UCSF Department Of Medicine | Division of Geriatrics

Sandra Y. Moody, MD is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Geriatrics, Director of the Program on Faculty Development, and Medical Director of the Home Based Primary Care program at the San Francisco VA Medical Center.

Dr. Moody received her MD from Ohio State University College of Medicine in 1991. She completed a residency in Internal Medicine and fellowships in the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program and Geriatrics at Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Moody joined the UCSF faculty in August 2001. She has developed a national reputation in diversity and health disparities.

Clinical Activities

Dr. Moody has a passion for leading and developing clinical programs. She is currently the Medical Director of the Home Based Primary Care program at SFVAMC where she leads a large interdisciplinary team encompassing nursing, psychiatry/psychology, pharmacy, social work, and nutrition. The program was a recent recipient of the coveted VA Rural Health Initiative grant to expand the program to rural areas of Northern California. The HBPC programs serve nearly 300 frail, chronically ill veterans who are home bound. She teaches students from the various disciplines

Dr. Moody was also the founder of the Division of Geriatrics Hospice and Palliative Care Service (2001-2004), which is now one of the leading hospice and palliative care programs in VA nationally. Her work was recognized by a nomination for the Marshall Goodwin-Beck Interdisciplinary Award for Excellence in Clinical Delivery (1995), an award that recognizes an individual practitioner demonstrating excellence in "hands on" direct geriatric patient care.

Dr. Moody's teaching activities involve teaching fellows, residents, and students while attending on Hospice and Palliative Medicine and students from multiple disciplines in her role as leader of the Home Based Primary Care program. She is also small group leader in the Social and Behavioral Sciences and gives the Biases in Medicine lecture to first year medical students. She was a recipient of the Division of Geriatrics' Teacher of the Year award (2003) and Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators for Excellence in Direct Teaching (2005), and has recently been selected a fellow in the California Health Care Foundation Leadership Program.

Research Activities

Dr. Moody received research training in the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at Yale University School of Medicine and has collaborated on research projects focusing on health disparities among racial and ethnic groups.

Through her research, she strives to address the issue of inequality through topics pertain to perceived racism and lifecourse socioeconomic status.

Corbie-Smith G, Moody-Ayers SY, Thrasher AD. Closing the circle between minority inclusion in research and health disparities. Arch Intern Med 2004; 164:1362-1364.
Moody-Ayers S, Mehta K, Lindquist K, Sands L, Covinsky K. Black-White Disparities in Functional Decline in Older Persons: The Role of Cognitive Function. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 2005; 60:933-939.
Moody-Ayers SY, Stewart AL, Covinsky KE, Inouye SK. Prevalence and correlates of perceived societal racism among older African-American Adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus. J of Am Geriatr Soc 2005; 53:2202-2208.
Sands LP, Landefeld S, Moody-Ayers S, Yaffe K, Palmer R, Fortinsky R, Covinsky K. Racial disparities in functional outcomes after hospitalization for an acute illness. J of Am Geriatr Soc 2005; 53:1811-1816.
Williams BA, Lindquist K, Moody-Ayers SY, Covinsky KE. Family expectations of death: The role of functional impairment and race-ethnicity. JAm Geriatr Soc 2006; 54:1682-1687.
Rodriguez RA, Sen S, Mehta K, Moody-Ayers S, O'Hare AM. Geography matters: Relationships among urban residential segregation, dialysis facilities, and patient outcomes. Ann Intern Med 2007; 146:493-501.
Moody-Ayers SY, Lindquist K, Sen S, Covinsky KE. Childhood social and economic well-being and health in older age Am J Epidemiol 2007; 166:1059-1067. Epub 2007 Aug 23.
Lee SJ, Moody-Ayers SY, Landefeld CS, Walter LC, Lindquist K, Segal MR, Covinsky KE. The relationship between self-rated health and mortality in older black and white Americans. J Am Geriatr Soc 2007; 55: 1624-9. Epub 2007 Aug 14.
Washington DL, Bowles J, Saha S, Horowitz CR, Moody-Ayers S, Brown AF, Stone VE, Cooper LA; Writing Group for the Society of General Internal Medicine, Disparities in Health Task Force. Transforming clinical practice to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare. JGIM 200823:685-691. Epub 2008 Jan 15.
Boni-Saenz AA, Covinsky KE, Moody-Ayers SY. The economic burden of end-of-life illness. In: Emanuel L, Librach L, Eds. Palliative Care: Core Skills and Clinical Competencies, Philadelphia: Saunders Elsevier, Inc., 2007, pp. 585-598.