Kirsten Austad MD MPH is a hospitalist at Boston Medical Center and Assistant Professor of Family Medicine. She is the Medical Director for the HealthNet Inpatient Family Medicine service. She completed a fellowship in global women’s health where she focused on improving delivery of reproductive health care in rural indigenous Maya communities of Guatemala. She completed a fellowship in the Evans Center for Implementation & Improvement Sciences at Boston University and is now its Interim Co-Associated Director.

Her research seeks to use implementation science to promote health equity and improve patient experience in safety-net settings, including for patients with limited English proficiency (LEP). Methodologically she is interested in intervention adaptation to reduce health disparities and facilitate linguistic and cultural concordance. Her current research focuses on improving the quality of care for patients with limited English proficiency during transitions of care, such as at the time of hospital discharge.

She is supported by a K23 from NIMHD (Oct 2023 - current).