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.

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Enhancing Equity in Long COVID Management Through Integrative Medicine Education

Submitted by Carla Kuon on April 10, 2025 - 6:26pm Last revised by Carla Kuon on May 27, 2025 - 5:38pm.

Project Idea Status:

Open

Names of Project Lead(s) and Key Team Members

Project Lead: Carla Kuon, MD; University of California at San Francisco (clinic, education)
Supervisor: Dr. Kavita Mishra
Key Team Members:

Michael Peluso, MD, MPh, MHS; Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (clinic, research)
Nikki Gentile, MD, PhD; University of Washington (education and research)
Kathryn Hansen, ANP-BC; Vanderbilt University
Iman Majd, MD, LAc; University of Washington
Aiko Bailey, LAc; University of Washington
Wu-Hsun Tom Yang, ND, LAc; University of Washington
Other collaborators from the Long COVID Interest Group (affiliated with the International Congress on Integrative Medicine and Health).

Project Description: (1 page maximum)

Project significance and innovation: Higher prevalence of Long COVID has been associated with female gender, Hispanic origin, the presence of a disability, low socioeconomic status, nonurban residence, and other factors. ^1-4These populations face higher rates of infection, limited access to specialized care, and prolonged disability, economic hardship, and productivity loss. Lack of familiarity with integrative medicine approaches—effective for managing symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog, persistent pain, and emotional stress—among clinicians further limits exposure to these helpful modalities, exacerbating existing health disparities.

This project addresses these disparities by increasing access to integrative care through evidence-informed educational resources in English and Spanish. Deliverables include (1) Flipped classroom modules with REDCap pre- and post-training evaluations to measure changes in clinician knowledge, confidence, and competency, and (2) creation of patient-facing video content with Spanish captioning for patients with Long COVID describing dietary changes, supplement use, pacing, addressing post-exercise fatigue, mind/body techniques, symptom management (3) patient-facing printable materials in both Spanish and English, published online at the Osher website for widespread access.

Video Content : A set of 3, 50-minute videos will be created for patients in English (with English and Spanish captions), addressing the following holistic health interventions detailed below.

Nutrition: The anti-inflammatory diet and the low-histamine diet will be explained in detail. Dietary modifications of autoimmune conditions are addressed. The five “superfoods” will be explained: anti-inflammatory vegetables, antioxidant-rich foods, omega-3-rich foods, spices, and cooked mushrooms. Additionally, avoidance of inflammatory foods such as sugar, processed meats, and dairy will be detailed.
Supplement /nutraceutical use: Correcting low vit D and iron stores, use of mitochondrial supplements such as riboflavin, L-carnitine, Quercetin, fish oil, magnesium, and use of NAC or glutathione antioxidants will be explained. Use of LDN will be explained.
Exercise: Post-exertional malaise can be addressed via pacing, restorative recumbent exercise according to Dysautonomia International Protocols.
Mind-body: Techniques to address dysautonomia and runaway stress, including a 4-7-8 breath experiential, mindfulness, guided imagery, and gentle yoga, will be discussed. Vagal toning exercises and emerging evidence for TVNS (transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation) will be discussed.

Patient-facing educational materials:

A set of 3 patient-facing educational handouts will be created in both English and Spanish to accompany the video content, detailing the four holistic interventions detailed above. Of note, these interventions are covered in the Osher Long COVID Group Medical visit (LC-GMV) series. Once published, they would be available to patients in ZSFGH and also to Osher patients, including those enrolled or waiting to enroll in the LC-GMVs at Osher.

Clinician-facing educational materials:

A set of two 60-minute educational videos for clinicians will be created in English with English captions for the hearing impaired, followed by a brief knowledge assessment via Educational Technology Services (ETS). REDCap pre- and post-surveys will be built into the educational activity. Findings from piloting the resources via REDCAP surveys would factor back into the design and development of the additional physician educational materials, which could include development of future handouts and online resources. One example of non-integrative online resources can be seen in the following center site: https://med.stanford.edu/long-covid-care-reach.html

By piloting these resources through UCSF in Collaboration with San Francisco Zuckerberg General Hospital, and the University of Washington Osher Centers and Long COVID clinics, this initiative aims to improve access to integrative medicine for underserved populations, inform future education projects, and enhance health equity across programs.

Clinician-facing video content, along with associated knowledge assessments, will be submitted for CME accreditation as an enduring activity. The accrediting entity is yet to be determined and will depend on cost associated with submitting the final video product. The team is currently exploring options including the UW and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). A request for 2-3 CME credits will be made for the video package and supporting materials.

Project Timeline, Feasibility, and Anticipated Impact:

Project Timeline: The proposed project is feasible within the 12-month timeline and aligns with the Osher Collaborative’s mission to advance integrative health equity through education. Collaborators bring multidisciplinary expertise to develop evidence-informed, accessible materials for diverse clinical settings.

Q1: Development of patient-facing video content and patient-facing handout materials

Q2: Editing of video content and finalizing patient-facing handouts. Translating handouts into the Spanish Language and adding Spanish captions on videos.

Q3: Creation of CME content for physicians. This would include video creation and REDCap pre- and post-surveys.

Q4: Optimizing and finalizing CME content creation. Publishing all content onto the Osher Collaborative Website.

Dr Kuon, Director of UCSF’s Long COVID OPTIMAL clinic and co-investigator in the Long COVID Care AHRQ Network, is a leading expert in clinical care for Long COVID. She provides international expertise in the clinical management of Long COVID and as creator of UCSF’s group medical visits, is an expert in developing and delivering protocolized care in a group setting.

Dr. Peluso, Director of Zuckerberg San Francisco General’s Long COVID Clinic, Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases and Global Medicine, UCSF, is a clinician and researcher in long COVID through the LIINC (Long-term Impact of Infection with Novel Coronavirus). He provides expertise in Long COVID research. He is the PI on the Long COVID Care AHRQ Network.

Dr. Gentile, UW Osher Center faculty, Co-Director of the UW Long COVID Clinic and Co-PI in the Long COVID Care Network, provides national expertise and a mechanism for broad dissemination to communities disproportionately impacted by Long COVID. She is currently designing a CME program for physician education on Long COVID. The team’s combined expertise ensures the creation, piloting, and dissemination of resources to address clinician and patient education gaps in integrative care.

Impact:

Clinicians: Increased knowledge and confidence in applying integrative techniques to manage Long COVID, improving access for underserved and marginalized populations.
Patients: Empowerment through actionable education, addressing gaps in care and tailoring resources for adults, children, and disadvantaged groups.

This collaboration strengthens health equity by improving access to integrative care for Long COVID patients across diverse communities.

Total Budget Requested: $20,000

References

1. National Center for Health Statistics. U.S. Census Bureau, Household Pulse Survey, 2022–2024. Long COVID. Generated interactively. Accessed August 1, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/ nchs/covid19/pulse/long-covid.htm

2. Sweis JJG, Alnaimat F, Esparza V, et al. From acute infection to prolonged health consequences: understanding health disparities and economic implications in Long COVID worldwide. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2024;21(3):325. doi:10.3390/ ijerph21030325

3. Shah DP, Thaweethai T, Karlson EW. Sex differences in Long COVID. JAMA Netw Open. 2025;8(1):e2455430. doi:10.1001/ jamanetworkopen.2024.55430

4. Vahratian A, Saydah S, Bertolli J, Unger ER, Gregory CO. Prevalence of post-COVID-19 condition and activity-limiting post-COVID-19 condition among adults. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(12):e2451151. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024. 51151

Supporting Documents:

small_dei_grant_proposal_submission_draft_5.27.25.docx

small_dei_grant_budget.docx

Cooking for Life: Offering Virtual Nutrition-Focused Cooking Classes to Osher Community Care Fund Patients

Submitted by Danica Cowan on April 18, 2025 - 7:53am Last revised by Danica Cowan on May 30, 2025 - 8:37pm.

Project Idea Status:

Open

*Please note, our project activities evolved slightly between phase 1 and phase 2 with feedback. Phase 2 includes an updated description of proposed activities, deliverables, and staffing. Phase 1’s original submission is preserved below for transparency.

Project Significance and updated Statement of Project Feasibility and Anticipated Impact, including the Osher Community: Poor diet poses a significant barrier to integrative health equity. Culinary medicine is the evidence-based application of food and cooking to medicine such that patients are empowered to make healthful dietary decisions for disease treatment and prevention. From years of patient care experience, providers including our project leads have observed that a substantial proportion of Osher patients, particularly those eligible for our Community Care Fund, struggle to adhere to critical dietary recommendations. Interest in bringing culinary medicine to our UCSF Osher Center for patients and providers has been long-brewing and this opportunity will strengthen our internal capacity (e.g., in staff skills, resources, connections with relevant Osher Collaborative and UCSF partners like the Food Equity and Justice Program) to provide or restart a menu of culinary medicine programming at the Center. Previously, our project lead helped establish the Vouchers4Veggies program at Osher before funding sources changed. Our project co-lead helped launch the first culinary medicine program for patients in ambulatory care at UCSF. Our research lead is experienced in quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods data collection and analysis as well as public health nutrition. Successful completion of this project will instill valuable cooking skills to more under-resourced members of our Osher patient population, hopefully inspiring better health.

*Updated* Project Description and Deliverables (d):This project will host a series of live, quarterly virtual patient “cook-along” workshops (d1) and also create a resource library of 5-6 short-form (1-2 minute) videos for patients on basic cooking skills and nutrition education (d2). These activities will be led by experienced Osher providers Danica Cowan and Linda Dulong. They will be informed by a short, targeted patient needs assessment to identify prominent barriers to dietary change in our Osher patient population to address. We will team up with UCSF Educational Technology Services to edit the videos, restart Vouchers4Veggies to support groceries/food and ingredient sourcing for patients, and collaborate and coordinate with UCSF and the Osher Collaborative's existing network of staff and programming already working in the areas of food equity and culinary medicine to augment our efforts. This grant will also kickstart other resources at Osher to support cooking amongst patients, including establishing a spice pharmacy (d3), cooking appliance/equipment library (d4), and cookbook library (d5). We will also assess program feasibility and acceptability as well as examine changes in cooking skills, culinary knowledge, and basic dietary intakes.

*Updated* Project Team Members/Roles: Danica Cowan, MS, RD; Integrative Dietitian - Culinary Medicine Lead; Linda Dulong, MSN, ANP-C; Integrative Nurse Practitioner - Culinary Medicine Co-Lead; Dorothy Chiu, PhD, MSPH; Postdoctoral Fellow - Research Lead; Julia Burns, MA; Communications Specialist; Osher Administrative Staffperson TBD - Project Administrator. Kavita Mishra, Deborah Caldwell, and Maria Chao provide release time.

Project Innovation: Virtual culinary medicine workshops and videos are an innovative strategy to teach cooking and nutrition effectively and sustainably. They bypass logistical challenges of in-person activities and allow participants to cook and learn in their regular cooking spaces. Patients can ask questions as they figure out how to apply lessons in their individual contexts and even topics like taste, smell, and appearance can be interactively addressed as a group. People often struggle to translate what they learned during an appointment to home – the virtual format jumps that hurdle and brings the provider to their kitchen/cooking space. Additionally, this project will help solidify professional culinary medicine networks for Osher providers.

Project Timeline:

Phase 1, Preparation (July-Sept 2025): Needs Assessment, Plan Cookalong Workshops and Videos, Set up Distribution for Veggie Vouchers, Spices, Cooking Equipment/Cookbook Library

Phase 2, Implementation (Oct-April 2026): Film Videos, Run Quarterly Workshops

Phase 3, Evaluation (May-June 2026): Analyze Data, Tweak Offerings per Feedback

Total Budget Requested: $20,000

Phase 1 Proposal Project Description: Poor diet poses a significant barrier to integrative health equity. Dietary change is a critical component of an effective integrative care plan, but many Osher patients lack foundational cooking skills and culinary knowledge to facilitate these changes via cooking tasty and healthful meals. Thus, it is often very challenging for Osher patients to fully adhere to their dietary recommendations. This is especially a concern for Osher patients eligible for the Community Care Fund. Here, additional barriers to eating healthfully often include a lack of equipment and ingredients. This project will address the barriers above by partnering with 18 Reasons to pilot 2 rounds of virtual cooking classes, as well as build up resources at Osher to support cooking such as a spice bank and cooking appliance library. We will also assess program feasibility and acceptability as well as examine changes in cooking skills, culinary knowledge, and basic dietary intakes.

Phase 1 Statement of Project Feasibility and Anticipated Impact:18 Reasons is a well-established SF based non-profit that provides in person and virtual nutrition-oriented cooking classes to many underserved individuals and families in the Bay Area. Since 2017, 18 Reasons has partnered with various UCSF groups and Linda Dulong, team member on this project, worked with them while she was a provider in WHPC. Successful completion of this project will instill valuable cooking skills to more under-resourced members of our Osher patient population, hopefully inspiring better health. Additionally, this project will kickstart the ability of Osher providers to provide culinary medicine programming to its patient population. Culinary medicine is the evidence-based application of food and cooking to medicine such that patients are empowered to make healthful dietary decisions for disease treatment and prevention. Project outcomes such as the cooking appliance library, spice bank, and information collected from the evaluation component will also help inform and improve future iterations of this offering.

Supporting Documents:

osher_ihe_small_grant_culinary_medicine_budget_3.pdf

Movimiento Juntos: A Mind-Body Class for Spanish-speaking Patients with Chronic Pain

Submitted by Ariana Jostad-Laswell on April 18, 2025 - 2:06pm Last revised by Ariana Jostad-Laswell on May 30, 2025 - 11:38am.

Project Idea Status:

Open

Project Title: Movimiento Juntos: A mind-body skills class for Spanish-speaking people living with chronic pain

Brief Project Description:

Chronic pain is one of the most common causes of disability and suffering in the United States. Non-medication treatments including integrative therapies are recommended (instead of or along with pain medications), but such treatments are not widely available to people with limited English proficiency or lower-income people. Our team conducts research on the Integrative Pain Management Program, which 12-week integrative group medical visits in English and Spanish, in partnership with San Francisco Health Network. Currently, ongoing support after the program is available in English only. Spanish-speaking participants have urged our team to provide longer-term integrative health and social support. This project would pilot an in-person, Spanish-language public class that provides peer support and mind-body practices for chronic pain management. The group will be located at the Osher Center and will be open to the public, including Spanish-speaking Osher Center patients and Mount Zion primary care patients.

Brief Statement of Project Feasibility and Anticipated Impact:

Osher Center researchers and San Francisco Health Network have collaborated on integrative chronic pain care and related research for >10 years, with multiple versions of an Integrative Pain Management Program in English, and recent development of a 12-week Spanish language program (59 participants enrolled to date). Spanish-speaking participants have directly requested ongoing, in-person support beyond the 12-week program, and all program facilitators are interested in contributing to an ongoing class. To evaluate the class, we will invite participants to complete brief surveys about their chronic pain and related symptoms, as well as social support and program satisfaction. Mind-body practices and social support are known to help reduce chronic pain and pain-related symptoms, while external stress is known to worsen chronic conditions. We are confident that this group would support the wellbeing of Spanish-speaking Latine immigrants during a time of exacerbated stress due to policy change, while serving a model for ongoing group programming after short-term interventions.

Deliverables:

Our project aims to pilot a free, drop-in public class at the Osher Center providing mind-body practices for chronic pain management in Spanish. Classes will meet weekly for 90 minutes from September through May. This class will be open to the public, and recruitment will focus on Spanish-speaking Osher Center patients, San Francisco Health Network patients participating in Osher Center-affiliated research, and primary care patients from the UCSF Division of General Internal Medicine clinic at Mount Zion.

Impact on Osher Center Community:

The Osher Center clinic is serving a rising number of Spanish-speaking patients and is uniquely situated to expand access to integrative therapies for chronic pain management in multiple languages.Our project will include collaboration between Osher Center researchers, clinicians, and public classes team, as well as external partners. This program will benefit the overall Osher Center and Mount Zion community in several ways:

provide language-concordant access to integrative health services for Spanish-speaking patients at Mount Zion clinics
encourage cross-program collaboration within the Osher Center
increase awareness of the Osher Center among Spanish-speaking communities and organizations in San Francisco.

Team Members and Roles

Project Lead: Samuel Solis

Project Advisor: Ariana Thompson-Lastad

Lead teacher: Zoë Elena

Advisory team Members (guest speakers, support navigating Osher Center processes):

San Francisco Health Network: Ann Dallman, Sebastian Melo, Naomi Schoenfeld
OCIH Clinic: Fatima Barragan, Carla Kuon
OCIH research: Christa Fernando, Maria T Chao, Denise Ruvalcaba
OCIH public classes team: Anita Botello Santoyo, Julia Burns, Selena Chan, Jen Shea
OCIH finance team: Calvin Tse

Total Budget Requested: $20,000

Project Significance and Innovation

Mind-body practices and social support are known to benefit chronic pain and pain-related symptoms (e.g., mental health, sleep). Integrative care can include support from practitioners, and guidance on daily practices such as nutrition, movement, and coping with pain. In San Francisco 11.7% of residents speak Spanish as their primary language. However, this community often lacks access to integrative health care due to financial, physical, and language-related barriers to care.

Movimiento Juntos, a drop-in Spanish-language class for people with chronic pain, will be taught by a bilingual yoga and mindfulness teacher (Zoë Elena), with recruitment and administrative coordination from a bilingual Osher Center staff member (Samuel Solis). Zoë has experience teaching Spanish-speaking people with chronic pain and works closely with Sammy on the Integrative Pain Management Program. Guest speakers from the Osher Center and San Francisco Health Network will be invited to present on pain-related topics such as anti-inflammatory nutrition, mindfulness practices, and acupressure. Resources shared with participants for home practice will include Spanish-language videos created by the OCIH HOME project. To evaluate the class, participants will be invited to provide feedback on the program as well as complete brief surveys about their chronic pain and overall health (at their initial participation, 3 months into participation, and end of 9-month pilot).

Timeline (06/30/2025- 06/30/2026)

Jun-Jul 2025: Grant Awarded, kickoff meeting, planning class and evaluation, scheduling facilitators and guest speakers, translating consent forms or other materials
Aug 2025: Participant recruitment
Sept 2025-May 2026: Run weekly group at Osher Center, collect survey data
May-Jun 2026—Analyze evaluation data, write final report

Name of the supervisor who has provided release time: Julia Wu (for Samuel Solis)

Supporting Documents:

project_budget_justification.docx

Narrative Medicine Writing Workshops for LGBTQIA+ Community

Submitted by Julia Burns on April 18, 2025 - 2:49pm

Project Idea Status:

Open

In response to the federal attacks on queerness, especially the well-being and safety of trans people, I propose a pilot writing workshop series that uses narrative medicine techniques to foster whole-person healing within the local LGBTQIA+ community. This could be specific for queer youth, or for all ages.

Narrative medicine emphasizes the power of storytelling to promote empathy, reflection, and agency in health journeys. This project extends narrative medicine into the realm of integrative health, where physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being are interconnected. Participants will engage in guided writing exercises focused on themes of resilience, identity, embodiment, and healing. Workshops will incorporate mindfulness practices, trauma-informed facilitation, and opportunities for collective reflection.

This project aligns with the principles of integrative health equity by creating an accessible, community-centered space for healing that values lived experience as a form of knowledge. It also lays the groundwork for future research: participants' narratives could inform a qualitative study exploring the impacts of narrative practice on perceived well-being, connection, and self-advocacy in intersectional health contexts.

Funding will support program development, writing retreat space, facilitator honoraria, and stipend for community partners/exerts. If successful, this model could be adapted to serve other marginalized communities.

Improving Access to Integrative Health Research for Underrepresented Cancer Survivors

Submitted by Anand Dhruva on April 18, 2025 - 5:06pm Last revised by Anand Dhruva on May 30, 2025 - 8:28pm.

Project Idea Status:

Open

Project Lead: Anand Dhruva (Education Program)

Key Team Members: Patty Moran, Maria Chao, Rick Hecht (Research Program)

Brief Project Description: A majority of integrative health research has included well educated, high income, White patient populations. This project proposes addressing language, logistical, and literacy barriers to improve research recruitment in diverse populations. This will supplement an existing study testing the multi-site feasibility of an Ayurvedic medicine intervention compared to health education. A key goal of that study is to recruit underrepresented patients (i.e., patients currently poorly represented in integrative health research). We recently conducted qualitative interviews with underrepresented patients to identify barriers to participation. Underrepresented patients felt that more time and explanation is needed to describe study participation. Participants identified logistical barriers to participation (e.g., transportation, parking) and for some technological barriers. Language barriers may also play a role (e.g., English as a second language). In this IHE small grant, we propose to test impact of addressing the above identified barriers on study participation among underrepresented patients.

Brief Statement of Project Feasibility and Anticipated Impact: Underrepresented patient populations are poorly represented in research studies, which limits their access to integrative health practices and negatively affects the quality of research. Our prior qualitative work provides a clear direction for the proposed work in this grant. By addressing barriers to participation, we will be able to contribute to the literature on ways to improve inclusion of underrepresented patients in integrative health research. The results of this work may inform the design and implementation of other integrative health research – especially projects involving complex whole systems of medicine. This project can be completed by June 30, 2026 as this aligns with our recruitment timeline for the existing study. The project involves members of the UCSF Osher Center Research and Education Programs and faculty and staff at zSFG. More broadly, this advances research on Ayurvedic medicine, a historically marginalized system of medicine.

Total Budget Requested: $20,000

Supporting Documents:

Proposal

Budget

Program Evaluation of Mindful HEART: Healing and Embodied Awareness to Recover from Trauma

Submitted by Kennedy Blevins on April 18, 2025 - 5:42pm Last revised by Kennedy Blevins on May 30, 2025 - 5:43pm.

Primary Author: Selena Chan

Project Idea Status:

Open

UCSF Osher Center Key Team Members:

Kennedy M. Blevins, PhD | Project Lead | Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Selena Chan, DO|Collaborator | Integrative Psychiatrist, Associate Director of Clinical Programs

Nichole Proffitt, SEP, CMT-P|Collaborator | Integrative Mindfulness Instructor

Shelley R. Adler, PhD | Project Advisor | Director, UCSF Osher Center

Project Description: Mindful HEART, is an innovative five-week public course offered through the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Osher Center clinic and designed for individuals in the recovery stages of trauma. The program’s development—from conceptualization to delivery— has been shaped by the combined expertise of a somatic experiencing practitioner and an integrative psychiatrist, as well as feedback from UCSF Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction class participants, who highlighted the need for greater capacity at the Osher Center for those navigating trauma recovery. The proposed IHE project proposal aims to evaluate the Mindful HEART program through feedback from Mindful HEART class participants.

Feasibility: The first Mindful HEART course offering (MH-1) is currently running May-June 2025, and a second iteration of Mindful HEART (MH-2) is planned for September-October 2025. The course instructor, Nichole Proffit, will invite 10 MH-1 students to provide course feedback through individual interviews, informing the development of the second course offering. The program lead, Dr. Kennedy Blevins, will lead the evaluation by conducting interviews and asking questions via questionnaires to elicit feedback from past participants. For adaptive refinement of the Mindful HEART program, it is necessary to evaluate more than learner satisfaction and other typical factors assessed in program evaluation. This evaluation will focus not only on class participants’ learning outcomes on key Mindful HEART objectives, but also their application of these principles in daily life. Lastly, strategies and tools developed for the evaluation of Mindful HEART will be made available to inform the formal evaluation of other Osher Center public classes.

Significance: The Kirkpatrick model is an effective framework for evaluating learning outcomes in training settings (Kirkpatrick, 1998). This framework is appropriate for this application since Mindful HEART aims to teach skills for those in trauma recovery. The Kirkpatrick model includes four levels: (1) reaction, which measures participants’ immediate feedback and satisfaction; (2) learning, which assesses the extent to which participants gained knowledge and skills; (3) behavior, which evaluates whether participants are applying their learned knowledge and skills in their work; and (4) results which determines the impact of the training on organizational goals, outcomes, and effectiveness. Levels 1 (reaction) and 2 (learning) will be addressed by inviting participants from MH-1 to participate in interviews following completion of the MH-1 course. These interviews will assess the impression of the course (reaction), which is typically evaluated by the Osher Center following public classes, but will also go to the next level of understanding what individuals learned from the Mindful HEART program (learning), including suggestions for how the program could be improved to support delivery and learning. Next, the Mindful HEART program will be refined based on MH-1 participant feedback and incorporated for MH-2. Those enrolled in MH2 will be invited to complete survey questions before the beginning of the MH-2 course and after the completion of the MH2 course to assess what skills individuals gained (learning) and will be invited to participate in post-course interviews two weeks after MH-2 to understand whether individuals are applying their skills following the Mindful HEART course (behavior). Evaluation and refinement of the Mindful HEART program will support the class's future offerings and create lasting protocols for Osher public class evaluation in an effort to improve capacity for the UCSF Osher Center to support integrative health equity (results).

Innovation: The proposed project aligns with this call’s goal of improving integrative health equity by addressing the need for a program specifically focused on those in trauma recovery at the UCSF Osher Center. Seventy percent of adults globally report at least one trauma experience (Benjet et al., 2016). Typically, mindfulness-based programs focus on re-establishing a sense of safety following trauma (Herman, 1992, Chapter 8). However, there is a need for programs focused on trauma recovery (Kelly & Garland, 2017) that integrate psychotherapeutic and mindfulness approaches (Williston et al., 2021). The Mindful HEART program taps directly into this need, focusing on mindful and somatic-based approaches to trauma recovery. Further, while many course-based evaluations stop at level 1 or 2 of the Kirkpatrick model (Holtschneider & Park, 2019), this project will address all four levels of program evaluation to improve the Mindful HEART program and ensure this program evaluation has a lasting impact. While delivery of the program is funded through class tuition, support for further refinement and evaluation of Mindful HEART is needed to ensure the program has far-reaching benefits for the Osher Center.

Impact: The proposed project contributes to the Osher Center’s broader evidence-informed, trauma-recovery efforts while building professional and personal communities of wellbeing and creating infrastructure to improve integrative health equity at the UCSF Osher Center. This effort can help assess potential pathways for clinical integration, instructor training, and future research across Osher Center programs.

Collaboration: This project fosters collaboration across the clinic, education, research, and administration programs and is strengthened by the team’s diverse integrative health equity expertise, spanning educational evaluation, experiential group programming, and direct care of individuals in trauma recovery.

Project Timeline:

May – June 2025

Nichole Proffitt will lead MH-1 from May to June 2025.

Drs. Selena Chan and Kennedy Blevins will participate in MH-1 as class participants.

June – July 2025

Nichole Proffitt will invite class participants to provide feedback on the class.

Kennedy Blevins will gather feedback from MH-1 program participants through interviews with participants to inform MH-2 program delivery.

July – September 2025

Kennedy Blevins will compile feedback and share with Nichole Proffitt and Selena Chan to guide refinement of MH-2 based on feedback from MH-1 participants.

Nichole Proffitt and Selena Chan will refine Mindful HEART based on participant feedback.

September – October 2025

Kennedy Blevins will survey 10 incoming MH-2 course participants from the course registration list on expectations for the course and key learning objectives one week prior to MH-2.

Nichole Proffitt will lead MH-2 from September to October 2025.

October – December 2025

Kennedy Blevins will invite the same 10 MH-2 participants to interview two weeks after the course and ask them to complete post-class evaluation surveys to assess changes in key course and learning objectives after delivery of MH-2.

December 2025 – February 2026

Kennedy Blevins will compile feedback and responses from MH-2 participants and share with Nichole Proffitt and Selena Chan.

February – March 2026

Nichole, Selena, and Kennedy will share participant insights from the program evaluation with the overall UCSF Osher Center community (e.g., at case conference and/or other internal Osher meetings).

March – July 2026

Selena Chan and Kennedy Blevins will develop lasting protocols for meeting the needs of Osher patients with complex mind-body trauma histories.

Selena Chan and Kennedy Blevins will develop lasting protocols for the evaluation of Osher Center public classes and training.

References:

Benjet, C., Bromet, E., Karam, E. G., Kessler, R. C., McLaughlin, K. A., Ruscio, A. M., Shahly, V., Stein, D. J., Petukhova, M., Hill, E., Alonso, J., Atwoli, L., Bunting, B., Bruffaerts, R., Caldas-de-Almeida, J. M., de Girolamo, G., Florescu, S., Gureje, O., Huang, Y., Lepine, J. P., … Koenen, K. C. (2016). The epidemiology of traumatic event exposure worldwide: results from the World Mental Health Survey Consortium. Psychological medicine, 46(2), 327–343. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291715001981

Herman, J. L. (1992). Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence – From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror. Basic Books.

Holtschneider, M. E., & Park, C. W. (2019). Simulation and Advanced Practice Registered Nurses: Opportunities to Enhance Interprofessional Collaboration. AACN advanced critical care, 30(3), 269–273. https://doi.org/10.4037/aacnacc2019157

Kelly, A., & Garland, E. L. (2016). Trauma-Informed Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Female Survivors of Interpersonal Violence: Results From a Stage I RCT. Journal of clinical psychology, 72(4), 311–328. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22273

Williston, S. K., Grossman, D., Mori, D. L., & Niles, B. L. (2021). Mindfulness interventions in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 52(1), 46. https://doi.org/10.1037/pro0000363

Supporting Documents:

mindful_heart_evaluation_-_budget_overview_5.30.25.docx

How to CHA-cha!: Equipping San Francisco Youth with Complementary Health Approaches and Strategies for their Mental Health and Well-Being

Submitted by Dorothy Chiu on April 18, 2025 - 8:59pm Last revised by Dorothy Chiu on May 31, 2025 - 12:08am.

Project Idea Status:

Open

*Content has been updated based on feedback/comments and reorganized its information to fit the suggested structure, but the original submission is below for transparency.

Description of Project:

This project will support an academic-community collaboration between members of the Osher community and Community Well to create educational content on complementary health approaches (CHAs) to support youth mental health and well-being through a participatory action-inspired approach. Community Well is a SF Excelsior District (District 11)-located community-based holistic health center experienced in supporting the health of its diverse, under-resourced community and has a successful history working within SF public schools. Youth (n=30-40, age 12-18) will be recruited from 3 SFUSD middle and high schools to discuss mental health care and CHA knowledge/usage in focus groups. Findings will inform the creation of short, tailored, and youth-oriented educational materials (e.g., digital handouts, social media posts) on CHAs (e.g., how-to instruction, local area resources) addressing identified needs to support youth use/access of CHAs for mental health. Materials will be field-tested before community-wide dissemination.

Project Deliverables: Short, tailored, and youth-oriented educational materials (e.g., digital handouts, social media posts) covering 5-10 CHAs (as informed by focus groups) in terms of how-to instruction, local area resources, etc.

Project Significance: Youth mental health is in crisis. As existing mental health services struggle to meet current demands, CHAs offer promising, youth-approved solutions (Cunningham et al., 2021). Many CHAs have growing evidence-bases for mental health and are practices youth can engage in independently. For example, mind-body techniques (e.g., meditation, guided imagery, self-expression via art and words, forest bathing) have been linked to increased mental well-being, happiness, and emotional regulation in youth, as well as reduced stress and depressive symptoms (Aalsma et al., 2020; Keller et al., 2023; Nagpal and Radliff, 2024). Yet, youth CHA usage remains low, especially for those of color and low income. Barriers to engagement include limited CHA access and low health literacy (Clayton-Jones et al, 2021). Mindfulness may foster positive psychological outcomes in many ways, including eliciting self-compassion, positive mind states, and lower psychological distress (Keng et al., 2011; Inwood et al., 2018; Creswell et al., 2019; Crosswell et al., 2023), as well as via the “stress buffering framework” wherein “regulatory” brain activity is increased while “reactivity” pathways are decreased (Creswell et al., 2019), so modulating physiological stress responses (e.g., the HPA axis) to support resilience and health (Creswell et al., 2019; Creswell et al., 2014).

Anticipated Impact, including on the Osher Community: Successful completion of this project will result in educational content (e.g., digital downloads, social media posts) that can empower youth to use and access CHAs to support their mental health and well-being, so promoting integrative mental health equity. Content/materials will be disseminated to youth tapped for focus groups and may extend also to the general youth population attending public schools in SF and the larger Bay Area as well as youth seen at Osher. The academic-community collaboration formed here could catalyze similar and more partnerships of this variety for youth mental health programming and beyond as well.

Project Innovation: Youth participatory action approaches are increasingly recognized as an effective means for community health promotion for youth, including for mental health, given its ability to amplify and empower youth voices (Smith et al., 2024). This project will utilize this innovative strategy to harness diverse SF public school youth perspectives and inform the comprehensive development of educational content that will help promote mental health through CHAs. It will also create a novel partnership between the community and integrative academic clinical and research staff to tackle a critical public health issue.

Timeline:

July-Aug 2025: Project Planning and Preparation

Aug-Sept 2025: Youth Recruitment at 3 SFUSD school sites (2 high schools, 1 middle school)

Oct-Dec 2025: Conduct Focus Groups, Start Data Analysis

Jan-March 2026: Finish Data Analysis, Creation of Educational Content

April-May 2026: Youth testing of Educational Content and Revision Based on Youth feedback

May-June 2026: Dissemination of Educational Content through Youth-friendly Channels

Team Members and Roles

Dorothy Chiu, Osher Research Project Lead

Jennifer Moran, Community Well Co-Founder and Community Lead

Fatima Barragan, Integrative Pediatrician - will provide project oversight and guidance

Julia Burns, Communications Specialist - will support the development and creation of youth-friendly content and dissemination strategies through youth-friendly channels.

Total budget request: $13,500.

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phase 1 submission, fyi, for reference:

Project Lead: Dorothy Chiu

Key Team Members: Jennifer Moran (Community Well), others welcome/pending.

Project Description:

Youth mental health is in crisis. As existing mental health services struggle to meet current demands, complementary health approaches (CHAs) offer promising solutions. Many CHAs have evidence-bases for mental health and are practices youth can engage in independently. Yet, youth CHA usage is low, and lower in youth of color and low income. Barriers to engagement include low knowledge of and access to CHA and low health literacy. Hyperlocal factors likely play a role, though are understudied. This project seeks to conduct focus groups among local and/or underserved youth to better understand knowledge, attitudes, and barriers surrounding CHA usage. Based on focus group findings, tailored educational material(s) will be created to provide instruction, local area resources, and other key information to support youth in their use/access of CHAs for mental health. Possible editorial input from Osher’s expert providers will be pursued, and materials will be youth field-tested before community-wide dissemination.

Statement of Project Feasibility and Anticipated Impact:

The project lead honed her qualitative skills throughout graduate and postdoctoral training and previously crafted public health educational materials for diverse youth audiences. SF’s Community Well is a community-based holistic health center with expertise in supporting health and well-being in diverse, under-resourced communities. The project lead and Community Well have collaborated on grants and share professional interests. (Please note the team welcomes more team members with interests in health communications/graphic design and integrative pediatrics/mental health!)

Project completion will entail creation of a youth-oriented, expert-reviewed, and disseminable booklet that provides actionable information on how youth can engage in CHAs (e.g., meditation, acupressure, nature therapy, etc.) for mental health promotion. Content will also address common needs and concerns and include local resources for support. Empowering youth with CHAs will promote integrative health equity. Anticipated benefits are expected for youth seen at Osher and UCSF and living in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Estimated budget: $15,000.

Supporting Documents:

chacha budget pdf

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

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.

Deliverables

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

Impact on Osher Center Community

List of team members and their roles

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

Bridging Early Autism Intervention Through Integrative Medicine for Underserved Children

Submitted by Sanford Newmark on May 30, 2025 - 3:08pm

Primary Author: Fatima Barrigan

Project Idea Status:

Open

Project Description (150 words max):

This proposal seeks funding to launch an early autism intervention initiative for children from underserved communities by establishing a partnership between the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Health and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG). Children from low-income and minority backgrounds are often diagnosed with autism up to 2.5 years later than their peers, delaying access to critical early interventions which could have a substantial positive effect on their future development. Barriers include limited healthcare access, cultural stigma, and provider shortages. This initiative will provide integrative, family-centered care at both Osher and ZSFG to reduce delays and improve developmental outcomes. Through targeted outreach, evidence-based supplement interventions, and culturally informed education, this pilot aims to increase early referrals, support families, and offer equitable access to integrative pediatric autism care.

Deliverables (Year 1):

Provide integrative autism evaluations and care for an initial cohort of underserved patients.
Designate clinic slots at ZSFG’s Clinica Buena Vida for autism-specific care.
Provide referrals and guidance to help families access available support such as ABA, speech, and occupational therapy
Increase referrals to the Osher Center for more complex autism presentations.
Develop and distribute culturally relevant educational materials for families.
Track and evaluate referral trends, symptom improvements, and caregiver satisfaction through surveys and chart reviews.

Impact on Osher Center Community:

Expands Osher’s reach to increase our services to low-income and historically underserved pediatric populations.
Strengthens Osher’s partnership with ZSFG, promoting integrative medicine equity across UCSF campuses.
Builds a model for integrative autism care within safety-net systems, with potential for future scale-up.
Supports Osher’s mission to innovate and lead in equitable, whole-person pediatric care.

Team Members and Roles:

Dr. Sanford Newmark, MD (Osher Center) – Project Co-Lead. Provides integrative autism evaluations at Osher and supports development of care protocols.
Dr. Fatima Barragan, MD (ZSFG & Osher Center) – Project Co-Lead. Coordinates patient triage and treatment at ZSFG, leads outreach, and supervises care delivery.
Clinica Buena Vida Support Staff – Assist in patient scheduling, follow-up, and interpretation needs.
Osher Pediatric Integrative Medicine Team – Collaborate on evaluation metrics, supplement guidance, and educational materials.

Supporting Documents:

Budget