Fri Oct 27: Aspire & Achieve: A Symposium with the 6 Deans of Admission from the University of California Medical Schools

Deena Shin McRae, MD is the Associate Vice President for Academic Health Sciences in the University of California Office of the President, working with the 20 health professional schools on systemwide initiatives and collaborative projects. She is concurrently holding her position as Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education at the University of California Irvine School of Medicine. Since she took her graduate medical education leadership role in 2016, Dr. McRae has grown the number of residency and fellowship programs by more than 30% going from 55 to 72 programs. Dr. McRae is an associate clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry and provides care at UC Irvine Health in Orange and the VA Medical Center in Long Beach. Dr. McRae’s prior roles have included the Associate Chief of Staff for Education at the VA Medical Center in Long Beach and the Psychiatry Residency Program Director at UC Irvine. Her area of research is on the well-being and career satisfaction of women physicians of color and the development of institutional strategies to recruit and retain this important group.

Dena Bullard, MHS is the Senior Director for Health Sciences and Workforce Innovation at the UC Office of the President, where she has worked since 2004. In this role, she serves as a senior advisor to the Associate Vice President and provides systemwide oversight, issues management, and coordination of health sciences and workforce planning, program, and policy issues for UC’s 20 health professional schools, including advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion. She has also conducted extensive research and written several reports about statewide health workforce shortages and about UC health sciences education and health professional practice needs in California. Prior to joining UCOP, she has held health policy positions at the California Primary Care Association in Sacramento and the Health Resources and Services Administration in the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Jennifer Lucero, MD, MA is the Associate Dean for Admissions at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine (DGSOM), and the Vice Chair for Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) for the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at UCLA DGSOM. Her clinical work is in Obstetric anesthesia.
A graduate of California State University Northridge, Dr. Lucero received her Master’s in General Experimental Psychology with a focus in Social Psychology, her medical degree from Yale School of Medicine. Her postgraduate training consisted of a double Residency in Obstetrics & Gynecology and in Anesthesiology from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She completed Fellowship training for Obstetric Anesthesiology in 2011, followed by NIH T-32 Research Fellowship training in 2012 at UCSF as well.
Prior to coming to UCLA, Dr. Lucero was an Associate Professor of Clinical Anesthesia & Perioperative Care at UCSF, specializing in obstetric anesthesiology, and served as the department’s inaugural Vice Chair of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. At UCLA she serves as the Associate Dean of Admissions for the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA where she oversees medical school admissions, financial aid & scholarship, and pathway and outreach. Dr. Lucero is the Co-PI for the HRSA UCLA-DGSOM Center of Excellence-Underrepresented in Medicine grant. In addition, she serves as the Vice Chair of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for the department of Anesthesia.
She holds a dual appointment in Obstetrics and Gynecology, with clinical interests in preeclampsia and adherent placental disease. Dr. Lucero has a decade of experience in medical school admissions and participates actively in the recruitment of underrepresented students to the profession of medicine through her work in pathway and outreach programs. As a Chicana physician, she takes a special interest in diversity issues in medicine and disparities in the delivery of obstetric healthcare to women of color.

Mark Henderson, MD is a Professor of Internal Medicine and Associate Dean for Admissions at the UC Davis School of Medicine. He is a Master of the American College of Physicians and previously served as Residency Program Director for Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio and at UC Davis. Dr. Henderson has won numerous teaching awards and currently holds the Dean’s Endowed Chair in Teaching Excellence at UC Davis School of Medicine. He has edited several books including The Patient History: an evidence-based approach to differential diagnosis. He is co-principal investigator of the Accelerated Competency-based Education in Primary Care (ACE-PC) program and the California Oregon Medical Partnership to Address Disparities in Rural Education and Health (COMPADRE), both funded by the American Medical Association. Dr. Henderson has studied the MMI method for medical school interviews, including as PI of the California Longitudinal Evaluation of Admissions Practices (CA-LEAP) consortium. Other scholarly interests include medical student career choice, diversity in medical education, workforce development, the utility of medical history, and clinical reasoning.

Kama Guluma, MD joined the Division of Medical Education as Associate Dean for Admissions and Student Affairs in October 2018. As the Associate Dean for Admissions and Student Affairs, Dr. Guluma oversees the offices of Admissions, Student Affairs, and Financial Aid.
He obtained his undergraduate degree from Oberlin College in Ohio, and his M.D. degree from the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, and then completed an emergency medicine residency at the University of Michigan. He joined the UCSD Department of Emergency Medicine as a faculty member in 2001 and is a Professor of Emergency Medicine.  His early career activities included being an investigator in NIH-funded pre-clinical and clinical research in the emergency treatment of acute ischemic stroke, exploring concepts such as therapeutic hypothermia and external counterpulsation. Prior to becoming Associate Dean, he served for six years as the Director of Student Programs for the Department of Emergency Medicine and six years as an Academic Community Director in the UCSD School of Medicine. He is a past recipient of the Medical Student Teaching Award in the UCSD Department of Emergency Medicine, has been a nominee for the Kaiser Excellence in Teaching Award in the UCSD School of Medicine, and a recipient of the Faculty Mentorship Award from the UCSD Graduate Student Association. Other professional activities include being an Associate Editor for the Journal of Emergency Medicine and being an Oral Examiner with the American Board of Emergency Medicine.

Cristobal Barrios Jr., MD, FACS is a board-certified General Surgeon with added qualifications in Surgical Critical Care.  He is a Health Sciences Clinical Professor of  Surgery at the UC Irvine School of Medicine and is a practicing trauma and general surgeon. Dr. Barrios completed his training in Surgical Critical Care here at UCI in June of 2007 and subsequently joined UCI in July of the same year. Dr. Barrios is the Director of the Trauma Division Research Program, Director of the Critical Care Core Lecture Series, serves as a Chair of the UCI School of Medicine Admission Committee, and is Chair of the Organ Donor Council. Dr. Barrios’ clinical research in trauma and critical care issues includes the utility of thoracic CT imaging in trauma patients; anemia; traumatic brain injury; end-of-life issues; organ donation among minorities; geriatrics; and alcohol/drug use among trauma patients. His work has been presented at numerous professional conferences and has been published in a number of peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Barrios is also a passionate humanitarian volunteer. Since 2011 he has participated in nine mission trips to date in Nicaragua, Peru, El Salvador, and Columbia through the International Medical Alliance Organization.

Hallen Chung, MA has worked in higher education for over 25 years. She got her start working with first-generation college students at California State University, Los Angeles and then went on to work at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine and at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. She joined the UCSF admissions team in 2007 and has embraced the motto “U Can Stay Forever”. Hallen has a MA in Anthropology with a focus on California coastal archaeology and forensic anthropology. 

Daniel Teraguchi, Ed.D  leads the School of Medicine’s admissions program and pipeline programs, in addition to having an active role in every aspect of Student Affairs. 
He joins UCR with more than 20 years of experience in student affairs and as a leader of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across several institutions of higher learning. He served for eight years as the assistant dean for student affairs and director of the Office for Student Diversity at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and then as the associate dean for Student Affairs at both Elson Floyd College of Medicine at Washington State University and at Carle Illinois College of Medicine in Illinois.  In these roles, he created pipeline programs, fostered holistic admissions processes, and developed new student affinity groups, all while maintaining a strong focus on creating an inclusive environment for student success.
Teraguchi holds a B.S. in engineering, a M.Ed. in occupational training management, and a Ed.D. in education leadership, all from Idaho State University.
He will hold an appointment as health science associate clinical professor in the Department of Social Medicine, Population and Public Health.