Research Summary

Emily Hammad Mrig, PhD, MA, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and at the Center for Translational and Policy Research on Precision Medicine (TRANSPERS) at the University of California, San Francisco. She holds a PhD in Health and Behavioral Sciences from the University of Colorado Denver and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Health Policy and Management at Yale University.

Her research investigates disparities in healthcare access, with a focus on precision medicine, cancer, and undiagnosed/rare conditions. Dr. Mrig is the recipient of an NIH-NHGRI K01 Career Development Award examining payment pathways for molecular diagnostics and serves as Co-Investigator on a Department of Defense study aimed at improving the delivery of germline testing in Veterans with advanced prostate cancer, and an NHGRI R01 project focused on evidence-based and efficient precision medicine implementation.

Her current work employs innovative mixed-methods approaches, including AI-based techniques alongside traditional analyses of electronic health records, as well as patient narrative elicitation and multistakeholder engagement, to identify cost barriers to molecular diagnostics and targeted cancer therapies and to generate evidence supporting the equitable adoption of precision medicine technologies. She has published in high-impact journals such as Genetics in Medicine and the Journal of Health Policy, Politics & Law, and was recognized as a UCSF Population Health and Health Equity Scholar and recipient of the 2026 UCSF Emerging Scholar Award.

Research Funding

  • August 7, 2024 - May 31, 2029 - Promoting Access to Payment Pathways for Emerging Molecular Diagnostics , Primary Investigator . Sponsor: NIH/NHGRI, Sponsor Award ID: 1K01HG013687-01

Education

BA, - History/ Hispanic Studies, Scripps College
PhD, - Health & Behavioral Sciences, University of Colorado
MA, - Medical Anthropology, University of Colorado
Post-Doctoral Fellowship, - Health Policy & Management, Yale University

Honors & Awards

  • 2023
    UCSF Population Health & Health Equity Scholars Award
  • 2021
    NIH-NIMHD Health Disparities Research Institute Scholar
  • 2021
    Mildred Baxter New Writer Prize (Runner-Up), Journal of Sociology and Illness
  • 2019
    Outstanding Doctoral Student in the Department of Health & Behavioral Sciences, UC Denver
  • 2019
    Outstanding Doctoral Student Award in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, UC Denver
  • 2018 – 2019
    American Dissertation Prize, American Association of University Women (AAUW)
  • 2016
    Dissertation Research Scholarship Award, Center for Improving Value in Health Care
  • 2016 – 2018
    Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship Award, UC Denver
  • 2013 – 2017
    Robert Durst Scholarship in the Department of Health & Behavioral Sciences, UC Denver
  • 2013
    Distinguished Graduate Award in the Department of Anthropology, UC Denver
  • 2004
    Fredrick Hard Outstanding Thesis Award, Scripps College
     

Selected Publications

  1. Spencer KL, Mrig EH, Talaie AK. The many faces of medical treatment imperatives: Biopower and the cultural authority of medicine in late-life treatment decisions in the United States. Sociol Health Illn. 2022 Apr;44(4-5):781-797. doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.13459. Epub 2022 Mar 4. PubMed PMID: 35243659.
  2. Lutfey Spencer K, Hammad Mrig E, Gage-Bouchard E. Unpacking gatekeeping in medical institutions: A Case Study of Access to End-of-Life Patients. Qualitative Research. 2021; 8(4).
  3. Hammad Mrig E. Integrating fundamental cause theory and Bourdieu to explain pathways between socioeconomic status and health: the case of health insurance denials for genetic testing. Sociol Health Illn. 2021 Jan;43(1):133-148. doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.13195. Epub 2020 Oct 6. PubMed PMID: 33022787; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7878305.
  4. Spencer KL, Mrig EH, Talaie AK. Does Palliative Care Utilization Facilitate Conversion to Hospice Care? A Qualitative Study of the "Soft No". Am J Hosp Palliat Care. 2020 Sep;37(9):701-706. doi: 10.1177/1049909119900640. Epub 2020 Jan 23. PubMed PMID: 31968990.
  5. Mrig EH. Unsettling disciplinary frontiers: An opportunity to address to inequities in genetic medicine?. Medicine Anthropology Theory. 2020; 7(2):100-119.
  6. Mrig EH, Spencer KL. Political economy of hope as a cultural facet of biomedicalization: A qualitative examination of constraints to hospice utilization among U.S. end-stage cancer patients. Soc Sci Med. 2018 Mar;200:107-113. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.01.033. Epub 2018 Jan 28. PubMed PMID: 29421457.
  7. Hammad Mrig EA. In pursuit of a ‘good death’: Examining the post-patienthood experience of individuals with incurable, end-stage, cancer. The American Anthropology Association Annual Meeting. 2017 November; Washington, DC, USA.
  8. Hammad Mrig EA, Lutfey Spencer K. Political Economy of Hope as a Cultural Facet of Biomedicalization. American Sociology Association Annual Meeting. 2017 August; Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
  9. Hammad Mrig EA. Competing Agendas: Health Insurance Reform and Precision Medicine. [Internet]. Medical Anthropology Quarterly; 2017. Available from: http://medanthroquarterly.org/category/critical-care/.
  10. Lutfey Spencer K, Hammad Mrig EA, Matlock DD, Kessler ER. A Qualitative Investigation of the Cross-Domain Influences on Medical Decision Making and the Importance of Social Context for Understanding Barriers to Hospice Use. Journal of Applied Social Science. 2017; 11(1):48-59. doi: 10.1177/1936724417692377.
  11. Hammad Mrig EA. "In Oncology, There's Always Something More You Can Try": The Political Economy of Hope and the Paradox of Hospice Underutilization. The American Anthropological Association. 2016 November; Minneapolis, MN, USA.
  12. Hammad Mrig EA. The Role of Oncologists in the Paradox of Hospice Underutilization. The Society for Applied Anthropology Annual Meeting. 2016 March; Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
  13. Hammad Mrig E. Oncologists and the Paradox of Hospice Underutilization. The American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting. 2015 November; Denver, CO, USA.
  14. Lutfey Spencer K, Hammad Mrig EA. Examining the the Unfulfilled Promise of Hospice and the Paradox of Hospice Underutilization. University of Colorado Palliative Care Research Day. 2015 October; Aurora, CO, USA.
  15. Hammad E. BRCA 1 and 2: Digital Media as a Platform for Change. The Society for Applied Anthropology Annual Meeting. 2015 March; Denver, CO, USA.
  16. Hammad Mrig EA, Tracer D. Univeristy of Colorado Cancer Center. In: Colditz G, editor. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Cancer and Society 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.; 2015.
  17. Hammad Mrig EA, Tracer D. Genzyme. In: Colditz G, editor. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Cancer and Society 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.; 2015.
  18. Hammad Mrig EA, Tracer D. Genentech. In: Colditz G, editor. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Cancer and Society 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.; 2015.
  19. Hammad Mrig EA. Insurance. In: Colditz G, editor. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Cancer and Society 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.; 2015.
  20. Hammad E. An Exploration of Equal Access to Genetic Testing. Western Social Sciences Associaiton Annual Meeting. 2013 April; Denver, CO, USA.

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