Folasade (Fola) May, MD, PhD, MPhil

Dr. Fola May is an Assistant Professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine and an Associate Director of the UCLA Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity. She received a B.A. in Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology from Yale University before obtaining a Masters of Epidemiology at the University of Cambridge (UK) where she studied global health and the obesity epidemic. She attended medical school at Harvard University and trained in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital before completing a fellowship in gastroenterology at UCLA Health and a PhD in Health Policy and Management from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. 

Dr. May’s research focuses on improving healthcare outcomes and addressing health disparities in multiple clinical settings, including UCLA Health, the Veterans Affairs, and Federally Qualified Health Centers. She has designed and executed multiple studies to examine the impact of patient, provider, and system factors on many chronic disease states, including obesity, colorectal cancer, chronic liver disease, and hepatocellular carcinoma. She utilizes both qualitative and quantitative approaches to design, implement, and evaluate population health strategies to increase access to preventive services and to increase health equity. In the Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases at UCLA Health, she is the Director of Quality Improvement in Gastroenterology and Director of the May Health Services Research Laboratory, and she has received funding and recognition from the National Institutes of Health, American Cancer Society, American College of Gastroenterology, Tobacco Related Disease Research Program, National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable, and Broad Stem Cell Research Center. Dr. May is also involved in advocacy at the state and national level to develop and encourage policy to improve healthcare delivery and health equity.