Heejoo Ko, BS

Research Interests  

• Disparities and equity in health and healthcare access 
• Biopsychosocial model of chronic pain 
• The intersection of chronic pain and mental health disorders 
• Acupuncture, mindfulness, yoga, and other integrative health therapies 
• Psychedelic assisted therapy for chronic pain, addiction, and psychiatric disorders

Experience and Current Work  

Heejoo Ko is a UCSF medical student and predoctoral research fellow at the Osher Center. She is planning to specialize in psychiatry, and her research interests are centered around health equity, integrative health, and the biopsychosocial understanding of chronic pain. She has a broad range of research experiences and skills in quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research. She is currently working on several research projects at the Osher Center, including a study to develop criteria for accessibility and quality of mind-body resources for oncology patients and a study on the impacts of a multimodal integrative pain management program in safety net clinics. Heejoo is also firmly committed to working towards health justice and equity through her work as a political organizer fighting for the equitable distribution of collective resources, an end to imperialism and militarism across the world, and access to quality healthcare, housing, education, and healthy food for all. She is also a longtime yoga practitioner and RYT E-200 certified yoga teacher, and she teaches mindfulness-based community yoga classes at Lotusland in the Mission District.

Education and Training  

• BA, Comparative Literature, Stanford University (2019) 
• BS, Human Biology, Brain and Behavior concentration, Stanford University (2019)