With an ultimate goal of reducing healthcare disparities in cardiovascular disease and diabetes, Dr. Lopez' research addresses issues relating to patient safety and language barriers, optimizing primary care clinical services for Latinos with cultural and linguistic barriers, and using health information technology to decrease disparities. A second line of research is investigating the epidemiology of acculturation among Latinos in the US and its impact on the prevalence and development of cardiovascular disease and Type II diabetes. This research will help inform how to better design clinical interventions for improving chronic disease management among Latinos.

Dr. Lopez's work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIDDK) and the Harold Amos Faculty Development Award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Past funders have included the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Aetna Foundation and the McKesson Foundation.

Currently, Dr. Lopez serves as the Chief of Hospital Medicine at the UCSF - San Francisco VA Medical Center. In addition, he is a faculty member in the UCSF Center for the Study of Adversity and Cardiovascular Diseases (NURTURE Center) (http://nurture-center-ucsf-cardiology.org). Dr. Lopez has been inducted as a Fellow of the American Heart Association and as a Senior Fellow of the Society of Hospital Medicine.