Committees, Boards & Groups

The ISC provides counsel to the CTSI director with regard to coordination and prioritization of CTSI operations with institutional agendas, strategic investments and resource sharing. The ISC meets at least annually.

Shlomo K. Melmed, MB, ChB, MACP
Dean of the Medical Faculty
Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Director, Burns and Allen Research Institute
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Marianne Gausche-Hill, MD, FACEP, FAAP, FAEMS
Interim President & CEO
The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center

Jaydutt Vadgama, PhD
Vice President for Research and Health Affairs
Chief, Division of Cancer Research and Training
Endowed Chair in Cancer Research
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science

Roger Wakimoto, PhD
Vice Chancellor for Research, UCLA 

The EAC functions as an interface with the scientific community and an outside perspective to the management of the UCLA CTSI. The EAC includes academic leadership from other CTSAs and leaders from industry and the community. The EAC meets annually at UCLA to review progress and make recommendations. Current members of the EAC include:

Anantha Shekhar, MD, PhD (Chair)
Senior Vice Chancellor for Health Science
John and Gertrude Peterson Dean of the School of Medicine
Professor of Psychiatry
University of Pittsburgh
Founding Director, Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute

Harry P. Selker, MD, MSPH (Co-Chair)
Director, Clinical and Translational Science Institute
Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine
Executive Director, Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies
Tufts University 

Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, MD, PhD
Director, Center for Reducing Health Disparities
Professor, Clinical Internal Medicine
Community Engagement Program Leader, Clinical and Translational Science Center
UC Davis

Olveen Carrasquillo, MD, MPH
Co-Director, Miami CTSI Community and Stakeholder Engagement Program
Professor and Chief, Division of General Medicine
University of Miami Health System

Michael K. Gould, MD, MS 
Senior Research Scientist
Director, Health Services Research & Implementation Science
Leader, Care Improvement Research Team (CIRT) in the Department of Research and Evaluation
Kaiser Permanente of Southern California 

Virginia McFerran
Consultant
Former Vice President, Global Partnerships at Google Health

Shawn N. Murphy, MD, PhD
Professor of Neurology
Harvard University

William E. Smoyer, MD, FASN
C. Robert Kidder Chair Professor of Pediatrics
Vice President, Clinical and Translational Research
Director, Center for Clinical and Translational Research
The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital
Ohio State University

Hal F. Yee, Jr, MD, PhD
Chief Medical Officer
Chief Deputy Director, Health Services, Clinical and Medical Affairs
Los Angeles County Department of Health Services

The IAB provides an interface with subject experts at our partner institutions and UCLA professional schools as well as with patients and the community. The IAB brings a diversity of thought and experience necessary to support successful translational science. 

Steven M. Dubinett, MD (Co-Chair)
Associate Vice Chancellor and Senior Associate Dean for Translational Research
Dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine
Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, and Medicine
Chief of the Division of Pulmonary Critical Care, Sleep Medicine, Clinical Immunology and Allergy
UCLA

Deborah Prothrow-Stith, MD (Co-Chair)
Dean and Professor, College of Medicine
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science

Nicole Anderson, JD, MBA
Vice President and Executive Vice Dean for Research 
Cedars-Sinai

Kathleen Brown, MD
Assistant Dean of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for DGSOM 
Vice Chair for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Department of Radiological Sciences
Professor of Clinical Radiology, Department of Radiological Sciences
Co-Chair, College Chairs Committee
UCLA

Robert Cherry, MD, MS, CPE, FACS, FACHE
Chief Medical and Quality Officer 
UCLA Health

Christina Christie, PhD
Wasserman Dean, School of Ed. & Information Studies
Professor, Education, Division of Social Research Methodology
UCLA

Eddie Cole, PhD
Associate Professor, Higher Education and History 
UCLA

Jason Cong, PhD, MS 
Volgenau Chair for Engineering Excellence
Director, Center for Customizable Domain-Specific Computing
Director, VLSI Architecture, Synthesis, and Technology (VAST) Laboratory
Distinguished Professor, Computer Science
UCLA

Eric Daar, MD
Interim Chair, Department of Medicine 
Chief, Division of HIV Medicine
Chair, Antiretroviral Therapy Strategies Subcommittee, AIDS Clinical Trials Group Site 
Prin. Investigator, California Clinical Treatment Group & NIDA Clinical Trials Network Harbor-UCLA Medical Center 
Professor, Medicine
UCLA

Eric Esralian, MD, MPH
Chief, Vatche & Tamar Manouklan Division of Digestive Diseases
Director, Melvin & Bren Simon Digestive Diseases Center 
Lincy Foundation Chair in Clinical Gastroenterology 
UCLA

Michael E. Farkouh, MD, MSc
Associate Dean for Research and Clinical Trials
Professor, Cardiology
Cedars-Sinai

David Gere, PhD
Professor, UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance
Director, UCLA Art & Global Health Center 
UCLA

Jeffrey Golden, MD
Executive Vice Dean for Research and Graduate Education
Director, Burns and Allen Research Institute
Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Professor, Biomedical Sciences
Cedars-Sinai

Helena Hansen, MD, PhD
Interim Chair, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences
Interim Director, UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior
Interim Physician-in-chief, Resnick Neuropsychiatric
Co-chair, Research Theme in Health Equity and Translational Social Science
Associate Director, UCLA Center for Social Medicine
Professor, Psychiatry
UCLA

Kelly Lytle Hernandez, PhD
Thomas E. Lifka Endowed Chair in History and African American Studies
Director, Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies
Director & Principal investigator, Million Dollar Hoods
Professor, African American Studies and Urban Planning
UCLA 

Alexander Hoffmann, PhD
Professor, Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics
Director, Institute of Quantitative and Computational Biosciences (QCBio)
Chair, UCLA Committee for Diversity and Equity (CDE)
Chair, Chancellor’s Council on Diversity
UCLA

Tracy Johnson, PhD
Dean, Life Sciences
Keith & Cecilia Terasaki Presidential Endowed Chair
Professor, Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology 
HHMI Professor
UCLA

Jorja Leap, PhD, MSW
Adjunct Professor, Department of Social Welfare Executive Director, Social Justice Research Partnership, Luskin School of Public Affairs 
Co-Founder & Director, UCLA Watts Leadership Institute
Evaluation and Research Director, Community Based Public Safety Collective
Lead researcher, White House Community Violence Intervention Collaborative
UCLA

Aziza Lucas-Wright, MEd
Vice-Chair, Department of Preventive and Social Medicine
Co-Chair, Division of Community Engagement, and Assistant Professor, Preventive and Social Medicine
Academic Senate’s Clinical and Community Programs 
Academic/Community Partner, UCLA CTSI 
Lead, Corona Virus Prevention Network’s Community Outreach Team and CDU-Bloomberg Philanthropies Corona Virus Vaccine Clinics
Lead, Faith, Community-Based Organizations and Academic Partnership sponsoring Sabbath Town Halls
Executive Director, South Central Prevention Coalition
Consultant, Healthy African American Families
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science

Emilie Marcus, PhD
Senior Associate Dean for Strategy, David Geffen School of Medicine 
Executive Strategy Officer and Adjunct Professor, Biological Chemistry 
UCLA

Mark Peterson, PhD
Chair, Department of Public Policy 
Co-Director, Policy Core for the Center for HIV Identification, Prevention, and Treatment Services
Professor, Public Policy, Political Science, and Law
Senior Fellow, UCLA Center for Health Policy Research
UCLA

Ninez Ponce, PhD, MPP
Chair, Department of Health Policy and Management 
Director, UCLA Center for Health Policy Research 
Principal Investigator, California Health Interview Survey
Fred W. and Pamela K. Wasserman Professor, School of Public Health 
Associate Editor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at JAMA Health Forum
UCLA

Vivek Shetty, DDS, DMD
Professor, Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery/Biomedical Engineering
Professor, Bioengineering
UCLA

Michael Teitell, MD, PhD
Professor and Latta Endowed Chair in Pathology 
Director, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center 
President, UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation
UCLA

Laura Trejo, MSG, MPA
Executive Director, Aging and Community Services, LA County Department of Workforce Development, Aging and Community Services (WDACS)
Founding Co-Director/Investigator, UCLA Los Angeles Community Academic Partnership for Research in Aging (LA CAPRA)

Jaydutt Vadgama, PhD
Vice President for Research and Health Affairs
Professor of Medicine UCLA School of Medicine
Chair, Institutional Space Committee
Chair, Ph.D. Planning Committee
Chief, Division of Cancer Research and Training
Endowed Chair in Cancer Research
Director, Center to Eliminate Cancer Health Disparities Department of Internal Medicine
Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science

Abel Valenzuela Jr., MCP, PhD
Interim Dean, Division of Social Sciences
Professor, Labor Studies, Urban Planning and Chicana/o and Central American Studies
UCLA

Donna Washington, MD, MPH, FACP
Professor, Department of Medicine
Director, Health Equity-Quality Enhancement Research Initiative National Partnered Evaluation Center, Veterans Health Administration 
UCLA

Dorothy Wiley, PhD, RN, FAAN
Professor, School of Nursing 
UCLA

Ben Wu, PhD, DDS
Professor Emeritus, Dentistry and Materials Science and Engineering
Former Chair, Division of Reg. and Reconstructive Sciences
Former Chair, Section of Biomaterials Science
Former Director, UCLA Weintraub Center for Reconstructive Biotechnology
Exec. Former Director, Innovative Digital Dentistry Systems
UCLA

Zuo-Feng Zhang, MD, PhD 
Chair and Distinguished Professor, Department of Epidemiology
Director, Molecular Epidemiology Training Program
Co-Director, UCLA Center for Environment Genomics Scientific Director, UCLA Central Tumor Registry
UCLA

The Patient Advocacy Board advises the CTSI on activities that interface with patients, such as informed consent documents and dissemination of results. The board meets semiannually with the director and attends EAC meetings to provide the patient perspective. 

Kawaiopua Alo
President
Pacific Islander Health Partnership

Joyce Brandman
President
Brandman Foundation

Adam Miller
Member, Board of Directors
Food Allergy Research and Education

Kim Norris
Co-Founder and President
Lung Cancer Foundation of America

Polly Sundeen
Patient advocate
Parent of a child with Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Lawrence Tolliver
Owner, L. Tolliver's Barbershop
Hypertension

Richard Van Horn
Past chairman
Mental Health America of Los Angeles

Elle Seibert
Registry data manager
Solve Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/ Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

The CTSI Hub established the Quality and Efficiency (Q&E) Council which leverages the heterogeneity of our institutions to test potential solutions in different research environments in our Hub. The Q&E Council meets quarterly. Our Hub partners work across our institutions as well as across UC BRAID and other CTSA sites in performing an analysis that compares trade-offs and efficiencies of different study activation approaches.