Current Academic Appointments. Dr. Matthew J. Mimiaga is tenured Full Professor and Vice Chair of Epidemiology at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA. He is Director of the UCLA Center for LGBTQ+ Advocacy, Research & Health (C- LARAH) and affiliated Senior Research Scientist at The Fenway Institute, Fenway Health, Boston, MA.
Center Affiliations
Education & Training
- Post Doctoral Fellowship, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
- ScD, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
- MPH, Boston University, Boston, MA
- MA, Brown University, Providence, RI
Dr. Jennifer Wagman earned her PhD in Reproductive, Perinatal and Women’s Health and her Master’s degree of Health Science in International Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; and a Bioethics and Health Policy Certificate from the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. Her postdoctoral training, completed at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, was in alcohol and substance use, HIV and related infections. Since 2000, Dr.
Education
- PhD, Population, Family and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
- MHS, International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
- BA, Animal Behavior, Bucknell University, Lewisberg, PA
Dr. William McCarthy has devoted most of his 30+ year career to intervention studies designed to encourage members of special populations to adhere to federal nutrition and physical activity guidelines (African American adult women, low-income middle school students, low-income patients of community health centers) and to be smoke-free (WIC participants, aerospace workers, Korean and South Asian immigrants, residents of homeless shelters).
Center Affiliations
Education
- PhD, Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT
- MA, Psychology, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL
Dr. Marissa Seamans, PhD, MSPH, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology. Dr. Seamans’ research focuses on the intersection of social epidemiology and pharmacoepidemiology to address substance use and mental health. Her work explores the use of large healthcare databases to examine prescription drug use in families and the effectiveness of treatments for mental health and substance use disorders. Methodologically, Dr.
Education
- Postdoctoral, Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
- PhD, Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
- MSPH, Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
- BA, Comparative Literature and Society, Columbia University, Columbia College, New York, NY
Michael Ong, MD PhD, is a Professor in Residence of Medicine & Health Policy and Management at UCLA. He is currently the Associate Chief of Staff for Research and Development, and was the Hospitalist Chief from 2018-2022, at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. He also is the Desert Pacific Healthcare Network (VISN 22) Research Officer, overseeing research at the 8 VA facilities in Southern California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Dr. Ong is a practicing general internist.
Center Affiliations
Education
- PhD, Health Services & Policy Analysis, University of California, Berkeley, CA
- MD, University of California, San Diego, CA
Dr. Keller is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management. Her primary appointment is in the Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Dr. Keller's research focuses on the use, prescribing, and deprescribing of high-risk medications such as opioids, benzodiazepines, and antipsychotics in older adults. Dr.
Education
- PhD, Health Policy and Management, University of California, Los Angeles, CA
- MPH, Health Policy and Management, University of California, Los Angeles, CA
- BA, Human Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Dr. Burt Cowgill is an associate professor-in-residence who resides in the UCLA Kaiser Permanent Center for Health Equity and Center for Cancer Prevention and Control Research in the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is also a Pod Leader for the Research Well Pod at the UCLA Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center. Dr.
Center Affiliations
Education
- PhD, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, CA
- MPH, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, CA
- BA, Political Science, University of California, Los Angeles, CA
Dr. Javanbakht received her BA in Biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, her MPH in Infectious Disease Epidemiology from Yale University, and her PhD in Epidemiology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to joining the faculty at UCLA in 2006, Dr. Javanbakht served as an epidemiologist for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Sexually Transmitted Disease Program.
Center Affiliations
Education
- PhD, University of California, Los Angeles
- MPH, Yale University
- BA, University of California, Santa Barbara
Dr. W. Scott Comulada, DrPH, is Professor-in-residence in the UCLA Departments of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and Health Policy and Management, Director of the Semel Institute Center for Community Health, a statistician, and a public health researcher. His work focuses on the development and evaluation of AI-enhanced digital health interventions that incorporate chatbots and virtual reality.
Semel Institute Center for Community Health
Education
- DrPH, Biostatistics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 2006
- MS, Biostatistics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 2000
- MPH, Biostatistics, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA, 1998
- BS, Biophysics, Pacific Union College, Angwin, CA, 1993
Sung-Jae Lee, PhD, is a Professor-in-Residence in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, with a joint appointment in the Department of Epidemiology, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. He is the Director of Research and Evaluation at the Nathanson Family Resilience Center, Division of Population Behavioral Health. Dr.
Education
- PhD, Epidemiology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA
- MPH, Epidemiology, Yale University, New Haven, CT
- BA, Social Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, MA