UCSF Academic Senate’s Third Faculty Research Lecture in Social, Behavioral, and Health Policy Sciences Awarded to Kathryn A. Phillips, PhD
The Academic Senate is pleased to announce the selection of Kathryn A. Phillips, PhD, as the recipient of the Third Faculty Research Lectureship in Social, Behavioral, and Health Policy Sciences for her work focusing on the value of new technologies and how to most effectively and efficiently implement them into health care. The lecture, titled “Searching for the Holy Grail: Synthesizing Science and Policy” will take place on Wednesday, December 10, 2025, from 3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. on Mission Bay Campus in Byers Auditorium, with a reception to follow. There will also be a Zoom broadcast.
Lecture Title: Searching for the Holy Grail: Synthesizing Science and Policy
Date/Time: Wednesday, December 10, 2025, from 3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Location: Mission Bay in Byers Auditorium
Zoom Link: https://tiny.ucsf.edu/frlsb25
Zoom Passcode: 222947
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Dr. Phillips’ broad-ranging work has focused on generating and translating evidence for policy decision-making, examining how to effectively and equitably implement new technologies. Over the past 15 years, her work has converged under the specialty of precision medicine (PM), which targets medical interventions based on individuals’ characteristics such as their genetic makeup. In 2008, she founded the UCSF Center for Translational and Policy Research on Precision Medicine (TRANSPERS), the only center focused on developing objective evidence on key policy issues related to PM. It has grown to become the world’s most highly regarded center of its type. Her work on PM implementation has contributed significantly to UCSF’s research and beyond.
Her recent work on adoption and insurance coverage for new medical technologies is particularly important, raising key questions about payment policies and decisions by insurers and the federal government. Her work addresses the increasing need – and challenges - of translating scientific evidence into policy-relevant decisions. By applying rigorous and objective academic research while incorporating multiple perspectives often not found “at the table”, her work advances efforts to achieve accessible, equitable, and value-driven care.
Kathryn A. Phillips, PhD, is Professor of Health Economics and Health Services Research in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at UCSF. She is a core faculty member in the UCSF Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, and she is affiliated with the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Institute for Human Genetics, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute, and Global Health Sciences. She has been an active member of the UCSF Precision Medicine Platform Committee, and she serves as the founding Editor-in-Chief for Health Affairs Scholar: Emerging and Global Health Policy.
In addition, Dr. Phillips is a member of the National Academy of Medicine Roundtable on Genomics and Precision Health. She served on a National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine consensus report committee (2024-2025) and has served on the governing Board of Directors for GenomeCanada. She has also served as an advisor to the FDA, CDC, President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and the White House Office of Science and Technology, and has been on an expert review committee for ICER (Institute for Clinical and Economic Review) for the past five years.
The Third Faculty Research Lecture in Social, Behavioral, and Health Policy Sciences will be held on Wednesday, December 10, 2025, at 3:30 p.m. on Mission Bay Campus in the Byers Auditorium and broadcast over Zoom.
The Faculty Research Lecture in Social, Behavioral, and Health Policy Sciences award was newly established in 2023. This award is bestowed on an individual member of the UCSF faculty with outstanding achievements in social, behavioral, and health policy research. UCSF faculty are asked to consider the outstanding research contributions of their colleagues and submit nominations for this prestigious award to the Academic Senate Committee on Research. The Committee on Research will select a recipient of this award of this award annually.