UCLA Magazine | "The secret lives of UCLA professors: Dr. Robert Kim-Farley"
Dr. Robert Kim-Farley’s work doesn’t end with public health - he has also taken the stage as a singer and guitarist under the name “Gage.”
In a feature published in the Fall 2026 edition of UCLA Magazine, Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, professor in UCLA Fielding’s Department of Epidemiology and Department of Community Health Sciences was one of four UCLA Fielding faculty profiled under the headline: “Our faculty members excel in their professional fields. But sometimes what they do outside the classroom is even more revealing of who they are.”
On any given day, you’ll find UCLA professors lecturing on political science, designing healthier communities, studying wildlife, advancing public health or teaching the next generation of architects. But when the lecture ends or the lab closes, many of them head off to other pursuits — ones that are often every bit as fascinating as their professional work.
Some are hobbies, escapes that are wildly different from the professors’ day jobs in academia. Some other pursuits might be considered second careers. All are extensions of the same curiosity, creativity and problem-solving that define these professors’ research and teaching. The skills they develop outside the classroom often shape the way they approach their scholarship; conversely, the questions they ask as scholars frequently spill over into their personal lives.
Consider this a peek behind the office door. These are the passions, projects and pursuits that don’t always appear in faculty biographies but can provide a fuller portrait of the people behind them.
If you happened to catch the rock cover band For What It’s Worth playing at a local bar a few years back, you might have thought the guy named “Gage” on vocals and guitar looked a lot like Robert Kim-Farley M.P.H. ’75. Turns out that was him, performing under a stage name as he sang Elton John’s “Rocket Man” — its lyrics tweaked to better reflect its source material, Ray Bradbury’s short story of the same name.
Kim-Farley, an electronic engineer–turned–public health and medicine expert, defies the cliché that people are either creative-minded or science-minded. He’s clearly both.
“I really have had an eclectic, adventuresome, fun life,” he says. “I feel like I’m a 21st-century Renaissance man.” While he’s no longer in the band, he continues honing his music skills by taking private lessons in anticipation of hitting the open-mic circuit. He also sings for gatherings and celebrations of the Bahá’í Faith.
Kim-Farley took up guitar after buying a secondhand Martin D-28 when he was studying electronic engineering at UC Santa Barbara. “I’d always kind of wanted to play the guitar a bit,” he says. “I still have that particular guitar — it’s a very nice one.”
Around that time, a buddy who was an art major handed him some supplies and encouraged him to paint. He still has some of his early work. “When my parents passed away about 10 years ago, I brought my paintings down from the attic, and my wife said, ‘They look good! If you frame them, it might be nice,’” he says. “So now we have some displayed around the house.”
There’s more. When Kim-Farley was established in his public health and medical career and working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one of the agency’s publications put out a call for … haikus. “I said, OK, I’ll do that!” he says. “Since then, I’ve also submitted some artwork and photography.” He’s even experimented with AI-generated art, which has been published in the American Journal of Public Health.
Back to “Rocket Man.” Kim-Farley isn’t content to sing the song and spread the nuances of the Bradbury tale. He plans to be a rocket man, literally: He’s secured a spot on the waiting list for the Virgin Galactic missions and hopes to go up in 2028. It’s bound to be a new source of creative inspiration
