​Our Experts are Here for Women’s Wellness
From doctors and psychologists to yoga therapists and public health leaders, our team combines research and care to tackle complex health challenges.
Study Investigators
Alison Huang, MD, MAS
Dr. Alison Huang is a medical doctor who works at the University of California San Francisco. She studies medicine, how the body ages, and how to keep people healthy. She is especially interested in women’s pelvic health, such as pelvic pain and bladder problems. She leads a team of scientists who research these topics and tries to find better ways to treat them. Dr. Huang has done many important studies, often by randomly choosing who gets different treatments to see what works best. She also helps train new researchers and teaches them how to do their own studies. As a primary care doctor, she takes care of adults of all ages at UCSF Health.
What is your go-to karaoke song? "Part of your World" from The Little Mermaid​
What is your favorite food? Mint chocolate chip ice cream​
What is the last TV show you binge-watched? The Good Place​
Carolyn Gibson, PhD
Dr. Carolyn Gibson is a psychologist who works at the San Francisco VA Health Care System. She studies how menopause and getting older affect women’s physical and mental health. Right now, she is looking at how menopause impacts the mental health of women who are Veterans, including how past trauma affects their health during menopause and aging. She also studies how menopause symptoms can make mental health problems worse.
What is one thing on your bucket list? Seeing the Northern Lights.​
What is the last TV show you binge-watched? A Man on the Inside! It was great to see a positive depiction of San Francisco and a thoughtful perspective on the vibrancy and challenges of aging. And it was just a fun watch.​
What is your favorite season? I love the stretch from Thanksgiving to New Years—everything and everyone slows down, and I appreciate getting to focus on spending time with loved ones, cooking and relaxing, and the coziness of having lights and a Christmas tree up for as long as I can get away with. ​
Maria Chao, Dr.PH, MPA
Dr. Maria T. Chao is a professor at the University of California San Francisco Osher Center for Integrative Health. Dr. Chao studies how the combination of regular medicine with other treatment methods can help people who don’t usually get enough care and who have long-term health problems. She wants to make sure everyone has a fair chance to be healthy. Her recent research looks at better ways to treat pain in different groups of people and how to make these treatments available to more people.
What are your hobbies? I love long hikes and yoga (headstand is my current favorite asana).​
What is one thing on your bucket list? I hope to make it to the Galapagos Islands someday. ​
What is your favorite holiday? Leap Day, I know it’s not an actual holiday, but I think it’s worthy of celebration and should be an international holiday.
Leslee Subak, MD
Dr. Subak is a doctor who specializes in women’s health at Stanford Health Care. She has special training in treating problems related to the female pelvic area and doing surgeries there. Dr. Subak leads the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department at Stanford University School of Medicine. She also teaches about women’s health and urology. Dr. Subak is a well-known researcher who studies women’s reproductive health and bladder function. She is especially interested in finding ways to help women who have trouble with urinary incontinence (leaking urine). Her team was one of the first to study weight loss as a way to treat this problem.
Tami Rowen, MD, MS
Dr. Tami Rowen is a doctor who specializes in women’s reproductive health, especially sexual health. She helps women with family planning and treats various women’s health problems like unusual menstrual bleeding, fibroids or growths near the uterus, and endometriosis (a condition where tissue similar to the lining inside the uterus grows outside of it). Dr. Rowen is known all over the world for her work in sexual health.
Francesca Nicosia, PhD
Dr. Francesca Nicosia is a medical anthropologist, health researcher, and yoga therapist. Her research aims to help older adults, women, and veterans feel better and improve their quality of life without using medicine. She study different ways to treat pain and help people function better, using things like yoga and other non-medicine treatments. She is also an expert in designing studies to test these treatments and see how they can be used in real-life settings.
Jing Cheng, MD, PS, PhD
Dr. Cheng is a professor at UCSF who is an expert in biostatistics, using math to study health data. She has been recognized by the American Statistical Association and has a key role in many scientific journals. Dr. Cheng creates new ways to analyze data from health studies to understand how treatments work. She leads projects that aim to improve health by studying how treatments affect people’s health and behaviors. Her work helps other researchers design better health programs.
Sarah Pawlowsky, PT, DPT
Dr. Sarah Pawlowsky is a physical therapist and orthopedic specialist at the University of California, San Francisco. She teaches in the UCSF/San Francisco State University Physical Therapy Graduate Program. Her research examines how exercise impacts overall patient care.
What are some of your hobbies? I enjoy doing something active – a run, a yoga video, or using the rowing machine - when I’m not practicing my “expert” parental chauffeur skills between child activities. Ballet has always been a passion of mine, and I love seeing dance performances. ​​
What is one thing on your bucket list? More travel destinations are always on my bucket list! A return trip to Greece as well as trips to the Swiss Alps and China are currently on my ever-expanding list of travel destinations. I also love camping and kayaking, and welcome opportunities to combine the two. ​
Yoga Consultants
Leslie Howard​ & Susan McCormick
Clinical Research Coordinators
Claudia Vila Manes
What are your hobbies? Roller-skating, reading, and cross-stitching​
What is your favorite season? Winter​
What is your favorite food? Paella (my mom’s recipe)​
Jenny Chen
What are your hobbies? reading, jogging, and very occasionally hitting the Muay Thai gym!​
What are the skills you’d most like to learn? How to speak fluent Arabic and play the cello.​
What was the last TV show you binge-watched? The X Files
Richa Jain
Richa is a Clinical Research Coordinator for POPPY Study at the University of California, San Francisco. Richa received her medical degree MBBS from India and practiced general medicine before moving to USA with her family. In her spare time, she enjoys doing yoga and pranic healing. Being a certified yoga instructor & certified Associate Pranic healer, Richa has always been motivated to lend a helping hand in her community by conducting meditation classes and volunteering camps.​
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What is one thing on your bucket list? Visit Mount Everest Base camp​
Do you collect anything? Good karma/ memories
Administrative and Data Management Team
Ann Chang
Ann is the Senior Project Director of the POPPY Study at the University of California, San Francisco. Ann studied Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at UCLA and has worked in clinical research since 2003. Ann supports all ongoing logistical and programmatic needs for the POPPY Study.
Mike Schembri, Senior Data Systems Analyst​
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Harini Raghunathan, Data Programs Analyst​
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Julia Howe, Volunteer Intern