Jessica B. Rubin

Jessica B. Rubin, MD, MPH, is Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine, where she holds dual clinical appointments in the Divisions of Gastroenterology and Transplant Hepatology. She directs an NIH-funded research program at the intersection of hepatology, pain management, and health-services science, with the overarching goal of improving quality of life and outcomes for patients living with liver disease.

Education & Training:

• B.S., Biomedical Engineering, Yale University (2009)
• M.D., Weill Cornell Medical College (2014)
• M.P.H., Health Care Management, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (2012)
• Residency: Internal Medicine, UCSF (2017)
• Fellowships: Gastroenterology (2020) & Transplant Hepatology (2021), UCSF

Research Focus:

Dr. Rubin’s scholarly work centers on three synergistic themes: (1) developing safe, effective analgesic strategies for patients with chronic liver disease and cirrhosis; (2) identifying and mitigating gender-based disparities across the liver-transplant continuum; and (3) leveraging large administrative and clinical datasets to inform evidence-based pain and opioid-stewardship policies. Her portfolio encompasses retrospective cohort analyses, prospective quality-improvement initiatives, and predictive-modeling projects that integrate electronic health-record data with patient-reported outcomes.

Across 50+ peer-reviewed publications since 2007—including 10 in 2024 alone—her work consistently explores how systemic factors (race, sex, insurance status, social determinants) intersect with clinical variables (cirrhosis severity, transplant candidacy, pain phenotypes) to influence morbidity, mortality, and healthcare utilization. Recent influential articles illuminate racial differences in primary sclerosing cholangitis, cannabis-related effects on transplant outcomes, and the complex interplay among pain, mental health, and quality-of-life metrics in pre- and post-transplant populations.

Honors & Awards:

• American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) Anna S. Lok Advanced/Transplant Hepatology Award (2020)
• American Society of Transplantation Women’s Health Community of Practice Travel Award (2019)
• UCSF Department of Medicine Outstanding Resident Research Award (2017)
• European Association for the Study of the Liver Young Investigator Award (2016)
• Leonard P. Tow Humanism in Medicine Award & Gold Humanism Honor Society (2014)
• Alpha Omega Alpha (2013)
• Multiple Weill Cornell and Yale academic prizes and honors

Professional Memberships & Service:

Dr. Rubin is an active member of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, American Gastroenterological Association, American College of Gastroenterology, American Society of Transplantation, and Northern California Society for Clinical Gastroenterology. She serves as ad-hoc reviewer for leading journals and participates in national consensus panels on pain management in liver disease.