Research Summary

Dr. Karliner is Professor in Residence in the Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She is Director of the Center for Aging in Diverse Communities (CADC), an NIA funded Resource Center on Minority Aging Research. She is also Director of the Multiethnic Health Equity Research Center (MERC) in the Division of General Internal Medicine, and a member of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. She is both a practicing general internist and a health services researcher, with expertise in practice-based and communication research. She completed her training – including her MD degree, a residency in primary care internal medicine, a general internal medicine research fellowship and a Master’s of Advanced Studies in Clinical Research all at UCSF. Dr. Karliner’s scholarly work centers on improving quality of care for limited English speaking patients, and the study of health disparities and communication at critical clinical junctures for older patients such as hospital transitions and breast cancer diagnosis, as well as in chronic care management in primary care. Ultimately, the goal of her research agenda is aimed at achieving health equity through improved communication and clinical outcomes.

Research Funding

  • March 15, 2021 - February 28, 2026 - Mentoring Researchers on Clinical Communication With Diverse Aging Populations , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: K24AG067003
  • September 30, 1997 - June 30, 2023 - Center for Aging in Diverse Communities: Ending Health Inequities in Older Adults , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: P30AG015272
  • September 1, 2016 - June 30, 2020 - An Electronic Clinical Decision Support Stytem (CDSS) to Lower Blood Pressure in Persons with CKD in Primary Care: A Randomized Trial , Co-Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R18DK110959
  • October 1, 2015 - September 30, 2019 - Clinician Language Concordance and Interpreter Use: Impact of a Systems Intervention on Communication and clinical Outcomes , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, Sponsor Award ID: AD-1409-23627

Education

Columbia College, Columbia University, NY, BA, 1984-1988, History
University of California at San Francisco, MD, 1992-1996, Medicine
University of California at San Francisco, MCR, 2003-2005, Clinical Research

Honors & Awards

  • 1988
    Magna Cum Laude, Columbia University
  • 1988
    Phi Beta Kappa, Columbia University
  • 1988
    Boyer History of Science Prize
  • 2002-
    Recipient NIH Health Disparities Research Loan Repayment Program
  • 2003
    Best Abstract by a Junior Investigator, Bay Area Clinical Research Symposium

Selected Publications

  1. Ho EY, Karliner LS, Leung G, Harb R, Aguayo Ramirez G, Garcia ME. "How's your mood": Recorded physician mental health conversations with Chinese and Latino patients in routine primary care visits. Patient Educ Couns. 2023 09; 114:107850.  View on PubMed
  2. Leah S Karliner, Genevieve Leung, Giselle Aguayo Ramirez, Raneem Harb, Evelyn Y Ho. O.20.6 Mood Talk: Clinician Conversations with Chinese and Latinx Patients in Primary Care Recorded Visits Presenter(s): Maria Garcia, University of California, San Francisco, United States. Patient Education and Counseling. 2023 Apr 1; 109:84.  View on PubMed
  3. Steven Gregorich, Leah Karliner, Javier Gonzalez, Cristina Pérez-Cordón, Reniell Iniguez, Jose Alberto Figueroa, Karen Izquierdo, Pilar Ortega. P44 Development of a Tool to Assess Medical Oral Non-English Language Proficiency Presenter(s): Lisa Diamond, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, United States. Patient Education and Counseling. 2023 Apr 1; 109:59.  View on PubMed
  4. Joseph G, Lindberg NM, Guerra C, Hernandez C, Karliner LS, Gilmore MJ, Zepp J, Rolf BA, Caruncho M, Riddle L, Kauffman TL, Leo MC, Wilfond BS. Medical interpreter-mediated genetic counseling for Spanish preferring adults at risk for a hereditary cancer syndrome. J Genet Couns. 2023 08; 32(4):870-886.  View on PubMed
  5. Garcia ME, Mutha S, Napoles AM, Malevanchik L, Williams M, Karliner LS. "Long Overdue": Nurse and Resident Physician Perspectives on Implementation of Dual-Handset Interpreter Phones in the Inpatient Setting. Health Equity. 2023; 7(1):100-108.  View on PubMed
  6. Pilar Ortega, Reniell X. Iñiguez, Steven E. Gregorich, Cristina Pérez-Cordón, José Alberto Figueroa, Karen Izquierdo, Javier González, Leah Karliner, Lisa C. Diamond. Development and Effectiveness of a Rater Training Curriculum for Evaluating Student Medical Spanish Oral Proficiency Using the Physician Oral Language Observation Matrix. Global Business Languages. 2023 Jan 1; 23.  View on PubMed
  7. R Yates Coley, Julia J Smith, Leah Karliner, Sei J Lee, Sharon Fuller, Rosemary Lam, Deborah E Barnes, Sascha Dublin. eRADAR detects primary care patients at risk of having undiagnosed dementia in two real-world healthcare systems. Alzheimer's & Dementia. 2022 Dec 20; 18(S8).  View on PubMed
  8. Flynn SJ, Livaudais-Toman J, Kaplan CP, Kerlikowske K, Burke NJ, Pathak S, Karliner LS. Primary Care Physicians' Perceived Barriers to Follow-Up of Abnormal Mammogram Results: Opportunities for Systems-Level Interventions. J Gen Intern Med. 2023 05; 38(7):1786-1788.  View on PubMed
  9. Ho EY, Leung G, Lauer B, Jih J, Karliner L. Complementary and integrative healthcare communication in Chinese American patient / primary care visits: An observational discourse analysis. PEC Innov. 2022 Dec; 1.  View on PubMed
  10. Bregio C, Finik J, Baird M, Ortega P, Roter D, Karliner L, Diamond LC. Exploring the Impact of Language Concordance on Cancer Communication. JCO Oncol Pract. 2022 11; 18(11):e1885-e1898.  View on PubMed
  11. Lamprea-Montealegre JA, Madden E, Tummalapalli SL, Peralta C, Neilands TB, Garcia PK, Muiru A, Karliner L, Shlipak MG, Estrella MM. Association of Race and Ethnicity With Prescription of SGLT2 Inhibitors and GLP1 Receptor Agonists Among Patients With Type 2 Diabetes in the Veterans Health Administration System. JAMA. 2022 09 06; 328(9):861-871.  View on PubMed
  12. Santoyo-Olsson J, Lorig K, Romo EM, Luzanilla M, Ramirez GA, Cheng J, Chesla C, Covinsky KE, Karliner L, Thompson DG, Fahrenwald N, Yank V. Study protocol for a hybrid effectiveness-implementation trial of the Building Better Caregivers online workshop for rural family/friend caregivers of people living with dementia. Contemp Clin Trials. 2022 10; 121:106903.  View on PubMed
  13. Diamond LC, Gregorich SE, Karliner L, González J, Pérez-Cordón C, Iniguez R, Alberto Figueroa J, Izquierdo K, Ortega P. Development of a Tool to Assess Medical Oral Language Proficiency. Acad Med. 2023 04 01; 98(4):480-490.  View on PubMed
  14. Garcia ME, Hinton L, Neuhaus J, Feldman M, Livaudais-Toman J, Karliner LS. Equitability of Depression Screening After Implementation of General Adult Screening in Primary Care. JAMA Netw Open. 2022 08 01; 5(8):e2227658.  View on PubMed
  15. Coley RY, Smith JJ, Karliner L, Idu AE, Lee SJ, Fuller S, Lam R, Barnes DE, Dublin S. External Validation of the eRADAR Risk Score for Detecting Undiagnosed Dementia in Two Real-World Healthcare Systems. J Gen Intern Med. 2023 02; 38(2):351-360.  View on PubMed
  16. Lowenstein M, Karliner L, Livaudais-Toman J, Gregorich S, Velazquez AI, Vijayaraghavan M, Walsh JME, Kaplan CP. Barriers and Facilitators to Lung Cancer Screening: A Physician Survey. Am J Health Promot. 2022 Sep; 36(7):1208-1212.  View on PubMed
  17. Xu E, Nicosia FM, Zamora K, Barrientos M, Spar MJ, Reyes-Farias D, Karliner LS, Potter MB, Brown RT. When Functional Impairment Develops Early: Perspectives from Middle-Aged Adults. J Gen Intern Med. 2023 01; 38(1):90-97.  View on PubMed
  18. Manuel SP, Nguyen K, Karliner LS, Ward DT, Fernandez A. Association of English Language Proficiency With Hospitalization Cost, Length of Stay, Disposition Location, and Readmission Following Total Joint Arthroplasty. JAMA Netw Open. 2022 03 01; 5(3):e221842.  View on PubMed
  19. Riddle L, Karliner LS, Livaudais-Toman J, Guerra C, Roat CE, Rope AF, Wade A, Caruncho M, Zepp JM, Giang J, Wilfond BS, Joseph G. Development and evaluation of an exome sequencing training course for medical interpreters. Per Med. 2022 03; 19(2):125-138.  View on PubMed
  20. Holt HK, Gildengorin G, Karliner L, Fontil V, Pramanik R, Potter MB. Differences in Hypertension Medication Prescribing for Black Americans and Their Association with Hypertension Outcomes. J Am Board Fam Med. 2022 Jan-Feb; 35(1):26-34.  View on PubMed

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