilitators of using eConsults for deprescribing among older adults within a university health network.

NCIRE-supported Principal Investigators, Drs. Alexander Smith and Rebecca Sudore, co-published a paper in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine titled “Social Isolation and Mortality in Adults With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease”.

​

Smith and Sudore joined researchers, led by fellow University of California, San Francisco colleague Dr. Angela Suen, in the cohort study to determine the impact of social isolation on individuals with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). The study used 2006-2022 data from the Health and Retirement Survey (HRS) for adults aged 51 years or older, which is conducted biennially until death.​

Congratulations to NCIRE-supported Principal Investigator and Board Member, Dr. Kristine Yaffe and colleagues who recently received new funding through the National Institutes on Health’s National Institute on Aging (NIH/NIA) to study the connection between chemical exposure and dementia risks.

​

Dr. Yaffe, through her appointment at the University of California, San Francisco, joins a team of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at Pennsylvania, Northwestern University, and Emory University, in a research study to better understand how day-to-day exposures to chemicals earlier in life can contribute to conditions like Alzheimer’s disease later on.

​

The study will use almost four decades of data pulled from participants of the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study, which launched in 1983, many of whom were on average 25 years old when they joined the study that has followed them into their 60s.

NCIRE-supported Principal Investigator, Dr. Stephen Thaddeus Connelly, joins Dr. Urban Keirnan on his show Decoding Health to discuss his specialization as an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon in diagnosing and treating joint issues, highlighting the signs and solutions for common problems. Dr. Connelly also details the impact of sleep issues on neurodegenerative conditions, explaining how changes in the brain occur during different sleep phases and why these stages are crucial for overall health.

​

NCIRE-supported Principal Investigator and NCIRE Board Member, Dr. Bruce Ovbiagele, joins the Abridge Research Collaborative’s (ARC) inaugural steering committee that will oversee the first clinical research collaboration dedicated to studying the impact of ambient AI across five key focus areas: clinician experience, patient experience, healthcare costs, outcomes, and health equity. This independent research effort will bring together experts across academia, professional well-being, informatics, health operations, and policy. The goal is to provide evidence-driven guidance on the use of ambient AI as it becomes ubiquitous in clinical settings.

​

NCIRE-supported Principal Investigator, Dr. Michael Steinman, and his colleague, Dr. Matthew Growdon, were quoted in the New York Times article, ‘The Painkiller Used for Just About Anything’. The article tackled the issue of the extensive and growing use of gabapentin—much of it for uses not approved by FDA and with little evidence.

​

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/17/health/gabapentin-seniors-pain.html

​

Dr. Steinman was also featured in a national NPR radio segment "Here and Now" discussing the overuse of gabapentin.

​

Listen here: https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2024/09/10/gabapentin-prescription

Congratulations to NCIRE-supported Principal Investigator, Dr. Michael Steinman, for receiving the George F. Archambault Award from the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists!

​

The Archambault Award is the Society’s highest honor, conferred to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to consultant or senior care pharmacy practice through one or more specific areas of achievement. Winners of this award are selected by past Archambault Award recipients.

​​

NCIRE-supported Principal Investigator Dr. Judith Ford shares vital information about metabolic psychiatry in Season 9 Episode 1 of the PBS program ‘Healthy Minds with Dr. Jeffrey Borenstein’.

​​

Congratulations to NCIRE-supported Principal Investigator Dr. Daniel Mathalon for being recognized by the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) with its J. Elliott Royer Award for Excellence in Psychiatry!

​

The Royer Award for Excellence in Academic Psychiatry is awarded to Dr. Daniel Mathalon in recognition of his long track record of outstanding contributions as a mentor, educator, clinician, and researcher to the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (DPBS) and the San Francisco VA Health Care System (SFVAHCS).

​

The award will be presented at the UCSF Psychiatry faculty meeting on September 17, 2024.

Congratulations to NCIRE-supported Principal Investigator Dr. Jeffrey Zimmet and his research team for setting another record-breaking month in July 2024 with 134 subjects enrolled, and a total of 1,712 randomized subjects for the IMPROVE Study at the San Francisco VA Health Care System site. This marks the fourth consecutive month with more than 100 randomize subjects.

NCIRE-supported Principal Investigators Drs. Salomeh Keyhani and Carolyn Gibson will be the Director and Associate Director, respectively, of the Center for Data to Discovery and Delivery Innovation (3DI), a new Health Systems Research Center of Innovation (COIN) funded by the San Francisco VA Health Care System (SFVAHCS) through an award from the Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Research and Development.

3DI is focused on improving health by supporting research and training that advance patient-centered health behavior change. The Center brings together a multidisciplinary group of 25 core investigators from the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). The Center will partner with numerous centers, programs, and institutes across UCSF including the UCSF institute for Health Policy Studies, the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Health, and the UCSF UC Berkeley Joint Program in Computational Precision Health.

​

The Center will support quantitative and qualitative methodologic resources, Veteran engagement in all stages of the research process, health services mentorship and training, and a national network focused on fostering collaborations and community around research on behavior change.

3DI will provide much needed infrastructure to advance Health Systems Research and health care transformation within the SFVAHCS, VISN 21, and National VA.

VA funds COINs to reward and advance research that has the greatest possible impact on improving Veteran health.

Salomeh Keyhani, MD is a primary care provider and UCSF Professor of Medicine based at the SFVAHCS. She is currently leading multiple studies examining the health effects of cannabis and gaps in health care delivery related to cannabis use.

​

Carolyn Gibson, PhD, MPH is a Clinical Research Psychologist at SFVAHCS and Assistant Professor in the UCSF Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. Her research focuses on women’s physical and mental health related to menopause and aging.