Heather Briscoe, MD

I am primarily a clinician educator based at the San Francisco General Hospital in Pediatrics. I have an interest in procedural education, and medical education in particular. In my former role as Interim Director of the Infant Care Center, I became particularly passionate about the interface of families impacted by Substance Use Disorder (SUD) and the newborn. We have racially disparate representation of families in our child welfare system, and newborn removals due to substance use is an important contributor to entries to foster care. We have an opportunity to review our practices and consider whether our policies are "baking in" factors that are biased. Social Determinants of Health are perhaps the most powerful influence, and the ones we are least equipped to influence in medicine. My current focus is on building relations with community based organizations and allies in our system of care to leverage existing resources in support of families.