UCGHI Advisory Council

Deena Shin McRae, MD, is the Interim Associate Vice President for Academic Health Sciences in the University of California Office of the President. The University of California operates the largest health sciences instruction program in the nation, enrolling over 15,000 health sciences students and trainees across 20 schools on 7 campuses. The health professional schools include medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health, dentistry, optometry and veterinary medicine. Dr. McRae works with the school leaders on systemwide projects and initiatives, and coordinates responses to any events or legislation which may have impact on the health professional schools.

Dr. McRae is concurrently holding her position as Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education and Designated Institutional Official (DIO) at the University of California Irvine School of Medicine. In her graduate medical education leadership role, Dr. McRae is responsible for the accreditation of over 70 residency and fellowship programs, as well as the institution. Since taking the role in 2016, she has grown the number of programs by approximately 30% from 53 to 72 programs.

Dr. McRae is an associate clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, and provides care at UC Irvine Health in Orange and the Tibor Rubin VA Medical Center in Long Beach.

Email: deena.mcrae@ucop.edu

Lara Stemple, JD, is the Assistant Dean for Graduate Studies and International Student Programs at UCLA School of Law, where she oversees the law school’s LL.M. (masters) and S.J.D. (doctoral) degree programs and directs the Health and Human Rights Law Project. Stemple teaches and writes in the areas of human rights, global health, gender, sexuality, and incarceration. Before joining UCLA, Stemple was the Executive Director of the human rights organization Just Detention International and was a Rockefeller Post-Doctoral Fellow at Columbia University’s Program on Sexuality, Gender, Health, and Human Rights. Stemple currently serves as co-Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the UC Global Health Institute and is a founding faculty member of its Center of Expertise on Women’s Health and Empowerment. Stemple has drafted legislation that was signed into law, lobbied members of Congress and United Nations delegates, and testified before legislative bodies. Media commentary has included CNN, National Public Radio, Al Jazeera, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Slate, and The Atlantic.

Email: STEMPLE@law.ucla.edu

Dr. Eric Goosby is a professor of clinical medicine and the Director of Global Health Delivery and Diplomacy in the UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences (IGHS). He currently serves as the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy on Tuberculosis. , bringing to the job a combination of expertise in infectious diseases and experience running large public health response programs in the U.S. and internationally. Dr. Goosby was the founding director of the Ryan White CARE Act in 1991 and subsequently served in the Clinton Administration to expand the program considerably.  As Global AIDS Coordinator under President Barack Obama, he was responsible for implementing the President's emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

Madhavi Dandu, MD, MPH is a Professor of Medicine at UCSF and the Director of the UC Global Health Institute. She received her undergraduate degree in Comparative Literature and medical degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She completed her residency training in the Categorical Medicine Program at UCSF in 2003. Afterward, Dr. Dandu attended the University of California, Berkeley, and received a Masters in Public Health with a focus on international health and health and human rights. At UCSF, Dr. Dandu spends time in the inpatient clinical services supervising and teaching medical students and residents. Her main non-clinical areas of focus are global health education, curriculum development, and mentorship, especially in the areas of ethics and cultural humility. She has previously directed the Master of Science in Global Health program at UCSF and the Global Health Pathway/Area of Distinction for the Internal Medicine Residency. In addition, she previously co-directed the Global Health Core for the Division of Hospital Medicine and was a senior curriculum adviser for the HEAL Fellowship.

Dr. Dandu continues to pursue her research interests in human rights and global public health. She collaborates with colleagues at UCSF and several community-based organizations to create cultural humility training for public health professionals.

Ndola Prata, MD, MSc, a physician and medical demographer from Angola and the Associate Director of the UC Global Health Institute, earned her medical degree from the University of Angola and an MSc in medical demography from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Dr. Prata began her career practicing medicine in Angola for 10 years and served as head of the Social Statistics Department at the National Institute of Statistics of Angola. Shortly after moving to the US, while beginning her tenure as a researcher and lecturer at UC Berkeley, she served as a demographer/analyst for the Centers for Disease Control's Division of Reproductive Health for six years, a role she resumed briefly from 2010 to 2011. Her research focuses on the design, implementation, and evaluation of family planning and maternal health interventions that maximize distribution and financing to increase access to contraceptives in developing countries, particularly for underserved populations. Her projects investigate strategies for harnessing existing resources, including human capacity and healthcare infrastructure, while also gathering evidence for setting priorities on national health agendas. 

Sun Yu Cotter, MPH, is the deputy director for UCGHI and leads operations and strategic development. She is co-Chair of the UCGHI Black Lives Matter Task Force. Sun is a multi-lingual global health professional certified in mediation & conflict resolution and trained in restorative justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion champion with 15+ years of experience in academic, non-profit, and private settings. Sun is also a member of the UCOP Anti-Racism Working Group. Prior to UCGHI, she was a senior program manager at UCSF’s Institute for Global Health Sciences on a project aiming to improve the quality of maternal health, family planning and abortion care for women in Kenya and India. She also has extensive field experience implementing large clinical trials in Africa, including a study on childhood mortality and childhood morbidity. Her passion for global health began as a Peace Corps Volunteer in rural Uzbekistan.

Melissa Smith, M.D., is a family medicine physician who has worked in primary care clinics in low-income communities in the US and Central America for three decades. Dr. Smith is the Director of Health Equity Initiatives at UC Santa Barbara, where she co-teaches a seminar on Community-based Participatory Research on health disparities, and is involved in collaborative efforts to address health concerns of historically marginalized communities in Santa Barbara County. She is also a member of UCGHI’s Black Lives Matter Task Force.

Dr. Smith has developed culturally sensitive training programs for community health workers and midwives in Nicaragua and Guatemala, and has been engaged in a Participatory Action Research project focused on maternal health in Mexico. She has served as medical editor and writer for Hesperian Health Guides, who produce widely used public health manuals on community health and empowerment. Dr. Smith is lead author of Hesperian's book, Health Actions for Women: Practical Strategies to Mobilize for Change, which is now translated into six languages and accessed by people around the globe on Hesperian’s open-source digital platform.

Dr. Smith obtained a BA from Harvard University and an M.D. from the University of Washington.