University of San Francisco California
Clarissa Hsu, PhD
Group Health Institute, University of Washington, Bastyr University
Dr. Hsu is an Assistant Investigator at the Center for Community Health and Evaluation at the Group Health Research Institute, Affiliate Professor at the University of Washington’s School of Public Health and Community Medicine, and a faculty member in Bastyr University’s Department of Midwifery. Dr. Hsu is a medical anthropologist who conducts research aimed at improving the health of individuals and their communities by assessing, documenting, evaluating, and disseminating best practices for clinical, behavioral, and community health projects. Dr. Hsu’s research explores a diverse set of health related issues that include clinical transformation and health care design, effectiveness of community-based health improvement programs and health promotion policies, patient-centered care, and complementary and alternative medicine.
Dr. Hsu received funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) in 2012 to pilot and evaluate a patient co-design process and a new clinic role. Dr. Hsu and her team christened her PCORI project LINCC: Learning to Integrate Neighborhoods and Clinical Care. The LINCC team, which includes two patient co-investigators, has completed the pilot and evaluation of their patient co-design process and is currently working on a toolkit and writing up the evaluation findings. The LINCC team has also worked closely with the Group Health Delivery Systems to implement the patient co-designed lay health worker role in the primary care team. This new role is helping link patients with resources in their community using motivational interviewing and health coaching techniques. The evaluation of the pilot implementation process will conclude within the next six months.