Robin T Higashi, Ph.D. Titles and Appointments Assistant Professor Schools School of Public Health Departments Public Health Biography Download Curriculum Vitae Dr. Robin T. Higashi is a medical anthropologist with 15+ years' experience conducting interdisciplinary research that creates real-world impact. As former Director of Qualitative Research Services and current member of the Advancing Implementation and Improvement Science Program, she specializes is using qualitative methods and implementation science to conduct methodologically rigorous team science research in clinical and community settings. Dr. Higashi balances a portfolio in both Principal and Co-Investigator roles. As Principal Investigator, her work focuses on improving quality and equity in digital health technologies. With funding from the Texas Health Resources Clinical Scholars Award, she partnered with physicians and informaticists to explore reasons for inequities and develop interventions to increase uptake and use of the portal among Spanish speaking populations in North Texas. Her current work is a qualitative evaluation of AI scribes, a generative AI tool that has proliferated exponentially in clinical practice but has been underassessed for quality, safety, and acceptability. Her expertise in digital health technology has been recognized nationally by organizations such as the U.S. Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC; healthit.gov), which this year invited her to serve as one of ten judges for the EHIgnite challenge, to develop innovative tools to support clinical care and patient engagement. As a team scientist, Dr. Higashi serves as Co-Investigator and lead qualitative investigator on numerous mixed methods studies spanning diverse topics, including cancer prevention, HIV prevention and treatment, care coordination for complex patients, adolescent health, food insecurity, and medical education. Dr. Higashi is also actively involved in teaching and mentoring faculty, fellows, and students new to qualitative methods, e.g., as a K mentor and dissertation advisor. She is a nationally and internationally invited lecturer on qualitative and mixed methods research, and this year, will teach a year-long course that she designed, guiding School of Public Health students from qualitative data collection through publication. Education Undergraduate Stanford University (1998), Psychology Graduate School Uni of California-Sfrancisco (2010), Medical Anthropology Research Interest digital health technologies, including AI scribes marginalized populations qualitative methods in implementation science Publications Featured Publications Factors Associated With Portal and Telehealth Uptake and Use in a Minoritized, Low-Income Community: Mixed Methods Study. Higashi RT, Repasky EC, Gupta A, Lee M, DesRoches CM, Israel A, Pruitt SL, JMIR Form Res 2025 Jul 9 e70146 Digital Health Technology Use Among Spanish Speakers in the US: A Scoping Review. Higashi RT, Thakur B, Repasky EC, Casillas A, Steitz BD, Hogan TP, Lehmann CU, Peterson ED, Navar AM, Turer RW, JAMA Netw Open 2025 May 8 5 e2510386 Veteran Experiences With an mHealth App to Support Measurement-Based Mental Health Care: Results From a Mixed Methods Evaluation. Higashi RT, Etingen B, Richardson E, Palmer J, Zocchi MS, Bixler FR, Smith B, McMahon N, Frisbee KL, Fortney JC, Turvey C, Evans J, Hogan TP, JMIR Ment Health 2024 May 11 e54007 Harmonizing qualitative data across multiple health systems to identify quality improvement interventions: a methodological framework using PROSPR II Cervical Research Center data as exemplar Higashi RT, G Kruse, J Richards, A Sood, PM Chen, L Quirk, J Kramer, JA Tiro, L Tuzzio, JS Haas, MF Gray, SC Lee Intl J Qual Methods 2023 COVID-19 Communication From Seven Health Care Institutions in North Texas for English- and Spanish-Speaking Cancer Patients: Mixed Method Website Study. Higashi RT, Sweetenham JW, Israel AD, Tiro JA, JMIR Cancer 2021 Aug 7 3 e30492 Patient-Centered Measure Development and Spanish Validation Exemplar. Higashi RT, Juengst SB, Health Lit Res Pract 2019 Oct 3 4 e243-e249 What Matters Most to Veterans When Deciding to Use Technology for Health: Cross-Sectional Analysis of a National Survey. Etingen B, Smith BM, Shimada SL, Robinson SA, Higashi RT, Ndiwane N, Frisbee KL, Lipschitz JM, Richardson E, Irvin D, Hogan TP, JMIR Form Res 2025 Aug 9 e77113 Who Uses Patient Portals? A National Cross-Sectional Study Using Epic Cosmos. Turer RW, McDonald SA, Higashi RT, Thakur B, Bain AP, Navar AM, Steitz BD, J Gen Intern Med 2025 May Inpatient Adolescent Sexual Health Services and Long-Acting Reversible Contraception Training. Zhao A, Higashi RT, Edmondson S, Wong C, DeSilva N, Gribbons M, Tiro JA, Francis JKR, Hosp Pediatr 2025 Apr 15 4 325-333 Supporting Access to HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis in a Shifting Financial and Insurance Landscape. Eichenwald C, Higashi RT, Hogan TP, Naeem J, Marcus JL, Krakower D, Nijhawan AE, AJPM Focus 2025 Apr 4 2 100311 Results 1-10 of 45 1 2 3 4 5 Next Last Books Featured Books Elder care as "frustrating" and "boring": Understanding the persistence of negative attitudes toward older patients among physicians-in-training. In The Social Medicine Reader, Third Edition, Volume 1: Ethics and Cultures of Biomedicine Higashi RT, A Tillack, MA Steinman, M Harper, CB Johnston (2019). Durham, NC, Duke University Press Honors & Awards Nominee, Catalyst for Collaboration AwardUT Southwestern Medical Center, Faculty Excellence in Research (2026) Nominee, Research Mentor of the YearUT Southwestern, School of Medicine (2025-2025) Professional Associations/Affiliations Clinical Informatics Center (2026) Journal of General Internal Medicine, Associate Editor (2024)
