David Carlisle | HPMAA at UCLA

2021 Leader of Today Awardee

David Carlisle, MD, PhD

Presently serving since 2011 as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine (CDU) and Science in the Watts-Willowbrook area of Los Angeles County, Dr. Carlisle is a published author in health policy, quality of care, medical education diversity and eliminating health disparities. His clinical work revolves around caring for the underserved.

Dr. Carlisle graduated from Wesleyan University. He then earned his Medical Degree from Brown University, his Master of Public Health and his PhD in Health Services from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. He completed a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program fellowship at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in 1990. Dr. Carlisle has been affiliated with the UCLA Department of Medicine for approximately thirty-one years, becoming an Associate Professor in 1998. He is presently a Professor of Medicine and Public Health at CDU and an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at UCLA.

Dr. Carlisle is the past Director of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development where he served for eleven years (2000-2011) under Governor Gray Davis, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Governor Jerry Brown. Under his leadership, OSHPD released its first-ever health disparities report and increased scholarship and loan repayment opportunities for health providers committed to practice in underrepresented, under-resourced and underserved communities.

Dr. Carlisle has consulted for the RAND/UCLA Center for Health Policy Studies. In 2007, he became a Senior Fellow at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs. He was appointed as a member of the California Future Health Workforce Commission to help the state develop a plan to close the gap between the health workforce we have and the workforce we need. Dr. Carlisle has lived in Los Angeles for 30 years. He is married to Dr. Sylvia Carlisle and together they have two children, David and Aimee.