Bhavika Kaul, MD, MAS

Assistant Adjunct Professor

CLINICAL ACTIVITIES
Dr. Kaul is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. She specializes in the care of patients with advanced lung disease. She is an attending physician in the UCSF Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) clinic, the Parnassus medical intensive care unit (ICU), and the San Francisco Veterans Affairs pulmonary consult service.

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
Dr. Kaul's scholarship focuses on using health services and implementation science research methods to inform innovative clinical care delivery redesign. She has a particular interest in improving access to pulmonary fibrosis care for Veterans with a focus on timely ILD diagnosis and subspecialty care engagement. Her current research involves using "big data" generated from clinical encounters to better understand the epidemiology of pulmonary fibrosis among U.S. Veterans, define current barriers and facilitators to care, and develop novel informatics approaches to improve timely access to subspecialty care with the long term goal of improving clinical outcomes for patients with advanced lung disease.

Education
MD, - , Baylor College of Medicine
Chief Resident, - Internal Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine
Resident, - Internal Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine
MAS, - Clinical Research, University of California, San Francisco
Advanced Fellowship, - Interstitial Lung Disease, University of California, San Francisco
Chief Fellow, - Pulmonary and Critical Care, University of California, San Francisco
Fellow, - Pulmonary and Critical Care, University of California, San Francisco
Honors and Awards
  • Young Physician-Scientist Award, American Society for Clinical Investigation, 2025
  • Oscar Auerbach Visiting Scholar, War Related Illness and Injury Study Center, 2024
  • National Academy of Medicine Scholar in Diagnostic Excellence, National Academy of Medicine, 2023
  • Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation Scholar, Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, 2021
  • First Place, Clinical Research, National Jewish Young Investigators' Forum, 2020
  • Academy of Medical Educators, Baylor College of Medicine, 2016
  • Gold Humanism Award, Gold Humanism Honor Society, 2013
  • Excellence in Medicine Leadership Award, American Medical Association (AMA), 2011
  • Albert Schweitzer Fellowship, U.S. Albert Schweitzer Program, 2009
  • Congressional Bronze Award for Outstanding Community Service, U.S. Congress, 2005
Websites
Publications

  1. Podolanczuk AJ, Hunninghake GM, Wilson KC, Khor YH, Kheir F, Pang B, Adegunsoye A, Cararie G, Corte TJ, Flanagan J, Gudmundsson G, Hariri LP, Hatabu H, Humphries SM, Kaul B, Kim JS, Konigshoff M, Kropski JA, Lee JS, Luo F, Lynch DA, Martinez FJ, Montesi SB, Moodley Y, Oldham JM, Piciucchi S, Putman RK, Richeldi L, Rosas IO, Salisbury ML, Salvatore MM, Selman M, Seo JB, Song JW, Thomson CC, Vivero M, Wain LV, Wijsenbeek M, Schwartz DA, Ryerson CJ. Approach to the Evaluation and Management of Interstitial Lung Abnormalities. An Official American Thoracic Society Clinical Statement. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 2025. PMID: 40387336


  2. Guidot DM, Seaman D, Pleasants RA, Boggan JC, Bedoya A, Swaminathan AC, Maciejewski ML, Kaul B, Tighe RM. The Epidemiology of Combined Pulmonary Fibrosis and Emphysema (CPFE) Among Mid-Atlantic Veterans. Annals of the American Thoracic Society 2025. PMID: 40388887


  3. Guidot DM, Seaman D, Pleasants RA, Bedoya A, Tighe RM, Kaul B. Variability in chest radiology interpretation between thoracic and non-thoracic radiologists: Implications for pulmonary fibrosis care. Respiratory medicine 2024. PMID: 39357679


  4. Rezaei S, Childress A, Kaul B, Rosales KM, Newell A, Rose S. Using Visual Arts Education and Reflective Practice to Increase Empathy and Perspective Taking in Medical Students. MedEdPORTAL : the journal of teaching and learning resources 2023. PMID: 37745278


  5. Kaul B, Petersen LA, Rosas IO, Lee JS, Martinez FJ, Bandi VD, Helmer DA, Wolters PJ, Collard HR, Whooley MA. Interstitial Lung Disease in Veterans: Leveraging Big Data to Bridge the Evidence and Practice Gaps. Annals of the American Thoracic Society 2023. PMID: 36623290


  6. Adegunsoye A, Freiheit E, White EN, Kaul B, Newton CA, Oldham JM, Lee CT, Chung J, Garcia N, Ghodrati S, Vij R, Jablonski R, Flaherty KR, Wolters PJ, Garcia CK, Strek ME. Evaluation of Pulmonary Fibrosis Outcomes by Race and Ethnicity in US Adults. JAMA network open 2023. PMID: 36897590


  7. Kaul B, Lee JS, Petersen LA, McCulloch C, Rosas IO, Bandi VD, Zhang N, DeDent AM, Collard HR, Whooley MA. Disparities in Antifibrotic Medication Utilization Among Veterans with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. Chest 2023. PMID: 36801465


  8. Burns KEA, Moss M, Lorens E, Jose EKA, Martin CM, Viglianti EM, Fox-Robichaud A, Mathews KS, Akgun K, Jain S, Gershengorn H, Mehta S, Han JE, Martin GS, Liebler JM, Stapleton RD, Trachuk P, Vranas KC, Chua A, Herridge MS, Tsang JLY, Biehl M, Burnham EL, Chen JT, Attia EF, Mohamed A, Harkins MS, Soriano SM, Maddux A, West JC, Badke AR, Bagshaw SM, Binnie A, Carlos WG, Çoruh B, Crothers K, D'Aragon F, Denson JL, Drover JW, Eschun G, Geagea A, Griesdale D, Hadler R, Hancock J, Hasmatali J, Kaul B, Kerlin MP, Kohn R, Kutsogiannis DJ, Matson SM, Morris PE, Paunovic B, Peltan ID, Piquette D, Pirzadeh M, Pulchan K, Schnapp LM, Sessler CN, Smith H, Sy E, Thirugnanam S, McDonald RK, McPherson KA, Kraft M, Spiegel M, Dodek PM, Diversity-Related Research Committee of the Women in Critical Care (WICC) Interest Group of the Amer. Wellness and Coping of Physicians Who Worked in ICUs During the Pandemic: A Multicenter Cross-Sectional North American Survey. Critical care medicine 2022. PMID: 36300945


  9. Kaul B, Lee JS, Glidden D, Blanc PD, Zhang N, Collard HR, Whooley MA. Agent Orange Exposure and Risk of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Among U.S. Veterans. 2022. PMID: 35559726


  10. Kaul B, Lee JS, Collard HR, Whooley MA. Reply: Possible Alternate Explanation for Cases of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. 2022. PMID: 35289737


  11. Kaul B, Lee JS, Zhang N, Vittinghoff E, Sarmiento K, Collard HR, Whooley MA. Epidemiology of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Among U.S. Veterans, 2010 - 2019. Annals of the American Thoracic Society 2021. PMID: 34314645


  12. Bowman WS, Newton CA, Linderholm AL, Neely ML, Pugashetti JV, Kaul B, Vo V, Echt GA, Leon W, Shah RJ, Huang Y, Garcia CK, Wolters PJ, Oldham JM. Proteomic biomarkers of progressive fibrosing interstitial lung disease: a multicentre cohort analysis. 2022. PMID: 35063079


  13. Kaul B, Cottin V, Collard HR, Valenzuela C. Variability in Global Prevalence of Interstitial Lung Disease. 2021. PMID: 34805219


  14. Kaul B, Hynes DM, Hickok A, Smith C, Niederhausen M, Totten AM, Whooley MA, Sarmiento K. Does Community Outsourcing Improve Timeliness of Care for Veterans With Obstructive Sleep Apnea? Volume 59 of Issue 2. Medical care 2020. PMID: 33290324


  15. Nicosia FM, Kaul B, Totten AM, Silvestrini MC, Williams K, Whooley MA, Sarmiento KF. Leveraging Telehealth to improve access to care: a qualitative evaluation of Veterans' experience with the VA TeleSleep program. Volume 21 of Issue 1. BMC health services research 2021. PMID: 33478497


  16. Shah C, Sanber K, Jacobson R, Kaul B, Tuthill S, Hemmige V, Guy E, Greenberg S. I-PASS Illness Severity Identifies Patients at Risk for Overnight Clinical Deterioration. Journal of graduate medical education 2020. PMID: 33149827


  17. Lu AD, Kaul B, Reichert J, Kilbourne AM, Sarmiento KF, Whooley MA. Implementation Strategies for Frontline Healthcare Professionals: People, Process Mapping, and Problem Solving. Journal of general internal medicine 2020. PMID: 32918200


  18. Sarmiento KF, Boudreau EA, Smith CJ, Kaul B, Johnson N, Folmer RL. Effects of Computer-Based Documentation Procedures on Health Care Workload Assessment and Resource Allocation: An Example From VA Sleep Medicine Programs. Federal practitioner : for the health care professionals of the VA, DoD, and PHS 2020. PMID: 32908344


  19. Folmer RL, Smith CJ, Boudreau EA, Hickok AW, Totten AM, Kaul B, Stepnowsky CJ, Whooley MA, Sarmiento KF. Prevalence and management of sleep disorders in the Veterans Health Administration. Sleep medicine reviews 2020. PMID: 32791487


  20. Rathi NK, Haque SA, Morales F, Kaul B, Ramirez R, Ovu S, Feng L, Dong W, Price KJ, Ugarte S, Raimondi N, Quintero A, Cardenas YR, Nates JL. Variability in triage practices for critically ill cancer patients: A randomized controlled trial. Volume 53. Journal of critical care 2019. PMID: 31174172


  21. Kimbro RT, Kaul B. Physical Activity Disparities Between US-born and Immigrant Children by Maternal Region of Origin. Volume 18 of Issue 2. Journal of immigrant and minority health 2016. PMID: 25750136


  22. Kaul B, Teal CR, Greenberg SB. A Lack of Consensus on Appropriate Sanctions for Lapses in Medical Professionalism: An Observational Cohort Study Med Ed Publish 2015. PMID:


  23. Kaul B, Sheikh F, Zamora IJ, Mehollin-Ray AR, Cassady CI, Ayres NA, Cass DL, Olutoye OO. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1: embryologic variants of pentalogy of Cantrell. Volume 199 of Issue 1. The Journal of surgical research 2015. PMID: 25959837


  24. Pillow MT, Kaul B. A rare cause of widened mediastinum. Volume 43 of Issue 2. The Journal of emergency medicine 2010. PMID: 20801600


  25. Pilling D, Fan T, Huang D, Kaul B, Gomer RH. Identification of markers that distinguish monocyte-derived fibrocytes from monocytes, macrophages, and fibroblasts. Volume 4 of Issue 10. PloS one 2009. PMID: 19834619