Leah Karliner, MD, MAS

Professor In Residence
Medicine

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.

Publications: 

Caring for Patients with Functional Impairment in Middle Age: Perspectives from Primary Care Providers and Geriatricians.

Journal of general internal medicine

Schmucker AM, Reyes-Farias D, Nicosia FM, Xu E, B Potter M, Karliner LS, Brown RT

Care Partner Engagement in Secure Messaging Between Patients With Diabetes and Their Clinicians: Cohort Study.

JMIR diabetes

Semere W, Karter AJ, Lyles CR, Reed ME, Karliner L, Kaplan C, Liu JY, Livaudais-Toman J, Schillinger D

Telemedicine and Depression Screening After the Start of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

JAMA network open

Garcia ME, Neuhaus J, Livaudais-Toman J, Feldman MD, Ochoa-Frongia L, Khoong E, Karliner LS

Predictors of psychological distress among rural family/friend caregivers of people living with dementia in the United States: Consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences

Santoyo-Olsson J, Covinsky KE, Chesla CA, Lorig K, Gallagher Thompson D, Cheng J, Luzanilla M, Macias Romo E, Aguayo Ramirez G, Karliner L, Yank V

Language Access Systems Improvement initiative: impact on professional interpreter utilisation, a natural experiment.

BMJ open

Karliner LS, Gregorich SE, Mutha S, Kaplan C, Livaudais-Toman J, Pathak S, Garcia ME, Diamond L

Effective strategies to recruit rural family/friend caregivers of persons living with dementia in the United States into a national randomized controlled trial: preliminary results.

Alzheimer's & Dementia

Veronica A. Yank, Jasmine Santoyo-Olsson, Maritza Luzanilla, Elizabeth Macias Romo, Giselle Aguayo Ramirez, Catherine Chesla, Kate Lorig, Jing Cheng, Kenneth E Covinsky, Dolores Gallagher-Thompson, Leah Karliner

IMPROVING DEMENTIA DETECTION IN PRIMARY CARE: PROCESS EVALUATION FOR THE ERADAR BRAIN HEALTH TRIAL.

Innovation in aging

Deborah Barnes, Mikael Anne Greenwood-Hickman, Clarissa Hsu, Leah Karliner, Deborah King, Sei Lee, Rebecca Coley, Sascha Dublin

Current State and Proposal of Best Practices of Standardized Patients for Spanish-Language Objective Structured Clinical Encounters in US Medical Schools.

Simulation in healthcare : journal of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare

Iñiguez RX, Figueroa Narváez JA, Diamond LC, Gregorich SE, Karliner L, González J, Pérez-Cordón C, Shin TM, Izquierdo K, Ortega P

The electronic health record Risk of Alzheimer's and Dementia Assessment Rule (eRADAR) brain health trial: Protocol for an embedded, pragmatic clinical trial of a low-cost dementia detection algorithm.

Contemporary clinical trials

Dublin S, Greenwood-Hickman MA, Karliner L, Hsu C, Coley RY, Colemon L, Carrasco A, King D, Grace A, Lee SJ, Walsh JME, Barrett T, Broussard J, Singh U, Idu A, Yaffe K, Boustani M, Barnes DE

Validity Evidence for the Physician Oral Language Observation Matrix as a Measure of Medical Spanish Proficiency.

Journal of general internal medicine

Ortega P, Gregorich SE, Karliner L, González J, Pérez-Cordón C, Iñiguez RX, Izquierdo K, Diamond LC

LungCARE: Encouraging Shared Decision-Making in Lung Cancer Screening-a Randomized Trial.

Journal of general internal medicine

Walsh JME, Karliner L, Smith A, Leykin Y, Gregorich SE, Livaudais-Toman J, Velazquez AI, Lowenstein M, Kaplan CP

Language-Concordant Care: a Qualitative Study Examining Implementation of Physician Non-English Language Proficiency Assessment.

Journal of general internal medicine

Garcia ME, Williams M, Mutha S, Diamond LC, Jih J, Handley MA, Pathak S, Karliner LS

"How's your mood": Recorded physician mental health conversations with Chinese and Latino patients in routine primary care visits.

Patient education and counseling

Ho EY, Karliner LS, Leung G, Harb R, Aguayo Ramirez G, Garcia ME

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

Steven Gregorich, Leah Karliner, Javier Gonzalez, Cristina Pérez-Cordón, Reniell Iniguez, Jose Alberto Figueroa, Karen Izquierdo, Pilar Ortega

Medical interpreter-mediated genetic counseling for Spanish preferring adults at risk for a hereditary cancer syndrome.

Journal of genetic counseling

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

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

Pilar Ortega, Reniell X. Iñiguez, Steven E. Gregorich, Cristina Pérez-Cordón, José Alberto Figueroa, Karen Izquierdo, Javier González, Leah Karliner, Lisa C. Diamond

eRADAR detects primary care patients at risk of having undiagnosed dementia in two real-world healthcare systems.

Alzheimer's & Dementia

R Yates Coley, Julia J Smith, Leah Karliner, Sei J Lee, Sharon Fuller, Rosemary Lam, Deborah E Barnes, Sascha Dublin

Primary Care Physicians' Perceived Barriers to Follow-Up of Abnormal Mammogram Results: Opportunities for Systems-Level Interventions.

Journal of general internal medicine

Flynn SJ, Livaudais-Toman J, Kaplan CP, Kerlikowske K, Burke NJ, Pathak S, Karliner LS

Exploring the Impact of Language Concordance on Cancer Communication.

JCO oncology practice

Bregio C, Finik J, Baird M, Ortega P, Roter D, Karliner L, Diamond LC

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

Lamprea-Montealegre JA, Madden E, Tummalapalli SL, Peralta C, Neilands TB, Garcia PK, Muiru A, Karliner L, Shlipak MG, Estrella MM

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.

Contemporary clinical trials

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

Development of a Tool to Assess Medical Oral Language Proficiency.

Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges

Diamond LC, Gregorich SE, Karliner L, Gonz?lez J, P?rez-Cord?n C, Iniguez R, Figueroa JA, Izquierdo K, Ortega P

Equitability of Depression Screening After Implementation of General Adult Screening in Primary Care.

JAMA network open

Garcia ME, Hinton L, Neuhaus J, Feldman M, Livaudais-Toman J, Karliner LS

External Validation of the eRADAR Risk Score for Detecting Undiagnosed Dementia in Two Real-World Healthcare Systems.

Journal of general internal medicine

Coley RY, Smith JJ, Karliner L, Idu AE, Lee SJ, Fuller S, Lam R, Barnes DE, Dublin S

Barriers and Facilitators to Lung Cancer Screening: A Physician Survey.

American journal of health promotion : AJHP

Lowenstein M, Karliner L, Livaudais-Toman J, Gregorich S, Velazquez AI, Vijayaraghavan M, Walsh JME, Kaplan CP

When Functional Impairment Develops Early: Perspectives from Middle-Aged Adults.

Journal of general internal medicine

Xu E, Nicosia FM, Zamora K, Barrientos M, Spar MJ, Reyes-Farias D, Karliner LS, Potter MB, Brown RT

Development and evaluation of an exome sequencing training course for medical interpreters.

Personalized medicine

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

Differences in Hypertension Medication Prescribing for Black Americans and Their Association with Hypertension Outcomes.

Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM

Holt HK, Gildengorin G, Karliner L, Fontil V, Pramanik R, Potter MB

Increasing Telehealth Access to Care for Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic at an Academic Medical Center: Video Visits for Elders Project (VVEP).

Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety

Chu JN, Kaplan C, Lee JS, Livaudais-Toman J, Karliner L

Disparities After Discharge: The Association of Limited English Proficiency and Postdischarge Patient-Reported Issues.

Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety

Malevanchik L, Wheeler M, Gagliardi K, Karliner L, Shah SJ

Communication methods between outpatients with limited-English proficiency and ancillary staff: LASI study results.

Patient education and counseling

Kornbluth L, Kaplan CP, Diamond L, Karliner LS

Patient Perspectives on the Quality of Professional Interpretation: Results from LASI Study.

Journal of general internal medicine

Pathak S, Gregorich SE, Diamond LC, Mutha S, Seto E, Livaudais-Toman J, Karliner L

Loss of patient centeredness in interpreter-mediated primary care visits.

Patient education and counseling

Roter DL, Gregorich SE, Diamond L, Livaudais-Toman J, Kaplan C, Pathak S, Karliner L

Use and Usefulness of After-Visit Summaries by Language and Health Literacy among Latinx and Chinese Primary Care Patients.

Journal of health communication

Nouri SS, Pathak S, Livaudais-Toman J, Gregorich SE, Kaplan CP, Diamond L, Karliner L

Electronic Decision Support for Management of CKD in Primary Care: A Pragmatic Randomized Trial.

American journal of kidney diseases : the official journal of the National Kidney Foundation

Peralta CA, Livaudais-Toman J, Stebbins M, Lo L, Robinson A, Pathak S, Scherzer R, Karliner LS

Organization Communication Factors and Abnormal Mammogram Follow-up: a Qualitative Study Among Ethnically Diverse Women Across Three Healthcare Systems.

Journal of general internal medicine

Kenny JD, Karliner LS, Kerlikowske K, Kaplan CP, Fernandez-Lamothe A, Burke NJ

An Automated Telephone Call System Improves the Reach and Cost-effectiveness of Panel Management Outreach for Cancer Screening.

The Journal of ambulatory care management

Gagliardi KS, Coleman S, Intinarelli G, Karliner L, Appelle N, Taylor B, Grumbach K

Association of Patient Language with Guideline-Concordant Care for Individuals with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in Primary Care.

Journal of general internal medicine

Rosenwohl-Mack S, Rubinsky A, Karliner L, López L, Peralta CA

Unmet Mental Health Need Among Chinese and Latino Primary Care Patients: Intersection of Ethnicity, Gender, and English Proficiency.

Journal of general internal medicine

Garcia ME, Hinton L, Gregorich SE, Livaudais-Toman J, Kaplan C, Karliner L

Patient-Reported Use of the After Visit Summary in a Primary Care Internal Medicine Practice.

Journal of Patient Experience

Pathak S, Summerville G, Kaplan CP, Nouri SS, Karliner LS

Change in Faculty Perceptions of Burnout and Work Life in an Academic General Medicine Clinic: a Pre-Post Study.

Journal of general internal medicine

Lee JS, Karliner LS, Julian KA, Linzer M, Feldman MD

Caregiving for Older Adults with Limited English Proficiency: Transitioning from Hospital to Home.

Journal of general internal medicine

Semere W, Nápoles AM, Gregorich S, Livaudais-Toman J, Karliner L

Development of a Multistep Hypertension Quality Improvement Program in an Academic General Medicine Practice.

Journal for healthcare quality : official publication of the National Association for Healthcare Quality

Bui-Duy MK, Wong S, Lam R, Karliner LS

Real-world lung cancer screening decision-making: Barriers and facilitators.

Lung cancer (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

Lowenstein M, Vijayaraghavan M, Burke NJ, Karliner L, Wang S, Peters M, Lozano A, Kaplan CP

Validating laboratory defined chronic kidney disease in the electronic health record for patients in primary care.

BMC nephrology

Frigaard M, Rubinsky A, Lowell L, Malkina A, Karliner L, Kohn M, Peralta CA

Mammography facilities serving vulnerable women have longer follow-up times.

Health services research

Karliner LS, Kaplan C, Livaudais-Toman J, Kerlikowske K

Disparities in Hypertension Control Across and Within Three Health Systems Participating in a Data-Sharing Collaborative.

Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM

Selby K, Michel M, Gildengorin G, Karliner L, Pramanik R, Fontil V, Potter MB

An Intervention Tool to Increase Patient-Physician Discussion of Lifestyle Risk Factors for Breast Cancer.

Journal of women's health (2002)

Ozanne E, Karliner LS, Tice JA, Haas JS, Livaudais-Toman J, Pasick RJ, Kaplan CP

A Comparison of Electronic Patient-Portal Use Among Patients with Resident and Attending Primary Care Providers.

Journal of general internal medicine

Chan B, Lyles C, Kaplan C, Lam R, Karliner L

Hospital discharge preparedness for patients with limited English proficiency: A mixed methods study of bedside interpreter-phones.

Patient education and counseling

Lee JS, Nápoles A, Mutha S, Pérez-Stable EJ, Gregorich SE, Livaudais-Toman J, Karliner LS

Increased Access to Professional Interpreters in the Hospital Improves Informed Consent for Patients with Limited English Proficiency.

Journal of general internal medicine

Lee JS, Pérez-Stable EJ, Gregorich SE, Crawford MH, Green A, Livaudais-Toman J, Karliner LS

Validation of an Efficient Screening Tool to Identify Low-Income Women at High Risk for Hereditary Breast Cancer.

Public health genomics

Stewart SL, Kaplan CP, Lee R, Joseph G, Karliner L, Livaudais-Toman J, Pasick RJ

The Action Research Program: Experiential Learning in Systems-Based Practice for First-Year Medical Students.

Teaching and learning in medicine

Ackerman SL, Boscardin C, Karliner L, Handley MA, Cheng S, Gaither TW, Hagey J, Hennein L, Malik F, Shaw B, Trinidad N, Zahner G, Gonzales R

Inaccurate Language Interpretation and Its Clinical Significance in the Medical Encounters of Spanish-speaking Latinos.

Medical care

Nápoles AM, Santoyo-Olsson J, Karliner LS, Gregorich SE, Pérez-Stable EJ

Impact of a primary care based intervention on breast cancer knowledge, risk perception and concern: A randomized, controlled trial.

Breast (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Livaudais-Toman J, Karliner LS, Tice JA, Kerlikowske K, Gregorich S, Pérez-Stable EJ, Pasick RJ, Chen A, Quinn J, Kaplan CP

A randomized, controlled trial to increase discussion of breast cancer in primary care.

Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology

Kaplan CP, Livaudais-Toman J, Tice JA, Kerlikowske K, Gregorich SE, Pérez-Stable EJ, Pasick RJ, Chen A, Quinn J, Karliner LS

Perceived versus objective breast cancer risk in diverse women.

Journal of women's health (2002)

Fehniger J, Livaudais-Toman J, Karliner L, Kerlikowske K, Tice JA, Quinn J, Ozanne E, Kaplan CP

Satisfaction with treatment decision-making and treatment regret among Latinas and non-Latina whites with DCIS.

Patient education and counseling

López ME, Kaplan CP, Nápoles AM, Hwang ES, Livaudais JC, Karliner LS

Ductal carcinoma in situ: knowledge of associated risks and prognosis among Latina and non-Latina white women.

Breast cancer research and treatment

Parikh AR, Kaplan CP, Burke NJ, Livaudais-Toman J, Hwang ES, Karliner LS

Diagnostic imaging and biopsy pathways following abnormal screen-film and digital screening mammography.

Breast cancer research and treatment

Hubbard RA, Zhu W, Horblyuk R, Karliner L, Sprague BL, Henderson L, Lee D, Onega T, Buist DS, Sweet A

What do we know about patient-clinician interactions with interpreters?

Journal of general internal medicine

Pérez-Stable EJ, Karliner LS

Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS): posttreatment follow-up care among Latina and non-Latina White women.

Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice

López ME, Kaplan CP, Nápoles AM, Livaudais JC, Hwang ES, Stewart SL, Bloom J, Karliner L

Quality of life of Latina and Euro-American women with ductal carcinoma in situ.

Psycho-oncology

Bloom JR, Stewart SL, Napoles AM, Hwang ES, Livaudais JC, Karliner L, Kaplan CP

Language barriers and understanding of hospital discharge instructions.

Medical care

Karliner LS, Auerbach A, Nápoles A, Schillinger D, Nickleach D, Pérez-Stable EJ

Ability of microvolt T-wave alternans to modify risk assessment of ventricular tachyarrhythmic events: a meta-analysis.

American heart journal

Gupta A, Hoang DD, Karliner L, Tice JA, Heidenreich P, Wang PJ, Turakhia MP

Impact of an easy-access telephonic interpreter program in the acute care setting: an evaluation of a quality improvement intervention.

Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety

Tuot DS, Lopez M, Miller C, Karliner LS

Language barriers, location of care, and delays in follow-up of abnormal mammograms.

Medical care

Karliner LS, Ma L, Hofmann M, Kerlikowske K

Performance of an online translation tool when applied to patient educational material.

Journal of hospital medicine

Khanna RR, Karliner LS, Eck M, Vittinghoff E, Koenig CJ, Fang MC

Interpreter perspectives of in-person, telephonic, and videoconferencing medical interpretation in clinical encounters.

Patient education and counseling

Price EL, Pérez-Stable EJ, Nickleach D, López M, Karliner LS

Adjuvant hormonal therapy use among women with ductal carcinoma in situ.

Journal of women's health (2002)

Livaudais JC, Hwang ES, Karliner L, Nápoles A, Stewart S, Bloom J, Kaplan CP

The use of Spanish language skills by physicians and nurses: policy implications for teaching and testing.

Journal of general internal medicine

Diamond LC, Tuot DS, Karliner LS

Physician use of advance care planning discussions in a diverse hospitalized population.

Journal of immigrant and minority health

Kulkarni SP, Karliner LS, Auerbach AD, Pérez-Stable EJ

The effect of system-level access factors on receipt of reconstruction among Latina and white women with DCIS.

Breast cancer research and treatment

Kaplan CP, Karliner LS, Hwang ES, Bloom J, Stewart S, Nickleach D, Quinn J, Thrasher A, Nápoles AM

Patterns of interpreter use for hospitalized patients with limited English proficiency.

Journal of general internal medicine

Schenker Y, Pérez-Stable EJ, Nickleach D, Karliner LS

Selection of treatment among Latina and non-Latina white women with ductal carcinoma in situ.

Journal of women's health (2002)

Kaplan CP, Nápoles AM, Hwang ES, Bloom J, Stewart S, Nickleach D, Karliner L

Patient-physicians' information exchange in outpatient cardiac care: time for a heart to heart?

Patient education and counseling

Sarkar U, Schillinger D, Bibbins-Domingo K, Nápoles A, Karliner L, Pérez-Stable EJ

Language barriers and patient-centered breast cancer care.

Patient education and counseling

Karliner LS, Hwang ES, Nickleach D, Kaplan CP

Influence of language barriers on outcomes of hospital care for general medicine inpatients.

Journal of hospital medicine

Karliner LS, Kim SE, Meltzer DO, Auerbach AD

Physicians' approaches to recommending colorectal cancer screening: a qualitative study.

Journal of cancer education : the official journal of the American Association for Cancer Education

Walsh JM, Karliner L, Burke N, Somkin CP, Pham LA, Pasick R

Clinician ratings of interpreter mediated visits in underserved primary care settings with ad hoc, in-person professional, and video conferencing modes.

Journal of health care for the poor and underserved

Nápoles AM, Santoyo-Olsson J, Karliner LS, O'Brien H, Gregorich SE, Pérez-Stable EJ

Achieving quality in health care through language access services: lessons from a California public hospital.

American journal of medical quality : the official journal of the American College of Medical Quality

Karliner LS, Mutha S

An assessment of the likelihood, frequency, and content of verbal communication between radiologists and women receiving screening and diagnostic mammography.

Academic radiology

Carney PA, Kettler M, Cook AJ, Geller BM, Karliner L, Miglioretti DL, Bowles EA, Buist DS, Gallagher TH, Elmore JG

Accuracy of self-reported breast cancer among women undergoing mammography.

Breast cancer research and treatment

Abraham L, Geller BM, Yankaskas BC, Bowles EJ, Karliner LS, Taplin SH, Miglioretti DL

Gastric banding or bypass? A systematic review comparing the two most popular bariatric procedures.

The American journal of medicine

Tice JA, Karliner L, Walsh J, Petersen AJ, Feldman MD

Identification of limited English proficient patients in clinical care.

Journal of general internal medicine

Karliner LS, Napoles-Springer AM, Schillinger D, Bibbins-Domingo K, Pérez-Stable EJ

Ethnic disparities in breast cancer.

Women's health (London, England)

Karliner LS, Kerlikowske K

Missed opportunities: family history and behavioral risk factors in breast cancer risk assessment among a multiethnic group of women.

Journal of general internal medicine

Karliner LS, Napoles-Springer A, Kerlikowske K, Haas JS, Gregorich SE, Kaplan CP

The need for more research on language barriers in health care: a proposed research agenda.

The Milbank quarterly

Jacobs E, Chen AH, Karliner LS, Agger-Gupta N, Mutha S

Poor patient comprehension of abnormal mammography results.

Journal of general internal medicine

Karliner LS, Patricia Kaplan C, Juarbe T, Pasick R, Pérez-Stable EJ

The language divide. The importance of training in the use of interpreters for outpatient practice.

Journal of general internal medicine

Karliner LS, Pérez-Stable EJ, Gildengorin G