Past Projects

​CalPROTECT (2020-2022) was an initiative of Amend at UCSF that brings together a multidisciplinary team of 30+ academics and health professionals at the University of California, San Francisco and the University of California, Berkeley with expertise in clinical medicine, public health, epidemiology, environmental health, economics, and political science. Through documenting and assessing the capacity in California state prisons to respond to COVID-19 based in science, our team provides recommendations that prioritize the dignity, health, and wellbeing of currently incarcerated people, staff, and surrounding communities. I was co-Director of CalPROTECT alongside Dr. David Sears. This work was led by Drs. Brie Williams and Stefano Bertozzi, and the team included Sandra McCoy, Rachel Sklar, Amy Lerman, Lee Worden, and many more.
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​The Quality of Tuberculosis Care (Qutub) Project  in urban India (2013-2021) brought together a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional research team to inform the pilot and scale-up of health programs and their transition to the Government in two cities. The programs aimed to shorten the time to diagnosis and improve delivery of proper treatment for tuberculosis in the private sector. I was the Project Director for the Qutub Project, which was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and conducted with Madhukar Pai (PI at McGill University), Jishnu Das (PI at Georgetown University), Benjamin Daniels (Georgetown University), Veena Das (Johns Hopkins University), Ranen Das, the Institute for Socio-Economic Research on Development and Democracy (ISERDD) in India, and others.
Picture
Saki Naka, Mumbai, 2017

Publications

  1. Svadzian A, Daniels B, Sulis G, Das J, Daftary A, Kwan A, Das A, Das R, Pai M. Do private providers initiate anti-tuberculosis therapy on the basis of chest radiographs? A standardized patient study in urban India. Accepted at Lancet Regional Health – Southeast Asia. 2023.

  2. Tan ST, Kwan AT, Rodríguez-Barraquer I, Singer BJ, Park HJ, Lewnard JA, Sears D, Lo NC. Infectiousness of SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections and reinfections during the Omicron wave. Nature Medicine. 2023:1-8.
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  3. Daniels B, Shah D, Kwan A, Das RK, Das V, Puri V, Tipre P, Waghmare U, Gomare M, Keskar P, Das J, Pai M. Tuberculosis diagnosis and management in public and private health care sectors in Mumbai, India: A cross-sectional standardized patients study. BMJ Global Health. 2022;7:e009657.

  4. Kwan A, Garcia-Grossman I, Sears D, Bertozzi SM, Williams B. The impact of COVID-19 on the health of incarcerated older adults in California state prisons. Health Affairs. 2022 Aug; 41(8):1191-1201.

  5. Blumberg S, Lu P, Kwan AT, Hoover CM, Lloyd-Smith JO, Sears D, Bertozzi SM, Worden L. Mitigating outbreaks in congregate settings by decreasing the size of the susceptible population. PLOS Computational Biology. 2022 Jul; 18(7):e1010308.

  6. Duarte C, Cameron DB, Kwan AT, Bertozzi SM, Williams BA, McCoy SI. COVID-19 outbreak in a state prison: A case study on the implementation of key public health recommendations for containment and prevention. BMC Public Health. 2022; 22(1):1-12.

  7. Kwan A, Sklar R, Cameron DB, Schell R, Bertozzi SM, McCoy SI, Williams B, Sears DA. Respiratory pandemic preparedness learnings from the June 2020 COVID-19 Outbreak at San Quentin California State Prison. International Journal of Prisoner Health. 2022 Jun 10.
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  8. Kwan A. Implementing quality of care measures: Lessons from a standardized patient study in seven provinces of China. AJPH. 2002 Jun; 112(6)808-20.

  9. Das V, Daniels B, Kwan A, Saria V, Das R, Pai M, Das J. Simulated patients and their reality: An inquiry into theory and method. Soc Sci Med. 2022 May 1; 300:114571.
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  10. Kwan A, Boone CE, Sulis G, Gertler PJ. Do private providers give patients what they demand, even if it is inappropriate? A randomized study utilizing unannounced standardized patients in Kenya. BMJ Open. 2022;12:e058746. 

  11. Rosapep LA, Faye S, Johns B, Olusola-Faleye B, Baruwa EM, Sorum MK, Nwagagbo F, Adamu AA, Kwan A, Obanubi C, Atobatele AO. Tuberculosis care quality in urban Nigeria: A cross-sectional study of adherence to screening and treatment initiation guidelines in multi-cadre networks of private health service providers. PLOS Global Public Health. 2022 Jan 6;2(1):e0000150.

  12. Salomon A, Boffa J, Moyo S, Chikovore J, Sulis G, Daniels B, Kwan A, Mkhombo T, Wu S, Pai M, Daftary A. Prescribing practices for presumptive tuberculosis among private general practitioners in South Africa: A cross-sectional, standardized patient study. BMJ Global Health. 2022;7(1):e007456.

  13. Barnert ES, Kwan AT, Williams B. Ten urgent priorities based on lessons learned from over a half million known COVID-19 cases in U.S. prisons. AJPH. 2021; 0:e1_e7, https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306221.

  14. Boffa J, Moyo S, Chikovore J, Salomon A, Daniels B, Kwan AT, Pai M, Daftary A. Quality of care for tuberculosis and HIV in South Africa’s private health sector: A cross-sectional, standardised patient study. BMJ Global Health, 2021;6:e005250. doi:10.1136/ bmjgh-2021-005250.

  15. Sulis G, Daniels D, Kwan A, Gandra S, Daftary A, Das J, Pai M. Antibiotic overuse in the primary healthcare setting: A secondary data analysis of standardized patient studies from India, China, and Kenya. BMJ Global Health. 2020 Sep;5:e003393.

  16. Kwan A, Daniels B, Bergkvist S, Das V, Pai M, Das J. Use of standardised patients for healthcare quality research in low-and middle-income countries. BMJ Global Health. 2019 Sep 1;4(5):e001669.

    Companion piece (online supplement), 250+ page toolkit:
    Kwan A, Bergkvist S, Daniels B with Das J, Das V, Pai M. (2018). Using standardized patients to measure health care quality: A manual and toolkit for projects in low- and middle-income countries. Also available at: https://github.com/qutubproject/using-standardized-patients.

  17. King JJ, Das J, Kwan A, Daniels B, Powell-Jackson T, Makungu C, Goodman C. How to do (or not to do)… using the standardized patient method to measure clinical quality of care in LMIC health facilities. Health policy and Planning. 2019 Aug 19.

  18. Daniels B, Kwan A, Pai M, Das J. Lessons on the quality of tuberculosis diagnosis from standardized patients in China, India, Kenya, and South Africa. Journal of Clinical Tuberculosis and Other Mycobacterial Diseases. 2019 Jun 7:100109.

  19. Daniels B, Kwan A, Satyanarayana S, Subbaraman R, Das RK, Das V, Das J, Pai M.  Use of standardised patients to assess gender differences in quality of tuberculosis care in urban India: a two-city, cross-sectional study . The Lancet Global Health. 2019 Mar 27.

  20. Kwan A, Daniels B, Saria V, Satyanarayana S, Subbaraman R, McDowell A, Bergkvist S, Das RK, Das V, Das J, Pai M.  Variations in the quality of tuberculosis care in urban India: A cross-sectional, standardized patient study in two cities . PLOS Medicine. 2018, 15(11):e1002653.

  21. Bautista-Arredondo S, Sosa-Rubí S, Opuni M, Contreras-Loya D, La Hera-Fuentes G, Kwan A, et al. Influence of supply-side factors on voluntary medical male circumcision costs in Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, and Zambia. PLOS One, 2018,13(9):e0203121.

  22. Bautista-Arredondo S, La Hera-Fuentes G, Contreras-Loya D, Kwan A, Van Buren SJ, Amanze OO, Atobatele A, Adeyemi A, Abatta E, Ogungbemi KM, Sosa-Rubí S.  Efficiency of HIV services in Nigeria: Determinants of unit cost variation of HIV counseling and testing and prevention of mother-to-child transmission interventions . PLOS One, 2018, 13(9):e0201706.

  23. Satyanarayana S, Kwan A, Daniels B, Subbaraman R, McDowell A, Bergkvist S, Das RK, Das V, Das J, Pai M. Use of standardised patients to assess antibiotic dispensing for tuberculosis by pharmacies in urban India: a cross-sectional study. Lancet Infectious Diseases. 2016 Nov 1;16(11):1261-8.

  24. Bautista-Arredondo S, Sosa-Rubí SG, Opuni M, Contreras-Loya D, Kwan A, Chaumont C, Chompolola A, Condo J, Galárraga O, Martinson N, Masiye F. Costs along the HTC and PMTCT service cascades: findings from Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, and Zambia. AIDS. 2016 Jul 29.

  25. Das J, Kwan A, Daniels B, Satyanarayana S, Subbaraman R, Bergkvist S, Das RK, Das V, Pai M. Use of standardised patients to assess quality of tuberculosis care: a pilot, cross-sectional study. Lancet Infectious Diseases. 2015 Nov 30;15(11):1305-13.

  26. de Walque D, Gertler PJ, Bautista-Arredondo S, Kwan A, Vermeersch C, Bizimana JdD, Binagwaho A, Condo J. Using provider performance incentives to increase HIV testing and counselling services in Rwanda. Journal of Health Economics. 2015, 40:1-9.

  27. Bautista-Arredondo S, Sosa-Rubí S, Opuni M, Kwan A, Chaumont C, et al. Assessing cost and technical efficiency of HIV prevention interventions in sub-Saharan Africa: the ORPHEA study design and methods. BMC Health Services Research. 2014, 14(1):599.

  28. Crabtree-Ramírez B, Caro-Vega Y, Sosa-Rubí, Kwan A, Sierra-Madero J, Ortega-Pérez R, et al. Acceptability and willingness to receive short message service (SMS) regarding HIV health care information in a HIV adult population in Mexico City. J Int AIDS Soc. 2014, 17(2Suppl 1):19180,P1.

  29. Mechael P, Kwan A, Struble S. Using mobile phones on the job. Student BMJ; 20:e777.

  30. Journal of Biomolecular Technique’s Outstanding Article of the Year:
    ​Gross V, Carlson G, Kwan AT, Smejkal G, Freeman E, Ivanov AR, and Lazarev A. Tissue fractionation by hydrostatic pressure cycling: the unified sample preparation technique for systems biology studies. J. Biomolec Tech. 2008, 19(3): 189-199.

Works in Review / Working Papers

  • Ventilation conditions during COVID-19 outbreaks in six California state correctional facilities. Under review.
    (with Sklar R, Noth E, Sears D, Bertozzi S).
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  • Management and altruism in health care: Results from a field experiment in Kenya
    (with David     Contreras-Loya and Paul Gertler; all authors contributed equally). Working paper.​
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  • Profit-oriented preferences among providers predict false positives in diagnostic testing
    (with Paul Gertler). Working paper.