Faculty Profile

Francesca Williamson

Francesca Williamson, PhD (she/her)

Assistant Professor of Learning Health Sciences
Assistant Professor, Health Behavior and Health Equity
Francesca A. Williamson, PhD (she/her/FW), is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Learning Health Sciences at the University of Michigan Medical School, with courtesy appointments in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Equity at the School of Public Health and the Research Center from Group Dynamics at the Institute for Social Research. She is the principal investigator of the HEiRS Lab, a multidisciplinary research group that investigates how real-world health(care), learning, and research practices enable or hinder equity and justice across systems. 

  • NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship, Center for Urban Ecology and Sustainability, Butler University
  • PhD, Inquiry Methodology (Qualitative Inquiry Track) and Science Education, Indiana University, Bloomington
  • BS, Biological Sciences, Washington State University

Interests:
  • Learning Health Systems 
  • Food Systems 
  • Health Equity Science
  • Health Equity Workforce Development
  • Qualitative Methodologies and Methods
  • Research Justice and Participatory Inquiry  
  • Racism, Ableism, and Childhoods
 
Projects: 

Healing Foodways (Community): A community-academic partnership with Growing Hope in Ypsilanti, Michigan to develop cross-sectoral, place-based food sovereignty interventions. 
 
Health Equity Workforce Development (Education & Training): Research on competency-based health equity education in clinical environments focused on learners in graduate medical education, health sciences, and related STEM fields. 
 
Health Equity Science in Learning Health Systems (Health Systems Change): Leveraging health equity science to inform the design, implementation, and evaluation of learning health systems. 
 
Patient-Provider Interaction (Health Care): Audio- and video-based research on real-world patient-provider interaction to illuminate micro-level systems dynamics contributing to racialized health inequities. 
 
Developments in Qualitative Inquiry (Methodology): Research on philosophical, theoretical, and practical aspects of qualitative methodologies and methods focused on Africana/Black ways of knowing, children’s ways of knowing, and interactional research. 

Thambinathan, V., Lynch, K., Moya, M., Flores, M. G., Musalia, R. M., Rubin, J., Lepczyk, J., & Williamson, F. A. (2026). Learning health systems, equity, and bounded justice: A critical scoping review. Learning Health Systems, 10(2), e70072. https://doi.org/10.1002/lrh2.70072 
 
Ananth, P., Porter, J. S., Boggs, J., Collins, G., Williamson, F. A., Bakshi, N., Hankins, J. S., Johnson, L. M., Elk, R., Graetz, D. E., Kaye, E. C., & Applied Qualitative Research Working Group 3 (2026). Expert recommendations for the conduct and appraisal of qualitative research in haematology. The Lancet. Haematology, 13(2), e110–e118. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-3026(25)00321-7
 
Williamson, F. A., Layton, D., & Lester, J. N. (2025). Producing trustworthiness: Locating the adequacy of findings in interactional research. Qualitative Inquiry. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800425139001
 
Williamson, F. A., Lester, J. N., Mattei, J. K., Asghar, M., Ferrell, K., Estrella, G., & Dangle, P. (2025). "Safer than driving": Risk communication about surgery with racially diverse families in pediatric urology visits. Patient Education and Counseling, 140, 109286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2025.109286
 
Williamson, F. A., Sharp, S. N., Hills, G. D., Dilly, C. K., & Nabhan, Z. M. (2024). Leveraging Resident-As-Teacher training for health equity education: A transformative approach. Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 36(2), 222–229. https://doi.org/10.1080/10401334.2022.2147529
 
Williamson, F. A., Lester, J. N., Woods, C., & Kaye, E. C. (2024). Questions to promote child-centered care in racially discordant interactions in pediatric oncology. Patient Education and Counseling, 121, 108106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2023.108106

Areas of Expertise: Aging,  Child Health,  Health Equity,  Nutrition,  Racism