Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, M.D.

Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, M.D. is Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine. He holds degrees from the University of Miami (B.A. and M.D.), trained in primary care general internal medicine at UCSF, and completed a Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation fellowship in general internal medicine before being appointed Assistant Professor at UCSF in July 1983. Dr. Pérez-Stable follows a panel of patients in general internal medicine, and teaches residents and students in primary care internal medicine every week. Dr. Pérez-Stable's research has focused on risk factor reduction interventions for Latino populations and health care disparities.

Dr. Pérez-Stable was the Principal Investigator of the Hispanic Smoking Cessation Research Project (Programa Latino Para Dejar de Fumar) which was a community-based intervention to decrease nicotine dependence in San Francisco Latinos funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) from 1985-1996. He also was Leader of a project in the Pathways to Cancer Screening in Four Ethnic Groups NCI funded program project that included a community based intervention targeting Latina women in San Francisco to promote screening procedures for early detection of breast and cervical cancer. Dr. Pérez-Stable was also the Co-PI for San Francisco in the National Hispanic Leadership Initiative on Cancer (En Acción) that was a community based intervention to promote smoking cessation, decreased alcohol consumption, increased use of recommended cancer screening tests, and changes in dietary habits to promote a healthier lifestyle. These projects are an extension of prior work that compared knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and practices of Latinos and Anglos in Alameda and San Francisco Counties in order to develop cancer prevention interventions promoting cancer-screening tests. As a result of these programs three booklets for Spanish speaking population were produced. The Guia para Dejar de Fumar which has been published four times by the NCI, a guide for women to promote use of breast and cervical cancer screening tests (La Mujer y El Cancer) and a general information booklet on cancer prevention and control.

Dr. Pérez-Stable has studied Sociocultural Barriers Between Latino Patients and their Anglo Physicians by evaluating the effect of language ability on medical outcomes and culture specific barriers to communication. Dr. Pérez-Stable is Co-Director of the UCSF Medical Effectiveness Research Center for Diverse Populations (MERC) and Director of the Center for Aging in Diverse Communities (CADC). MERC and CADC focus on health and health care disparities in African American, Asian American, and Latino populations with a special emphasis on cancer, cardiovascular disease, and reproductive health and working groups on methodological areas related to ascertainment of race or ethnicity, quality of care and cost effectiveness analyses. In an extension of the quality of care work, Dr. Pérez-Stable collaborated with other MERC investigators to develop a measure of Interpersonal Processes of Care that can be applied to persons from different ethnic groups in English and Spanish. Dr. Pérez-Stable completed data collection from a cohort of women from four ethnic groups with abnormal mammography. This study evaluated women's psychological reactions to the abnormal study, the quality of the communication with their clinicians, satisfaction with the evaluation, and the timeliness of follow-up tests to evaluate the abnormal mammogram. Current projects include a study on communication of cancer risk, evaluation of new technology in medical interpretation, and continuing the community-based cancer prevention activities among Latinos. Dr. Pérez-Stable is the PI on a Fogarty International Center Tobacco Project in collaboration with investigators in Argentina. The project is building capacity by training investigators from Argentina and conducting an observational study of youth in Jujuy (a province in northwest Argentina with a high proportion of indigenous population).

Through his leadership roles in CADC and MERC, Dr. Pérez-Stable leads efforts in training of minority scientists by focusing on mentoring relationships with established faculty. CADC funds pilot studies for minority investigators, have established a network of community based organizations working in minority communities, and is evaluating the appropriateness of using measures in diverse groups. Over 40 minority investigators from multiple disciplines have been mentored and supported through MERC and CADC over the past 12 years.