Projects to Advance Integrative Health Equity throughout the Osher Center FY25-26

Crowd-sourcing innovative ideas to support and improve access to integrative health through cross-program collaboration to benefit the Osher Center for Integrative Health community.

Early Autism Intervention for at Risk Children

Submitted by Marliese Warren (UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Health) on April 19, 2025 - 9:52am
Primary Author: Sanford Newmark
Project Idea Status: 
Open

  1. Description of project (150 words) 

 This proposal seeks funding to launch an early intervention initiative for children with autism from underserved communities, by bridging a partnership between Osher Center and ZSFG. Research shows children from low-income, and minority backgrounds are diagnosed up to 2.5 years later than their peers, significantly delaying access to therapy during critical developmental windows. Barriers include limited healthcare access, cultural stigma, and provider shortages. Early intervention can improve communication, social skills, and long-term independence, yet disparities persist. Through integrative care, family-centered support, and culturally informed outreach, this program aims to reduce treatment delays and improve clinical outcomes to bridge the gap in care and give every child a stronger start. 

  1. Deliverables 

Focused outreach and treatment of a limited number of patients during the first year.

 

  1. Impact on Osher Center Community 

  1. List of team members and their roles 

Project leads: Sanford Newmark, MD and Fatima Barragan, MD 

Comments

Ariana Jostad-Laswell - April 21, 2025 - 11:18am

This seems like an important way to expand the pediatric care that is available through Osher so that more safety-net patients can access care. Would this be a way to bring SFGH patients to Osher to receive care? Or offering expanded services at SFGH?

Fatima Barragan - May 28, 2025 - 6:13pm

Great question Ariana, it would be both! Increase referral to Osher and treatment of Autism children at ZSFG. 

Dorothy Chiu - April 23, 2025 - 1:03pm

this project is very interesting and agree, important! I'm curious how the project and funds would be used to achieve the deliverables of outreach and treatment and how/which integrative strategies would be applied? I imagine there are many possible routes that could be taken!

Fatima Barragan - May 28, 2025 - 6:16pm

Hi Dorothy, thank you for your comments and questions. For outreach, our hope is to increase awareness of community autism resources w/in SF. For treatments, we would focus on the use of Leucovorin and other evidence based supplements. 

Christa Fernando - April 23, 2025 - 5:00pm

This is an exciting project! I am also curious what 'focused outreach and treatment' would look like. Will this be a program that providers refer their patients to or a public program? I'm also curious if a group medical visit model might be helpful here especially for caregiver support...

Fatima Barragan - May 28, 2025 - 6:18pm

Hi Christa! We considered a GMV model and that may be something we look into for future projects. This would be a program that providers can refer their patients to for now. 

Yvette Coulter - April 23, 2025 - 6:59pm

 Fostering a partnership between the Osher Center and SFGH is truly fantastic, as it could harness the strengths of both institutions to offer comprehensive and integrative care for children with autism.

However, several questions arise regarding the specifics of service delivery:

  • In what form will the collaboration between the two institutions take? Will it involve referring patients to the Osher clinic or expanding services directly at the family health center? 
  • If expanded services at SFGH are envisioned, what would this entail? Would it involve establishing a General Medical Visit (GMV) model or adding clinic shifts and additional providers? 

I am excited to learn more!

Fatima Barragan - May 28, 2025 - 6:25pm

Hi Yvette,  

The collaborations between the two institutions will include Dr. Newmark and myself (in my ZSFG role) triaging and treating patients either at ZSFG or Osher depending on our availability. We expect there to be an increase in referral to Osher Center for autsim, specifically for more medically complex cases. 

Regarding the expanded services, we would designate clinic slots at our Clinica Buena Vida for autistic pts. This would allow us to increase access to Autism specific Integrative Medicne txt modalities.  

Thank you for your great questions!

Marliese Warren - April 30, 2025 - 2:27pm

From Perry Lang, Osher Center Community Advisory Council Member-

Awesome goal.  The deepening partnership between Osher and ZSFG holds great potential, enhancing the lives of poor patients with the benefits of Osher. I would like to know more about evaluation and measuring success. 

Fatima Barragan - May 28, 2025 - 6:30pm

Hi Perry, 

Our goal is to measure success by comparing pre-and post intervetion Autism specific referral numbers to both the Osher and Clinica Buena Vida. We will evaluate pts for clinical sxs improvement post integrative medicine interventions. We will also add a short survey for parents to complete post visit.  

Thank you for your interest and support!