Sara Ackerman
Biographic Data
| ID | 223495 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sara Ackerman |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sara |
| FAMILY NAME | Ackerman |
| SIGNATURE | ACKERMAN S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of California, San Francisco |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3567-7698 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 76 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 13 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
“We were trying to do quality versus quantity”
A growing number of clinics are adopting standardized “social risk” screening and referral programs with the goal of mitigating adversities that negatively influence patients’ health. We examined efforts to integrate social risk programs into community health centers (CHCs) providing primary care services in Oregon. CHCs participated in either one or both of two large initiatives aiming to embed standardized social risk screening and referral pro…
Pediatric Primary Care Perspectives of Mental Health Services Delivery during the Covid-19 Pandemic
Due to a national shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists, pediatric primary care providers (PCPs) are often responsible for the screening, evaluation, and treatment of mental health disorders. COVID-19 pandemic stay-at-home orders decreased access to mental health care and increased behavioral and emotional difficulties in children and adolescents. Despite increased demand upon clinicians, little is known about mental health care delivery…
The challenge of recruiting diverse populations into health research
Addressing health disparities has become a central remit for conducting health research. In the following paper, we explore the conceptual and methodological challenges posed by the call to recruit medically underserved populations. This exploration of challenges is undertaken from the perspective of social science researchers embedded in a large within a clinical genomics research study. We suggest that these challenges are found in respect to t…
Promising precision medicine
This paper examines the emerging field of molecular oncology, in which targeted treatments are sought for patients who have exhausted standard cancer therapies. Drawing on an ethnographic study at a U.S. academic medical center, and building on recent theoretical work examining potentiality as a site where expectations, meaning and value are produced, I describe efforts to translate genetic information into extended life for patients. Clinicians,…
The University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Training Program in Implementation Science
Purpose We evaluated outcomes of trainees who have completed Certificate program in Implementation Science at the University of California San Francisco. Methods All students who completed the in-person Certificate Program (2008-2015), or the online Certificate Program (2016-2017) were eligible for our study. We assessed the potential impact of the Certificate Program on the professional development of trainees, through participant surveys on the…
The Ethics of Translational Science
Biomedical research is increasingly informed by expectations of “translation,” which call for the production of scientific knowledge that can be used to create services and products that improve health outcomes. In this paper, we ask how translation, in particular the idea of social responsibility, is understood and enacted in the post-genomic life sciences. Drawing on theories examining what constitutes “good science,” and interviews with 35 inv…
Accounting for Complexity
Scientists now agree that common diseases arise through interactions of genetic and environmental factors, but there is less agreement about how scientific research should account for these interactions. This paper examines the politics of quantification in gene-environment interaction (GEI) research. Drawing on interviews and observations with GEI researchers who study common, complex diseases, we describe quantification as an unfolding moral ec…
Enacting the molecular imperative
Homogeneity and heterogeneity as situational properties
In this article, we explore current thinking and practices around the logics of difference in gene-environment interaction research in the post-genomic era. We find that scientists conducting gene-environment interaction research continue to invoke well-worn notions of racial difference and diversity, but use them strategically to try to examine other kinds of etiologically significant differences among populations. Scientists do this by seeing p…
Race and Ancestry in the Age of Inclusion
This article examines how race and ancestry are taken up in gene-environment interaction (GEI) research on complex diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Using 54 in-depth interviews of 33 scientists and over 200 hours of observation at scientific conferences, we explore how GEI researchers use and interpret race, ethnicity, and ancestry in their work. We find that the use of self-identified race and ethnicity (SIRE) exists alongsi…
Benefit or burden? A sociotechnical analysis of diagnostic computer kiosks in four California hospital emergency departments
Pretty Modern
Plastic Paradise
Long popular as a nature tourism destination, Costa Rica has recently emerged as a haven for middle class North Americans seeking inexpensive, state-of-the-art cosmetic surgery. This paper examines "cosmetic surgery tourism" in Costa Rica as a form of medicalized leisure, situated in elite private spaces and yet inextricably linked to a beleaguered national medical program. Through historical context and ethnographic analysis of activities at med…
Plastic Paradise
Long popular as a nature tourism destination, Costa Rica has recently emerged as a haven for middle class North Americans seeking inexpensive, state-of-the-art cosmetic surgery. This paper examines "cosmetic surgery tourism" in Costa Rica as a form of medicalized leisure, situated in elite private spaces and yet inextricably linked to a beleaguered national medical program. Through historical context and ethnographic analysis of activities at med…
Enacting the molecular imperative
Homogeneity and heterogeneity as situational properties
In this article, we explore current thinking and practices around the logics of difference in gene-environment interaction research in the post-genomic era. We find that scientists conducting gene-environment interaction research continue to invoke well-worn notions of racial difference and diversity, but use them strategically to try to examine other kinds of etiologically significant differences among populations. Scientists do this by seeing p…
Accounting for Complexity
Scientists now agree that common diseases arise through interactions of genetic and environmental factors, but there is less agreement about how scientific research should account for these interactions. This paper examines the politics of quantification in gene-environment interaction (GEI) research. Drawing on interviews and observations with GEI researchers who study common, complex diseases, we describe quantification as an unfolding moral ec…
Race and Ancestry in the Age of Inclusion
This article examines how race and ancestry are taken up in gene-environment interaction (GEI) research on complex diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Using 54 in-depth interviews of 33 scientists and over 200 hours of observation at scientific conferences, we explore how GEI researchers use and interpret race, ethnicity, and ancestry in their work. We find that the use of self-identified race and ethnicity (SIRE) exists alongsi…
Benefit or burden? A sociotechnical analysis of diagnostic computer kiosks in four California hospital emergency departments
Plastic Paradise
Long popular as a nature tourism destination, Costa Rica has recently emerged as a haven for middle class North Americans seeking inexpensive, state-of-the-art cosmetic surgery. This paper examines "cosmetic surgery tourism" in Costa Rica as a form of medicalized leisure, situated in elite private spaces and yet inextricably linked to a beleaguered national medical program. Through historical context and ethnographic analysis of activities at med…
Benefit or burden? A sociotechnical analysis of diagnostic computer kiosks in four California hospital emergency departments
Pretty Modern
Homogeneity and heterogeneity as situational properties
In this article, we explore current thinking and practices around the logics of difference in gene-environment interaction research in the post-genomic era. We find that scientists conducting gene-environment interaction research continue to invoke well-worn notions of racial difference and diversity, but use them strategically to try to examine other kinds of etiologically significant differences among populations. Scientists do this by seeing p…
Race and Ancestry in the Age of Inclusion
This article examines how race and ancestry are taken up in gene-environment interaction (GEI) research on complex diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Using 54 in-depth interviews of 33 scientists and over 200 hours of observation at scientific conferences, we explore how GEI researchers use and interpret race, ethnicity, and ancestry in their work. We find that the use of self-identified race and ethnicity (SIRE) exists alongsi…
Accounting for Complexity
Scientists now agree that common diseases arise through interactions of genetic and environmental factors, but there is less agreement about how scientific research should account for these interactions. This paper examines the politics of quantification in gene-environment interaction (GEI) research. Drawing on interviews and observations with GEI researchers who study common, complex diseases, we describe quantification as an unfolding moral ec…
Enacting the molecular imperative
The Ethics of Translational Science
Biomedical research is increasingly informed by expectations of “translation,” which call for the production of scientific knowledge that can be used to create services and products that improve health outcomes. In this paper, we ask how translation, in particular the idea of social responsibility, is understood and enacted in the post-genomic life sciences. Drawing on theories examining what constitutes “good science,” and interviews with 35 inv…
The University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Training Program in Implementation Science
Purpose We evaluated outcomes of trainees who have completed Certificate program in Implementation Science at the University of California San Francisco. Methods All students who completed the in-person Certificate Program (2008-2015), or the online Certificate Program (2016-2017) were eligible for our study. We assessed the potential impact of the Certificate Program on the professional development of trainees, through participant surveys on the…
Promising precision medicine
This paper examines the emerging field of molecular oncology, in which targeted treatments are sought for patients who have exhausted standard cancer therapies. Drawing on an ethnographic study at a U.S. academic medical center, and building on recent theoretical work examining potentiality as a site where expectations, meaning and value are produced, I describe efforts to translate genetic information into extended life for patients. Clinicians,…
Pediatric Primary Care Perspectives of Mental Health Services Delivery during the Covid-19 Pandemic
Due to a national shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists, pediatric primary care providers (PCPs) are often responsible for the screening, evaluation, and treatment of mental health disorders. COVID-19 pandemic stay-at-home orders decreased access to mental health care and increased behavioral and emotional difficulties in children and adolescents. Despite increased demand upon clinicians, little is known about mental health care delivery…
The challenge of recruiting diverse populations into health research
Addressing health disparities has become a central remit for conducting health research. In the following paper, we explore the conceptual and methodological challenges posed by the call to recruit medically underserved populations. This exploration of challenges is undertaken from the perspective of social science researchers embedded in a large within a clinical genomics research study. We suggest that these challenges are found in respect to t…
“We were trying to do quality versus quantity”
A growing number of clinics are adopting standardized “social risk” screening and referral programs with the goal of mitigating adversities that negatively influence patients’ health. We examined efforts to integrate social risk programs into community health centers (CHCs) providing primary care services in Oregon. CHCs participated in either one or both of two large initiatives aiming to embed standardized social risk screening and referral pro…
Sociology (9 works) · Medicine (8 works) · Psychology (8 works) · Computer Science (7 works) · Political science (7 works) · Race, Genetics, and Society (5 works) · Health care (4 works) · Public relations (4 works) · BRCA gene mutations in cancer (3 works) · Disease (3 works)