Dr. Vijayaraghavan is a practicing general internist at the San Francisco General Hospital and a researcher in tobacco control with a focus on populations experiencing homelessness. Dr. Vijayaraghavan's intervention research stems from collaborations with community organizations. As PI of two grants (22XT-0020, 25CP-0002) from the Tobacco Related Disease Research Program, she collaborated with homeless shelters and supportive housing programs to implement interventions to increase access to cessation services and smoke-free policies among homeless clients. As co-investigator (PI Satterfield, DA034253-04) on an implementation and dissemination grant on a randomized controlled trial of computer-facilitated delivery of 5As for smoking cessation, she worked

Dr. Morris’ professional activities are grounded in engaging diverse partners in the development of evidence-based policy change to reduce social inequalities and improve health among underserved communities. As a Professor, Dr. Morris’ research focuses on applying epidemiological methods to study the impact of individual, social, and structural factors on disease transmission within marginalized populations. In particular, her work has focused on using qualitative and quantitative methods to examine social determinants of health within people who use drugs, including HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, worldwide. Internationally Dr. Morris has collaborated with researchers to carry out HIV and HCV prevention

Michael Duke is a medical anthropologist whose ethnographic and mixed-method work focuses primarily on the impact of contemporary and historical harm on the physical and behavioral health of Latine and Pacific Islander immigrant communities, particularly regarding drug and alcohol use, anxiety and depression, stress, and housing precarity. After receiving his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin, he was a researcher at the Hispanic Health Council in Hartford, CT, where he directed several studies on HIV risk among heroin injectors, and was the PI for a series of NIH-funded binational studies focusing on drinking, masculinity, and HIV risk among

Michelle S. Ochoa is a Housing Technician for the City of Roseville, California. She is passionate about working with the community and connecting people to the housing resources that they need. She experienced homelessness from ages 14-30. During this time, she longed for resources to help her get rehoused but didn’t know where to look. This lived experience inspired her to seek out employment with the government to help others navigate housing. Beyond her work with the City of Roseville, Michelle is an active member for the FoCES (Future of the Coordinated Entry System) board in Placer County, and has

Priest Martinez currently lives in Santa Rosa, California, and is a member of the Redwood Valley Rancheria Little River Band of Pomo Indian Tribe. Through his experience of homelessness with his family, Priest has learned to strive to find another way. Through education and the trial and error of everyday struggles, Priest has grown to believe that humbleness and having an open mind for learning are key to personal and community growth. His life work is centered on creating a path for members in the community dealing with trauma and hardship to find a way back to hopefulness. Wellness and

Robin Craig (she/her) is BHHI's Director of Strategic Communications. Her work bridges public policy, research, and community priorities—shaping how institutions communicate during moments of change, urgency, and opportunity. She has led communications strategy across sectors, from homelessness to transportation and local government, often in moments of crisis or transformation. Robin is known for developing communications strategies that build broad-based support, align diverse stakeholders, and advance equity-focused policies and programs. Her work is grounded in lived experience and shaped by a belief in communications as a powerful lever for systems change. Robin holds a master’s degree in strategic communications from the

Robynne Rose-Haymer is a Vice President at Capital Impact in Sacramento, California. Recently transitioning from the nonprofit world, Robynne joined Capitol Impact to utilize the over twenty years of workforce development, program development & implementation, and leadership experience to support organizations with their policy, strategy and professional development goals. Focused on economic justice, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, Robynne’s continuing passion is helping people obtain the education and skills they need to pursue their goals. Robynne began her career as an ‘on the ground practitioner’ working directly with low-income families and communities of color on health & well-being and education

Ryan Assaf, PhD, MPH is an Assistant Professor at BHHI and the Division of Health and Society, a mentored faculty member in the UCSF Action Research Center for Health at ZSFG, a member of the UCSF ARCHES New Faculty Peer Cohort 25, and a 2026 UCSF John Watson Scholar. He received his PhD in Epidemiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, Fielding School of Public Health where he also received his MPH and earned his BS at the University of California, Irvine. He recently completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, where his work centered

Sage Johnson is the Southern California Co-Chair for the BHHI Lived Expertise Advisory Board. She was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA and is currently a Peer Support Specialist in the Youth Services Department at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Sage’s work and passion is centered on tackling homelessness for Transitional-Aged Youth (TAY) in LA County, particularly Black and Queer youth. She has eight years of local, statewide, and national advocacy experience working for homelessness and housing rights in Los Angeles county. Sage experienced being unhoused from her teen years to early adulthood. Shortly after she lost her housing

Prior to accepting the role with BHHI, Sara worked as a data scientist/statistician at Methods Consultants of Ann Arbor where she performed data/statistical analysis for various clinical research studies. She also worked as a research coordinator at Michigan Medicine where she contributed to the Infant Driven Feeding initiative aimed at improving the quality and quantity of oral feeds in premature babies. Sara obtained her PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and certificate in Data Science at the University of Michigan, where she gained expertise in statistical programming, inferential/descriptive statistics, research design, data wrangling/transformation, data visualization, and machine learning techniques.

Shannon Smith-Bernardin, PhD, MSN, RN, is an Associate Professor in the UCSF School of Nursing, co-founder of the National Sobering Collaborative, and faculty at the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative.

Steve has been with UCSF for 19 years. Most recently, he worked with the Lupus Outcome Study for ten years. Prior to that, Stephen had worked as a Project Coordinator for Urban Health Study for nine years, an organization devoted to the principles of harm reduction in preventing the spread of the HIV virus in drug using and homeless populations.

Sye-Ok Sato is a Project Manager for the HOPE HOME Study, coordinating the longitudinal cohort study that examines the relationship between discrimination, stigma, medical mistrust, health utilization and health outcomes among homeless older adults in Oakland, California. She has made it a priority in her research endeavors to give a voice to communities that are overlooked, including people experiencing homelessness and drug users. She comes to the Action Research Center for Health and Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative with experience and passion to implement creative research processes that provide meaningful and actionable findings. Sye-Ok hails from the Pacific Northwest and

Tiana Moore, PhD, MS, MA, is a co-author of the report. In this role, Dr. Moore focuses on translating academic research into evidence-based policy guidance. She has deep expertise in policies related to housing and homelessness. Prior to joining BHHI, Dr. Moore conducted research on the influence of housing and housing policy on the well-being of unstably housed children and families. Additionally, she worked in higher education leading a broad portfolio of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Dr. Moore earned her PhD in Developmental Psychology and MS in Applied Statistics from Columbia University. She is also a graduate of Stanford

Tianna Jacques is a Research Analyst at BHHI. She supports the qualitative research team and is currently conducting research for the California State Survey. Tianna recently earned a BA from San Francisco State University in Sociology. There, she became a part of SF BUILD (a program that aims to uplift underrepresented groups in the biomedical field) where she conducted research around the impact of COVID-19 on our local homeless communities. Tianna says her family's own financial struggles when she was young sparked her passion to uplift others experiencing similar hardships.

Trina Johnson PhD, MSc, earned her doctorate in Health Services and Policy Research at Boston University School of Public Health in a NIDA-funded training fellowship focused on the integration of research and care for Addiction, HIV and HCV. Trina has prior experience working as a mental health counselor for adolescents, a substance use counselor for adults, and a house manager in transitional programs for formerly unhoused individuals with co-occurring psychiatric and/or substance use conditions. She has also volunteered with the Berkeley Free Clinic for over 10 years and has held several roles which has included doing outreach to people who

In her role at BHHI, Usma Khan oversees strategic planning, new program development, communications, and the overall operational structure of BHHI. She works to create a strong and inclusive organizational culture that supports BHHI faculty and staff in implementing their impactful work. Usma is inspired by BHHI’s mission and the intentional emphasis on addressing structural racism and equity. Having grown up in the Bay Area, she has witnessed the dramatic rise in homelessness, as the economic divide has widened and housing costs have skyrocketed, and she is dedicated to developing solutions to this critical public health and human rights issue

Vivian grew up in Anaheim, CA and attended UC Berkeley for her undergraduate and graduate studies. She holds a Public Health BA, Molecular and Cell Biology BA, Global Poverty and Practice Minor, and MPH in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Prior to joining BHHI, Vivian worked with people experiencing homelessness in the East Bay through the Suitcase Clinic, Berkeley Free Clinic's Street Medicine Team, and the 2022 PIT Count. Since 2019, she has also worked with Dr. Coco Auerswald on community-engaged research, detailing the impact of COVID-19 on youth experiencing homelessness in San Francisco and Alameda Counties. During her MPH, Vivian joined