ARCHES Changemaker Circle Advisory Council

Renee Navarro, MD, PharmD
Changemaker

Dr. Renee Navarro, Professor of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care is the inaugural Vice Chancellor of Diversity and Outreach, charged with creating and maintaining a diverse institutional environment where everyone has an opportunity to excel. In her new role, Navarro will collaborate with faculty, staff and students to develop and carry out a strategic plan for diversity and inclusion at the campus and within the health system – and in recruitment and retention of faculty, students, trainees and staff. Navarro will work closely with other senior administrators to address issues of diversity that cut across faculty, student, staff and operational lines. Navarro will serve as an institutional expert on diversity goals, act as the campus spokeswoman for best practices, and establish and lead an advisory group. Navarro established a campus-wide multicultural center to provide space and resources that support inter-professional collaboration among UCSF faculty, staff, trainees and students for outreach, recruitment, community building and advocacy. She develops and leads the strategic plan, Roadmap to Inclusive Excellence, as well as the 2021 Anti-racism Initiative.

Alicia Fernandez, MD
Changemaker

Dr. Alicia Fernandez is Professor of Medicine at UCSF, a general internist at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, Associate Dean of Population Health and Health Equity for UCSF SOM. She is the founding Director of the UCSF Latinx Center of Excellence, a HRSA and UCSF funded initiative to increase academic diversity. Dr. Fernandez directs the Latinx and Immigrant Health Research Program at the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations. which generates actionable research to increase health equity and reduce healthcare disparities.

Cherrie Boyer, PhD
Changemaker

Dr. Cherrie Boyer is a Professor of Pediatrics based in the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine where she serves as the Associate Division Director for Research and Academic Affairs. She is an internationally recognized social health psychologist with over 30 years of research, teaching, and mentoring experience. She has been the recipient of many grant awards and has been a productive investigator, publishing widely in the areas of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention in adolescents and young adults. Her program of research focuses on the development and evaluation of cognitive-behavioral and community-level intervention strategies utilizing culturally competent strengths-based frameworks to promote sexual and reproductive health to reduce the risk of STIs, HIV, and unintended pregnancy and their sequelae. In addition to her role in providing research and career mentoring to postdoctoral research and clinical fellows and early career faculty in Pediatrics, Dr. Boyer serves as a research and career mentor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Prevention Science, Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS) Visiting Professors Program, which mentors early career research scholars in the fields of social and behavioral science, medicine, nursing, and public health. Additionally, she is the Program Director for the Ujima Mentoring Program, based in CAPS, which provides multidisciplinary research mentoring and funding to early career investigators, particularly those at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), who focus their programs of research on high priority areas that address HIV prevention, care, and treatment in Black/African American communities. Additionally, she is a Co-Director of the University’s School of Medicine Differences Matter Diversify the Academy Workgroup.

Catherine Waters, RN, PhD, FAAN
Changemaker

Dr. Catherine Waters is a professor in the Department of Community Health Systems, a member of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, and former appointed member of the San Francisco Health Commission. Her program of research focuses on health promoting lifestyle interventions in collaboration with public and private community partnerships.

Maga Jackson-Triche, MD
Changemaker

Dr. Maga Jackson-Triche is the inaugural Department of Psychiatry Vice Chair for UCSF Health and Vice President for Adult Behavioral Health Services, UCSF Health. Dr. Jackson-Triche has an impressive track record of clinical and administrative success within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) network and its affiliated academic institutions. A graduate of the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine and the UCLA School of Public Health, Jackson-Triche has served in key leadership roles within VHA including VA Greater Los Angeles, VA Southeast Louisiana, and VA Northern California Health Care Systems, and in 2012, was asked to serve a term as the Acting Deputy Chief Mental Health Consultant for the VA’s Office of Mental Health Services in Washington, DC. In addition to her extensive clinical and administrative work, Jackson-Triche has held academic appointments with the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Tulane University School of Medicine, and UC Davis School of Medicine. An experienced researcher with numerous academic studies, articles, books, and book chapters to her credit, she has also served as a reviewer for the Journal of General Internal Medicine, Journal of Clinical Outcomes Management, and Medical Care.

Sharon Youmans, PharmD, MPH
Changemaker

Dr. Sharon Youmans is a Professor of Clinical Pharmacy and Executive Vice Dean of the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) School of Pharmacy. She received her PharmD degree from UCSF in 1985 and completed a pharmacy residency at California Pacific Medical Center in 1986. She received her MPH degree with an emphasis in community health education from San Jose State in 2005. In 2007 she was appointed as Vice Chair of Education for the Department of Clinical Pharmacy, and in 2013 appointed Vice Dean.

Claire Brindis, DrPH
Changemaker

Dr. Claire Brindis is a Distinguished Emerita Professor of Pediatrics and Health Policy (on Recall), Department of Pediatrics and Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Health Sciences and Emerita Director of the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Brindis is also the Co-Director of the Adolescent and Young Adult Health National Resource Center. She is also a Founding Director of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences and IHPS, UCSF. As a bicultural, bilingual researcher, she Incorporates a variety of quantitative and qualitative methodologies, as well as community participatory research. Dr. Brindis’ research focuses on program evaluation and the translation of research into policy at the local, state, and national level.

Mica Estrada, PhD
Changemaker

Dr. Mica Estrada received her Ph.D. (1997) in Social Psychology from Harvard University and now Associate Dean of Diversity, Inclusion and Equity for the School of Nursing and a Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and the Institute for Health and Aging at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Her research program focuses on social influence, including the study of identity, values, forgiveness, well-being, and integrative education. Currently she is engaged in several longitudinal studies, which involve the implementation and assessment of interventions aimed to increase underrepresented minority student persistence in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medical careers (funded by NIH, NSF, and HHMI). With the NSF Climate Change Education grant, she directed an interdisciplinary team, to provide learning opportunities to San Diego leaders about the changing climate. She continues to advise on the Climate Stewards project.