Maria Garcia

Maria Garcia, MD, MPH, MAS is an Assistant Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Her work focuses on co-morbid mental health and chronic diseases in vulnerable populations, particularly addressing language barriers in healthcare delivery. Dr. Garcia completed her medical degree at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, public health training at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and residency/fellowship at UCSF.

Education:

• B.A. in Latin American Studies - University of California, Berkeley (2003)
• M.D. in Medicine - Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (2011)
• M.P.H. in Family and Community Health - Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (2011)
• Internal Medicine Residency - UCSF (2014)
• Primary Care Research Fellowship - UCSF (2017)
• MAS in Clinical Research - UCSF (2016)

Research Focus: Dr. Garcia's research emphasizes improving mental health integration in primary care, particularly for linguistically diverse populations. Her work addresses disparities in depression care for patients with limited English proficiency and explores implementation strategies to enhance language-concordant care. Key areas include telemedicine's impact on mental health screening, physician language proficiency assessment, and systemic barriers to equitable healthcare access.

Funding: Principal Investigator of an NIH K23 grant (2020–2025) titled "Equity in Depression Care for Primary Care Patients with Language Barriers."

Awards: Not explicitly listed in profile but highlighted through grant leadership and publication impact.

Labs/Teams: Affiliated with UCSF's Division of General Internal Medicine, collaborating with interdisciplinary teams including the Department of Psychiatry and community health partners. Active in initiatives like the Language Access Systems Improvement program and dual-handset interpreter technology implementation.