David Carlisle M.P.H. ’88, Ph.D. ’92

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Dr. David Carlisle has devoted much of his life to public service. Whether advocating for accessible health care or for greater diversity within the industry, Carlisle is always seeking to create opportunities for others.

As president of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Carlisle creates opportunities daily through his efforts to continue and cultivate the organization’s progressive health policies and devotion to provide access and care to the underserved. He is at the forefront of this effort.

In 2000, Carlisle was appointed by then-California Gov. Gray Davis to a high-level position in the state’s health and human services agency. As director of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, he managed and directed the health-related programs of an organization with more than 500 employees and a $100 million annual budget.

Carlisle has been a faculty member at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA since 1992, and he has consulted for the RAND/UCLA Center for Health Policy Studies. In 2007, he became a senior fellow at the UCLA School of Public Affairs.

While a UCLA student and faculty member, Carlisle focused much of his clinical work on treating those with little or no other access. He also published numerous papers and spoken at countless forums on disparities in health care and access.

As a graduate student at UCLA, Carlisle earned a prestigious fellowship as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar, named for the largest philanthropic organization devoted entirely to health care. This fellowship provided him with valuable leadership training and research experience.

As a volunteer physician at the Venice Family Clinic, the largest free clinic in the U.S., Carlisle continues to focus his practice on making healthcare available to the needy.