By Nicholas Roznovsky
Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, MD
National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) Director Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, MD, will deliver the 14th annual Dr. Evelyn Lee Visiting Scholar Lecture in Cultural Competency and Diversity on Tuesday, October 30, as part of the Department of Psychiatry’s Grand Rounds series.
His presentation will focus on minority health and health disparities science in mental health. The lecture, which will take place in HSW-301 on the Parnassus campus, will be streamed live online beginning at 8:30 a.m. at psych.ucsf.edu/live.
Pérez-Stable was named director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2015. He oversees the institute's $305 million budget to advance the science of minority health and health disparities. Under this framework, the institute conducts and supports research programs to advance knowledge and understanding of mechanisms to improve minority health, identifies and understands health disparities and develops effective interventions to reduce these disparities in community and clinical settings. NIMHD is the lead organization at NIH for planning, reviewing, coordinating, and evaluating minority health and health disparities research activities conducted by NIH institutes and centers. NIMHD also promotes diversity in the biomedical workforce, supports research capacity at institutions serving disparity populations, and promotes information dissemination through regular electronic communications, public education outreach, and scientific presentations.
Pérez-Stable's expertise spans a broad range of health disparities disciplines. His research interests have centered on improving the health of racial and ethnic minorities and underserved populations, advancing patient-centered care, improving cross-cultural communication skills among health care professionals, and promoting diversity in the biomedical research workforce.
Recognized as a leader in Latino health care and disparities research, Pérez-Stable has spent more than 30 years leading research on smoking cessation and tobacco control policy in Latino populations in the United States and Latin America. His collaborations with researchers and public health advocates in Argentina have helped to put tobacco use on the country's public health agenda, raising awareness of tobacco use as a critical public health problem, building capacity for tobacco control policy, and creating opportunities for prevention and treatment measures through physician education and smoking cessation programs.
Prior to becoming NIMHD director, Pérez-Stable built a career at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where he was a professor of medicine, chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine, and director of the Center for Aging in Diverse Communities (CADC), which is funded by NIH's National Institute on Aging (NIA). Through the CADC, he continued his commitment to developing a diverse workforce in clinical and population science research by mentoring and collaborating with many minority fellows and junior faculty from a variety of disciplines. Pérez-Stable was also director of the UCSF Medical Effectiveness Research Center for Diverse Populations, which addresses issues for African Americans, Asians, and Latinos in the areas of cancer, cardiovascular disease, aging, and reproductive health.
As a co-principal investigator of the Redes En Acción National Latino Cancer Control Research and Education Network funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Pérez-Stable spearheaded the development of a research agenda on tobacco control for minority populations in the United States. In addition, he was an NCI-funded staff investigator and assistant director for health care disparities at the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center as well as a member of the NCI and Legacy Foundation's Tobacco Disparities Research Network (TReND).
Pérez-Stable has been a leader in the field of research on aging among minorities and served as a member of the NIA's Advisory Council from 2011 to 2014 and as the chair of the Council's Minority Task Force on Aging from 2012 to 2014. He has authored numerous scientific papers, reviewed articles for a variety of professional publications, and delivered keynote lectures and presentations at many domestic and international conferences.
He has received many honors and awards throughout his career, including UCSF's Kaiser Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Society of General Internal Medicine's John M. Eisenberg National Award for Career Achievement in Research, and election to the National Academy of Medicine (formerly Institute of Medicine) of the National Academy of Sciences. He was honored with the UCSF Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award in July 2015. Pérez-Stable was born in Cuba and grew up in Miami, Florida. He earned his BA in chemistry from the University of Miami and his MD from the University of Miami School of Medicine. He completed his primary care internal medicine residency and research fellowship at UCSF.
Talks also scheduled at ZSFG, SFVAMC
Following his Grand Rounds talk, Pérez-Stable will visit Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center for a discussion about ways to enhance diversity in the clinical and scientific workforces. The hour-long talk will begin at 10:30 a.m. in Zuckerberg San Francisco General's Carr Auditorium, and all faculty, trainees, students and staff are invited to attend.
Later that afternoon, he will speak at the San Francisco VA Medical Center exploring scientific evidence of health disparities in addiction and severe mental illnesses. His presentation will begin at 3 p.m. in Building 7's auditorium (room 112). No tickets or prior registration are required to attend any of the day's talks.
Lecture series honors former faculty member and champion of diversity
The annual Dr. Evelyn Lee Visiting Scholar Lecture in Cultural Competency and Diversity is sponsored by the UCSF Department of Psychiatry Diversity Committee in remembrance of Evelyn Lee, EdD, who served as a clinical faculty member for more than twenty years before her passing in 2003. In 1982, she joined UCSF and the Asian Focus Psychiatric Inpatient Unit at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH) as its program director, rising to the rank of clinical professor in 1999.
In addition to her work at UCSF and SFGH, Lee served as executive director of San Francisco-area mental health agency Richmond Area Multi-Services and authored more than 30 publications fostering cultural competence and cross-cultural communication in mental health. In 1988, she founded the first-ever Chinese Family Alliance of Mentally Ill, and four years later helped organize the NICOS Chinese Health Coalition, both in San Francisco.
Previous lectureship recipients include Helena Hansen, MD, PhD; Francis G. Lu, MD; Richard F. Mollica, MD, MAR; Elyn R. Saks, PhD, JD; and Lonnie Snowden, PhD.
About UCSF Psychiatry
The UCSF Department of Psychiatry and the Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute are among the nation's foremost resources in the fields of child, adolescent, adult, and geriatric mental health. Together they constitute one of the largest departments in the UCSF School of Medicine and the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, with a mission focused on research (basic, translational, clinical), teaching, patient care and public service.
UCSF Psychiatry conducts its clinical, educational and research efforts at a variety of locations in Northern California, including UCSF campuses at Parnassus Heights, Mission Bay and Laurel Heights, UCSF Medical Center, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, the San Francisco VA Health Care System and UCSF Fresno.
About the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences
The UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, established by the extraordinary generosity of Joan and Sanford I. "Sandy" Weill, brings together world-class researchers with top-ranked physicians to solve some of the most complex challenges in the human brain.
The UCSF Weill Institute leverages UCSF’s unrivaled bench-to-bedside excellence in the neurosciences. It unites three UCSF departments—Neurology, Psychiatry, and Neurological Surgery—that are highly esteemed for both patient care and research, as well as the Neuroscience Graduate Program, a cross-disciplinary alliance of nearly 100 UCSF faculty members from 15 basic-science departments, as well as the UCSF Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, a multidisciplinary research center focused on finding effective treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and other neurodegenerative disorders.
About UCSF
UC San Francisco (UCSF) is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. It includes top-ranked graduate schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy; a graduate division with nationally renowned programs in basic, biomedical, translational and population sciences; and a preeminent biomedical research enterprise. It also includes UCSF Health, which comprises top-ranked hospitals – UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals in San Francisco and Oakland – and other partner and affiliated hospitals and healthcare providers throughout the Bay Area.
