Dr. Fola May is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Director of Quality Improvement in Gastroenterology at UCLA, Director of the May Research Laboratory, Associate Director of the UCLA Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity, and staff physician in the Greater Los Angeles Veterans Affairs. She received a B.A. in Biology from Yale University, a Masters of Epidemiology from the University of Cambridge (UK), and a medical degree from Harvard University. Dr. May trained in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and gastroenterology at UCLA. As a fellow in the UCLA Specialty Training and Advanced Research (STAR) Program, she completed a PhD in Health Policy and Management from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and currently serves on the leadership of the STAR Program.
In the May Laboratory, Dr. May and her team have designed and executed multiple studies to examine the impact of patient, provider, and system factors on many chronic disease states, including colorectal cancer, chronic liver disease, and hepatocellular carcinoma. She has extensive experience with qualitative and quantitative approaches, publicly available databases, the research application of clinical data obtained from electronic health records and administrative databases, and the implementation and evaluation of system-level interventions to increase utilization of preventive health services and eliminate health disparities.
Dr. May has received numerous awards for her research, community engagement and advocacy and is currently funded by the National Institutes of Health, Veterans Health Administration, Broad Stem Cell Research Center, and Stand Up to Cancer. She is a member of the Multi-Society Task Force on Colorectal Cancer and of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network on Colorectal Cancer where she contributes to policy on cancer prevention and control. She is a prior member of the President’s Cancer Panel. She is actively involved in advocacy to improve public awareness about preventive health and health equity.
