Alicia Fernandez, MD

Professor

Alicia Fernandez, M.D., is a Professor of Medicine at UCSF and a general internist at Zuckerberg San Francisco General where she practices primary care medicine and attends on the medical wards. Her expertise is in health and health care disparities, with a strong focus on diabetes, Latino health, immigrant health, and language barriers. Dr. Fernandez is an active mentor of students, residents, fellows, and faculty. A member of the UCSF Academy of Medical Educators, she received the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Professorship for Humanism in Medicine (2009-2013). She directs UCSF PROF-PATH(NIMHD R25 MD006832), an academic career and research training program for URM students and students focused on health disparities research; is co-PI of RISE (NHLBI R25HL126146), a national training program in implementation science for URM faculty; and core-PI of SF BUILD (U54MD009523) a joint capacity building program between UCSF and San Francisco State University. Dr. Fernandez has served as an advisor to many organizations on health disparities related projects, including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the California Endowment, the National Quality Forum, the Commonwealth Fund, the American Medical Association, and the American Board of Internal Medicine. Dr. Fernandez has also been appointed to the Board of Governors of the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and the National Academy of Science Roundtable on Health Literacy, and she has served on both since 2014. At UCSF, Dr. Fernandez has also served as leader in the Differences Matter initiative for health equity since 2015.
Education
2017 - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training, University of California
Websites
Publications
  1. Barriers and facilitators to healthy eating among low-income Latino adolescents.
  2. After-visit summaries in primary care: mixed methods results from a literature review and stakeholder interviews.
  3. Assessing the Use of Google Translate for Spanish and Chinese Translations of Emergency Department Discharge Instructions.
  4. Medical Students' Perceptions of and Responses to Health Care Disparities During Clinical Clerkships.
  5. Challenges and Successes with Food Resource Referrals for Food-Insecure Patients with Diabetes.
  6. How Does Acculturation Influence Smoking Behavior Among Latinos? The Role of Education and National Background
  7. Regulatory initiatives to reduce sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) in Latin America.
  8. How Small Differences in Assessed Clinical Performance Amplify to Large Differences in Grades and Awards: A Cascade With Serious Consequences for Students Underrepresented in Medicine.
  9. Language barriers and LDL-C/SBP control among Latinos with diabetes.
  10. Collaborative Care for Depression among Patients with Limited English Proficiency: a Systematic Review.
  11. Consequences of Recent Anti-Immigration Policy-Reply.
  12. Randomized Controlled Trial of a Clinic-Based Intervention to Promote Healthy Beverage Consumption Among Latino Children.
  13. Perspectives of low-income chronically ill patients on complex care management.
  14. How Should Physicians Respond When Patients Distrust Them Because of Their Gender?
  15. Undocumented Immigrants and Access to Health Care.
  16. Adherence to Newly Prescribed Diabetes Medications Among Insured Latino and White Patients With Diabetes.
  17. Association of Patient-Physician Language Concordance and Glycemic Control for Limited-English Proficiency Latinos With Type 2 Diabetes.
  18. Comparing Strategies for Lipid Lowering in Argentina: An Analysis from the CVD Policy Model-Argentina.
  19. Projected Impact of Mexico's Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax Policy on Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease: A Modeling Study.
  20. Identifying Spanish Language Competent Physicians: The Diabetes Study of Northern California (DISTANCE).
  21. San Francisco childcare centers' preparedness in the prevention and management of asthma among preschool-aged children.
  22. The Association Between Limited English Proficiency and Unplanned Emergency Department Revisit Within 72 Hours.
  23. Dealing with Racist Patients.
  24. ¿Doctor, habla español? Increasing the Supply and Quality of Language-Concordant Physicians for Spanish-Speaking Patients.
  25. Research in the Sociology of Health Care
  26. Development of a Tool to Evaluate Asthma Preparedness and Management in Child-Care Centers.
  27. Patient-physician language concordance and use of preventive care services among limited English proficient Latinos and Asians.
  28. From admission to discharge: patterns of interpreter use among resident physicians caring for hospitalized patients with limited english proficiency.
  29. Self-care and Subjectivity among Mexican Diabetes Patients in the United States.
  30. Development and implementation of a workshop to enhance the effectiveness of mentors working with diverse mentees in HIV research.
  31. Undocumented immigration status and diabetes care among Mexican immigrants in two immigration "sanctuary" areas.
  32. Age and glycemic control among low-income Latinos.
  33. Differences in the clinical recognition of depression in diabetes patients: the Diabetes Study of Northern California (DISTANCE).
  34. "Because somebody cared about me. That's how it changed things": homeless, chronically ill patients' perspectives on case management.
  35. Advances in measuring culturally competent care: a confirmatory factor analysis of CAHPS-CC in a safety-net population.
  36. Aspects of culturally competent care are associated with less emotional burden among patients with diabetes.
  37. Associations between aspects of culturally competent care and clinical outcomes among patients with diabetes.
  38. Risk factors for reporting poor cultural competency among patients with diabetes in safety net clinics.
  39. Susto, coraje, and abuse: depression and beliefs about diabetes.
  40. Interpretation for discussions about end-of-life issues: results from a National Survey of Health Care Interpreters.
  41. Testing a Spanish-language colorectal cancer screening decision aid in Latinos with limited English proficiency: results from a pre-post trial and four month follow-up survey.
  42. Concepts of diabetes self-management in Mexican American and African American low-income patients with diabetes.
  43. Effect of Spanish language immersion rotations on medical student Spanish fluency.
  44. Food insecurity and glycemic control among low-income patients with type 2 diabetes.
  45. "Her husband doesn't speak much English": conducting a family meeting with an interpreter.
  46. The association between housing instability, food insecurity, and diabetes self-efficacy in low-income adults.
  47. Ethnic differences in appointment-keeping and implications for the patient-centered medical home--findings from the Diabetes Study of Northern California (DISTANCE).
  48. Food insecurity and hypoglycemia among safety net patients with diabetes.
  49. Adherence to laboratory test requests by patients with diabetes: the Diabetes Study of Northern California (DISTANCE).
  50. Birthplace, language use, and body size among Mexican American women and men: findings from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2001-2006.
  51. Accuracy of physician self-report of Spanish language proficiency.
  52. Asian Americans and obesity in California: a protective effect of biculturalism.
  53. Case 34-2010: A woman with an incorrect operation.
  54. Assessment of medical students' shared decision-making in standardized patient encounters.
  55. Language barriers, physician-patient language concordance, and glycemic control among insured Latinos with diabetes: the Diabetes Study of Northern California (DISTANCE).
  56. Improving the quality of informed consent: it is not all about the risks.
  57. Impact of student ethnicity and patient-centredness on communication skills performance.
  58. Racial composition of residential areas associates with access to pre-ESRD nephrology care.
  59. Speaking through diabetes: Rethinking the significance of lay discourses on diabetes.
  60. A strategy for improving health disparities education in medicine.
  61. Teaching about health care disparities in the clinical setting.
  62. The impact of limited English proficiency and physician language concordance on reports of clinical interactions among patients with diabetes: the DISTANCE study.
  63. Time to establish national standards and certification for health care interpreters.
  64. Placebo prescriptions are missed opportunities for doctor-patient communication.
  65. Accuracy of self-assessed Spanish fluency in medical students.
  66. Responding to the Language Challenge: Kaiser Permanente's Approach.
  67. Getting by: underuse of interpreters by resident physicians.
  68. Navigating language barriers under difficult circumstances.
  69. Acute myocardial infarction length of stay and hospital mortality are not associated with language preference.
  70. Recommendations for teaching about racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care.
  71. Language barriers in health care.
  72. Reducing language barriers and racial/ethnic disparities in health care: an investment in our future.
  73. The impact of language barriers on documentation of informed consent at a hospital with on-site interpreter services.
  74. BiDil for heart failure in black patients.
  75. Impact of student ethnicity and primary childhood language on communication skill assessment in a clinical performance examination.
  76. Effect of awareness of language law on language access in the health care setting.
  77. Shared decision making and the experience of partnership in primary care.
  78. Effects of limited English proficiency and physician language on health care comprehension.
  79. High and rising health care costs. Part 4: can costs be controlled while preserving quality?
  80. Unintended consequences of a quality improvement program designed to improve treatment of alcohol withdrawal in hospitalized patients.
  81. Primary care physicians who treat blacks and whites.
  82. Physician language ability and cultural competence. An exploratory study of communication with Spanish-speaking patients.
  83. [Detection of domestic violence against women. Survey in a primary health care clinic].
  84. Physicians' ability to predict the risk of coronary heart disease.
  85. Educacion Medica
  86. Primary care physicians' experience with disease management programs.
  87. Friend or foe? How primary care physicians perceive hospitalists.
  88. The populations and quality improvement seminar for medical residents.
  89. [Awareness and detection of domestic violence by clinical physicians].
  90. Heart Failure