Carly Zapata, MD, MPH

Associate Professor

Palliative Medicine

Dr. Carly Zapata is Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Palliative Medicine. She serves as an attending physician on the Palliative Care Consult Service at Parnassus, the Symptom Management Service in the Helen Diller Cancer Center, and the Outpatient Palliative Care Service at Parnassus. She also serves as the director of the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship at UCSF.

Dr. Zapata received her undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University and attended medical school at Harvard University, where she also completed a Master of Public Health degree from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She did her internal medicine residency at UCSF followed by a year as a Chief Resident at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital before completing her Hospice and Palliative Medicine fellowship at UCSF. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine.

Dr. Zapata's academic interests include assessing and addressing the needs of family caregivers of patients with serious illness and health care disparities in palliative care.

Education
2018 - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training, University of California
2017 - Palliative Medicine Fellowship, University of California, San Francisco
2016 - Chief Resident, University of California, San Francisco
2015 - Internal Medicine Residency, University of California, San Francisco
MD, 2012 - , Harvard Medical School
MPH, 2012 - , Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
B.A., 2006 - , Johns Hopkins University
Publications

  1. Calton BA, Nouri S, Davila C, Kotwal A, Zapata C, Bischoff KE. Strategies to Make Telemedicine a Friend, Not a Foe, in the Provision of Accessible and Equitable Cancer Care. Cancers 2023. PMID: 37958296


  2. Bischoff KE, Vanegas G, O'Riordan DL, Sumser B, Long J, Lin J, Berkey AR, Kobayashi E, Zapata C, Rabow MW, Pantilat SZ. A Systematic Approach to Assessing and Addressing Palliative Care Needs in an Outpatient Population. Journal of pain and symptom management 2023. PMID: 37380147


  3. Zapata C, Poore T, O'Riordan D, Pantilat SZ. Hispanic/Latinx and Spanish Language Concordance Among Palliative Care Clinicians and Patients in Hospital Settings in California. The American journal of hospice & palliative care 2023. PMID: 37073754


  4. Zapata CB, Dionne-Odom JN, Harris HA, Kalanithi L, Lin J, Bischoff K, Fazzalaro K, Pantilat SZ. Honoring What We Say We Do: Developing Real-World Tools for Routine Family Caregiver Assessment and Support in Outpatient Palliative Care. Journal of palliative medicine 2023. PMID: 36608316


  5. Bischoff KE, Lin J, Cohen E, O'Riordan DL, Meister S, Zapata C, Sicotte J, Lindenfeld P, Calton B, Pantilat SZ. Outpatient Palliative Care for Noncancer Illnesses: One Program's Experience with Implementation, Impact, and Lessons Learned. TO REMOVE 2022. PMID: 35442773


  6. Fahrner-Scott K, Zapata C, O'Riordan DL, Cohen E, Rosow L, Pantilat SZ, Lomen-Hoerth C, Bischoff KE. Embedded Palliative Care for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Pilot Program and Lessons Learned. Neurology. Clinical practice 2022. PMID: 36157626


  7. Huppert LA, Hsu G, Elnachef N, Flint L, Frank JA, Gensler LS, Hsiao EC, Khanna RR, Qasim A, Schwartz BS, Widera E, Zapata C, Babik JM. A single center evaluation of applicant experiences in virtual interviews across eight internal medicine subspecialty fellowship programs. Medical education online 2021. PMID: 34187346


  8. Bischoff KE, Choi S, Su A, Cohen E, O'Riordan DL, Oettel E, Blachman M, Meister S, Zapata C, Lindenfeld P, Calton B, Witt L, Pantilat SZ, Shah RJ. Better Together: A Mixed-Methods Study of Palliative Care Co-Management for Patients with Interstitial Lung Disease. Journal of palliative medicine 2021. PMID: 34115958


  9. Zapata C, Doyle K, deLima Thomas J, Biewald M, Lindenberger E. Better in Virtually Every Way. TO REMOVE 2021. PMID: 34061673


  10. Bischoff KE, Zapata C, Sedki S, Ursem C, O'Riordan DL, England AE, Thompson N, Alfaro A, Rabow MW, Atreya CE. Embedded palliative care for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer: a mixed-methods pilot study. Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer 2020. PMID: 32285263


  11. Zapata CB, Santhosh L. We May Not "Have It All," But We Can Make It Better through Structural Changes. Journal of hospital medicine 2018. PMID: 30496331


  12. Zapata CB. Survival Techniques. JAMA 2018. PMID: 29872862


  13. Zapata C, Lum HD, Wistar E, Horton C, Sudore RL. Feasibility of a Video-Based Advance Care Planning Website to Facilitate Group Visits among Diverse Adults from a Safety-Net Health System. Journal of palliative medicine 2018. PMID: 29461918


  14. Rabow MW, Benner C, Shepard N, Meng MV. Concurrent urologic and palliative care after cystectomy for treatment of muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Urologic oncology 2015. PMID: 25814144


  15. Benner C, Greenberg M, Shepard N, Meng MV, Rabow MW. The natural history of symptoms and distress in patients and families following cystectomy for treatment of muscle invasive bladder cancer. The Journal of urology 2013. PMID: 24184369


  16. Percac-Lima S, Benner CS, Lui R, Aldrich LS, Oo SA, Regan N, Chabner BA. The impact of a culturally tailored patient navigator program on cervical cancer prevention in Latina women. Journal of women's health (2002) 2013. PMID: 23621746


  17. Cohen PA, Benner C, McCormick D. Use of a pharmaceutically adulterated dietary supplement, Pai You Guo, among Brazilian-born women in the United States. Journal of general internal medicine 2011. PMID: 21845487