Margot Kushel, M.D.

Current position:
Assistant Professor of Medicine in Residence

Education and training:
Medical School: Yale University School of Medicine 1995
Residency:  UCSF/SFGH Primary Care Internal Medicine 1995-1998
Chief Resident: UCSF/SFGH Department of Medicine 1998-1999
Fellowship:  General Internal Medicine, UCSF/SFGH 1999-2001

Areas of interest:
Homelessness
Housing instability and food insecurity
“High Utilizers”
Disability

Current academic and/or research activities:
Dr. Kushel’s primary interest is the impact of social policy decisions on health care outcomes. The main focus of Dr. Kushel’s research is in improving health outcomes among homeless persons and those with housing instability.  Her research includes descriptive epidemiology to improve our understanding of the causes and consequences of homelessness; program evaluation, to understand the impact of non-health care interventions on health care outcomes; and health services research, examine health care utilization patterns of homeless and unstably housed individuals.

Recent publications:
Kushel MB, Vittinghoff E,  Haas JS.  Factors associated with the health care utilization of homeless persons.  JAMA. 2001;285:200-206. 

Kushel MB, Perry S, Bangsberg D, Clark R, Moss AR.  Emergency Department Utilization Among the Homeless and Marginally Housed:  Results from a community based study.  American Journal of Public Health.  2002; 92:778-784. 

 Kushel MB, Evans JL, Perry S, Robertson M, Moss AR.  No door to lock:  Victimization Among the Homeless and Marginally Housed. Archives of Internal Medicine.  2003; 163:2492-2499.

Walley A, White M, Kushel MB, Song Y, Tulsky J.  Knowledge of, evaluation for, and interest in hepatitis C treatment at a methadone clinic. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, in press.

Tsai M, Weintraub R, Gee L, Kushel, MB:  Identifying Homelessness at a Public Hospital:  A Moving Target? Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved.  In press.

Kushel M, Bindman AB.  Health Care Lobbying:  Time to make patients the special interest.  Am J Med. 2004; 116: 496-497.