Ralph Gonzales, MD, a professor in the UCSF School of Medicine, and director of the Implementation Science program at UCSF’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute, answers frequenlty asked questions about the growing field of implementation science.

Although it’s proven that contraception prevents pregnancy, it’s also clear that many women who don’t want to get pregnant don’t use or don’t have access to contraception. Christine Dehlendorf, MD, MAS, a family physician based at San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, used implementation science to help women navigate this issue.

A patient in rural Uganda is diagnosed with tuberculosis but never begins treatment. In Vietnam, someone with infectious TB might never be diagnosed because the health center is too far away. Adithya Cattamanchi, MD, is working to address challenges in Uganda and Vietnam by applying techniques of implementation science.

Why do medical research findings often fail to reach the people who could benefit from them most? This and other questions are the focus of Implementation Science, a field of study that addresses the wide-ranging challenges of translating research knowledge into real-life practice.

Indoor tanning beds can cause non-melanoma skin cancer — and the risk is greater the earlier one starts tanning, according to a new analysis led by UCSF.

Starting HIV-infected patients on antiretroviral therapy reduces food insecurity and improves physical health, thereby contributing to the disruption of a lethal syndemic, UCSF and Massachusetts General Hospital researchers have found in a study focused on sub-Saharan Africa.