Urmimala Sarkar, MD

Urmimala Sarkar, MD, MPH

Professor of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, UCSF; Associate Chair for Faculty Experience, Department of Medicine, UCSF; Associate Director, UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations

Cancer Center Program Membership

Cancer Control

[email protected]

Phone: 628-206-4273

Box 1364, UCSF
San Francisco, CA 94143-1364

UCSF Profiles

Lab Site

Research Summary

Urmimala Sarkar MD, MPH is Professor of Medicine at UCSF in the Division of General Internal Medicine, Associate Chair for Faculty Experience for the Department of Medicine, Associate Director of the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations, and a primary care physician at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital’s Richard H. Fine People's Clinic. Her work centers on innovating for health equity and improving safety and quality of outpatient care for everyone, especially low-income and diverse populations. Her research employs new tools like digital / mobile health and social media platforms to improve the safety and quality of outpatient care. Her expertise spans topics including medical errors and patient safety, diabetes, and cancer prevention and survivorship. Dr. Sarkar's research is collaborative and intersects with methods found in human centered design, human factors engineering, data science, health services research, and implementation science. As a leader and mentor, Dr. Sarkar is committed to training the next generation of health equity researchers and leaders. She is the director of UCSF's Primary Care Research Fellowship, co-directs the Learning Health Systems Early Career Acceleration Program (LEAP K12) for junior faculty, and serves as the curricular director for UCSF's Fellowship Advancement and Skills Training in Clinical Research (FASTCaR). Learn more at https://sarkarlab.ucsf.edu

Research Funding

  • June 10, 2019 - May 31, 2024 - Cancer Registry for Understanding and Improving Survivorship Experiences (CRUISE) , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA241128
  • September 30, 2018 - September 29, 2023 - UCSF Learning Health System K12 Career Development Program , Co-Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: K12HS026383
  • September 5, 2018 - August 31, 2022 - Creating Community Driven, Personalized Health Maps for Patients with Diabetes , Co-Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01LM013045
  • July 1, 2017 - June 30, 2022 - Improving Survivorship Care for Diverse Cancer Patients Cared for in Safety-net Settings , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: K24CA212294

Education

Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, B.S., 06/96, Biology
University of California, San Diego, M.D., 06/02
University of California, Berkeley, M.P.H., 06/00, Epidemiology
University of California, San Francisco, Intern, 06/03, Medicine
University of California, San Francisco, Resident, 06/05, Medicine
University of California, San Francisco, Fellow, 06/08, Medicine

Honors & Awards

  • 2019
    UCSF ZSFG Department of Medicine Mentoring Award
  • 2016-2017
    Pathways to Discovery Mentor Award
  • 2010
    Hamolsky finalist for Abstract, Society of General Internal Medicine
  • 2007
    Lipkin Finalist for Abstract, Society of General Internal Medicine
  • 2005
    Lipkin Finalist for Abstract, Society of General Internal Medicine
  • 1998
    U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Public Health Scholarship
  • 1997
    Howard Hughes Medical Institute Student Grant Award
  • 1997
    Howard Hughes Medical Institute Student Grant Award
  • 1996
    Ruth Headley Memorial Humanities Award Stanford University
  • 1995
    Cap and Gown Honor Society Stanford University
  • 1992
    David Starr Jordan Scholar Stanford University

Selected Publications

  1. Fontil V, Khoong EC, Green BB, Ralston JD, Zhou C, Garcia F, McCulloch CE, Sarkar U, Lyles CR. Randomized trial protocol for remote monitoring for equity in advancing the control of hypertension in safety net systems (REACH-SNS) study. Contemp Clin Trials. 2023 Feb 02; 107112.  View on PubMed
  2. Grenon V, Szymonifka J, Adler-Milstein J, Ross J, Sarkar U. Factors Associated With Diagnostic Error: An Analysis of Closed Medical Malpractice Claims. J Patient Saf. 2023 Jan 12.  View on PubMed
  3. Fleming MD, Safaeinili N, Knox M, Hernandez E, Esteban EE, Sarkar U, Brewster AL. Conceptualizing the effective mechanisms of a social needs case management program shown to reduce hospital use: a qualitative study. BMC Health Serv Res. 2022 Dec 26; 22(1):1585.  View on PubMed
  4. Lyles CR, Nguyen OK, Khoong EC, Aguilera A, Sarkar U. Multilevel Determinants of Digital Health Equity: A Literature Synthesis to Advance the Field. Annu Rev Public Health. 2022 Dec 16.  View on PubMed
  5. Wong J, Lee SY, Sarkar U, Sharma AE. Medication adverse events in the ambulatory setting: A mixed-methods analysis. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2022 Dec 05; 79(24):2230-2243.  View on PubMed
  6. Zeng B, Rivadeneira NA, Wen A, Sarkar U, Khoong EC. The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Internet Use and the Use of Digital Health Tools: Secondary Analysis of the 2020 Health Information National Trends Survey. J Med Internet Res. 2022 09 19; 24(9):e35828.  View on PubMed
  7. Lozano PM, Lane-Fall M, Franklin PD, Rothman RL, Gonzales R, Ong MK, Gould MK, Beebe TJ, Roumie CL, Guise JM, Enders FT, Forrest CB, Mendonca EA, Starrels JL, Sarkar U, Savitz LA, Moon J, Linzer M, Ralston JD, Chesley FD. Training the next generation of learning health system scientists. Learn Health Syst. 2022 Oct; 6(4):e10342.  View on PubMed
  8. Sarkar U, Bibbins-Domingo K. Achieving Diagnostic Equity in Cardiovascular Disease. JAMA. 2022 09 06; 328(9):827-828.  View on PubMed
  9. Santiago-Rodr?guez EJ, Rivadeneira NA, DeVost MA, Sarkar U, Hiatt RA. Cancer Risk Behaviors, Cancer Beliefs, and Health Information Seeking Among Under-Represented Populations in San Francisco: Differences by Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. Health Equity. 2022; 6(1):669-680.  View on PubMed
  10. Chakraborty H, Kayal T, Lianthuamluaia L, Sarkar UK, Das AK, Chakraborty S, Sahoo BK, Mondal K, Mandal S, Das BK. Use of geographical information systems (GIS) in assessing ecological profile, fish community structure and production of a large reservoir of Himachal Pradesh. Environ Monit Assess. 2022 Aug 05; 194(9):643.  View on PubMed
  11. Santhosh L, Rojek AE, Yim JWL, Lisker S, Wang K, Dy M, Sarkar U. Analysis of Narrative Text in Evaluations of Continuing Medical Education Faculty by Gender. JAMA Netw Open. 2022 08 01; 5(8):e2227948.  View on PubMed
  12. Dixit N, Rodriguez G, Sarkar U, Burke N, Trejo E, Devore DJ, Couey P, Nápoles AM. Identifying the Needs of Primary Care Providers Caring for Breast and Colon Cancer Survivors in the Safety-Net: a Qualitative Study. J Cancer Educ. 2022 Jul 13.  View on PubMed
  13. Lyles CR, Sharma AE, Fields JD, Getachew Y, Sarkar U, Zephyrin L. Centering Health Equity in Telemedicine. Ann Fam Med. 2022 Jul-Aug; 20(4):362-367.  View on PubMed
  14. Linos E, Lasky-Fink J, Halley M, Sarkar U, Mangurian C, Sabry H, Linos E, Jagsi R. Impact of Sexual Harassment and Social Support on Burnout in Physician Mothers. J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2022 07; 31(7):932-940.  View on PubMed
  15. Olazo K, Wang K, Sierra M, Barr-Walker J, Sarkar U. Preferences and Perceptions of Medical Error Disclosure Among Marginalized Populations: A Narrative Review. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2022 10; 48(10):539-548.  View on PubMed
  16. Khoong EC, Rivadeneira NA, Pacca L, Schillinger D, Lown D, Babaria P, Gupta N, Pramanik R, Tran H, Whitezell T, Somsouk M, Sarkar U. Extent of Follow-Up on Abnormal Cancer Screening in Multiple California Public Hospital Systems: A Retrospective Review. J Gen Intern Med. 2023 01; 38(1):21-29.  View on PubMed
  17. Gupta K, Szymonifka J, Rivadeneira NA, Khoong EC, Adler-Milstein J, Ross J, Sarkar U. Factors Associated with Malpractice Claim Payout: An Analysis of Closed Emergency Department Claims. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2022 09; 48(9):492-495.  View on PubMed
  18. Fontil V, Khoong EC, Lyles C, Rivadeneira NA, Olazo K, Hoskote M, Sarkar U. Diagnostic Trajectories in Primary Care at 12 Months: An Observational Cohort Study. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2022 08; 48(8):395-402.  View on PubMed
  19. Gupta K, Rivadeneira NA, Lisker S, Chahal K, Gross N, Sarkar U. Multispecialty Physician Online Survey Reveals That Burnout Related to Adverse Event Involvement May Be Mitigated by Peer Support. J Patient Saf. 2022 09 01; 18(6):531-538.  View on PubMed
  20. Julia Adler-Milstein, Urmimala Sarkar, Robert M Wachter. Opportunities to mine EHRs for malpractice risk management and patient safety. Journal of Patient Safety and Risk Management. 2022 Apr 27; 27(4):160-162.  View on PubMed

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