Alina Dorian

About Dr. Dorian

Dr. Alina Dorian is the Associate Dean for Public Health Practice as well as an Associate Professor in the Community Health Sciences (CHS) Department. She has held several key positons at UCLA including Associate Director of the Center for Public Health and Disasters and Associate Director for the MPH for Health Professionals Program. She has managed the development and implementation of projects for a multitude of partner agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), local and State health departments and many other governmental and non-governmental agencies, academic institutions, and community based organizations. She is also the Faculty Advisor for the nationally recognized UCLA Mobile Clinic Project which provides primary health care to persons experiencing or at-risk for homelessness. A large part of Dr. Dorian’s professional career has centered on training, education, technical assistance and building workforce competencies to respond to public health emergencies.  She also serves as a Public Health Commissioner for Los Angeles County appointed to the 5th District seat. 

Before coming to UCLA, Dr. Dorian served as the Senior Health Associate in International Services for the American Red Cross in Washington, D.C as well as a public health consultant for several international non-governmental organizations. Much of her global public health practice experience has focused on the areas of emergency public health, with an emphasis on the identification of health impacts of disasters, especially complex emergencies, the role of domestic and international public health systems in planning for and responding to public health emergencies, and the development of tools and policies to increase community resilience. She has also spent considerable time on primary health care and maternal and child health programming.

For over 28 years, Dr. Dorian has been working in Armenia and Artsakh. Since cease-fire in 1994, she was intimately involved in the re-organization and development of Artsakh’s health sector. She authored the country’s first National Health Plan and undertook the first-ever comprehensive review of the health sector to understand the true needs of the population, leading the first-ever large-scale national survey in the region which collected information on fertility and family planning behavior, child mortality, and the utilization of maternal and child health services. Following these efforts, she was awarded back to back USAID grants to implement nationwide primary health care programming through the American Red Cross, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the American University of Armenia in Artsakh. She was granted the “Medal of Gratitude” by the former President of the Nagorno-Karabagh Republic, Arkadi Ghukasyan, for her substantial contributions to the reconstruction and development of the country’s healthcare system.

Recently, she has been co-leading the California Connected Virtual Training Academy (VTA) for COVID-19 contact tracers (CTs) and case investigators (CIs). The project, in partnership with UCSF and the California Department of Public Health, is charged by the Governor to deliver intense skill-building training to nearly 15,000 state and local counties employees to serve as part of the COVID-19 response workforce throughout the State.

Dr. Dorian is also the Principal Investigator for the National Contact Tracing Program (NCTP) for the Republic of Armenia, in collaboration with the AUA Turpanjian School of Public Health and the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Armenia. The program aims to support national efforts by strengthening the COVID-19 public health response workforce in Armenia by rapidly and effectively trainings individuals in contact tracing, outbreak management and evidence-based public health practices. The goal of the project is not only address the needs of Armenia now but to create and build a sustainable training pipeline to ensure the health and safety of the population.