History
The UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations, directed by Dean Schillinger, MD (Director) and Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo MD, PHD, MAS (co-Director) was founded in 2006. CVP is based within the UCSF Department of Medicine on the campus of San Francisco General Hospital, the public health hospital of the City and County of San Francisco, which serves a diverse and largely indigent population. CVP has distinguished itself as a practice-based research center whose work has helped translate research into community and public health practice, as well as infuse local practice back into research. CVP faculty have coordinated 7 randomized trials in community settings.
CVP faculty have received and administered research and public health grants from CDC, AHRQ, NHLBI, NCRR, SAMHSA, and others. Nationally, CVP faculty have created the Diabetes Research Initiative of the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems, helped adapt the Coronary Heart Disease Policy Model to evaluate differences in heart disease rates in low-income and race/ethnic minority populations, and have served on IOM Committees and contributed to IOM reports. CVP staff and faculty also play a critical role in the state’s public health system: in 2008, the California Department of Public Health chose UCSF to administer the California Diabetes Prevention and Control Program under the leadership of CVP Director, Dean Schillinger.