Have you heard? UCLA's latest faculty and staff news

Welcome to the latest edition of Newsroom's monthly "Have you heard?" roundup, your quick-hit guide to the faculty and staff breakthroughs, honors, milestones and memorable moments shaping our campus and community. Think of it as your regular dose of Bruin brilliance - smart, useful and worth sharing. From research awards and new leadership appointments to heartfelt remembrances, here's what's been happening recently.

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Awards and honors

Turning evidence into impact

UCLA Center for Health Policy Research director Ninez A. Ponce has been honored with AcademyHealth's 2026 Gail Wilensky Award for Impact in Health Policy. The award recognizes leaders whose work has positively shaped U.S. health policy through the development and application of rigorous evidence.

Tracing the African diaspora

Assistant professor of anthropology Justin Dunnavant has been appointed the Joan Silsbee Chair of African Cultural Archaeology, recognizing his innovative scholarship and leadership. His research explores the historical archaeology of Africa and the African diaspora, the transatlantic slave trade and its ecological impact, maritime archaeology and community-based archaeology.

What divides us?

UCLA professor of communication Stuart Soroka has been named a 2026 Carnegie Fellow. He is among 24 fellows selected to receive a $200,000 research stipend from the Carnegie Corporation for their work exploring the causes of political polarization and to identify possible solutions.

California's economic future

Michael Stoll, professor of urban planning and public policy at the Luskin School of Public Affairs, has been appointed to the California Governor's Council of Economic Advisors, a group of leading scholars and policy experts that analyze economic trends and provide guidance on state and federal developments.

Better support, better care

Research on staff support within healthcare organizations led by UCLA Fielding assistant professor Olivia Jung has been recognized as among the best in the field by the U.S.-based Academy of Management with the Best Health Care Management Theory to Practice Award for 2025.

Filling the gaps

Assistant professor Rebecca Delafield, whose research aims to fill the substantial gaps in maternal and perinatal health research improve health and healthcare outcomes for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) communities, has been appointed the Jonathan and Karin Fielding Presidential Chair in Health Equity at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.

Awards and honors - Sciences

A rising star in biology

Valerie Tornini, assistant professor in the UCLA Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology, has been named as a recipient of a Scialog Collaborative Award grant by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, which recognizes highly innovative research with the potential to address scientific challenges of global significance.

California's cardiac care chair

Dr. Richard Shemin, a nationally recognized cardiac surgeon and chief of the division of cardiac surgery at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, has been appointed to lead the California Department of Health Care Access and Information's (HCAI) clinical advisory panel. HCAI is focused on expanding equitable access to health care - and cardiovascular care - for all Californians.

Championing women's health

UCLA physicians Christopher Tarnay and Aparna Sridhar have been recognized by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) for their outstanding contributions to women's health care. Dr. Tarnay received the International Service Award, which honors an ACOG Fellow whose work has advanced women's health in global settings; while Dr. Sridhar received the Outstanding Distinguished Service Award, which celebrates a fellow's service at the district level.

Health innovation - engineered

Two UCLA Samueli School of Engineering faculty members - Nasim Annabi and Jun Chen - have been elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering's College of Fellows. The honor recognizes the top 2% of medical and biological engineers who have made outstanding contributions to their fields through research, practice or education.

Extraordinary impact

'Our history is your history'

Director of the Asian American Studies Center Karen Umemoto and her team have created a multimedia textbook covering a half-century of Asian American History - and it can be accessed online. Written by more than 100 leading scholars, journalists, organizers and community historians, the multimedia textbook features an extensive archive of videos, photographs, audio clips, poems and interviews, plus ready-to-use lesson plans for students.

Lessons from UCLA after dark

For 15 years, senior custodian Daniel Estrada has spent his nights moving quietly through UCLA's hallways and classrooms, cleaning up after a whole generation of students, long after most of campus has gone home, gleaning knowledge along the way. He recently spoke at TEDxUCLA on May 26, offering a perspective shaped not by lecture halls or laboratories but by years spent observing university life behind the scenes.

Spirits and shape-shifters

UCLA historian Robin Derby has published a monograph, "Bêtes Noires: Sorcery as History in the Haitian-Dominican Borderlands," exploring the baka/bacá errant spirits on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola that turn humans into animals through sorcery. The shape-shifting demons are part of a larger belief in the "curse" (fuku) of Columbus among the island's residents, especially Dominicans, who believe the curse has brought them centuries of suffering.

Around campus

Remembering and reflecting

On May 20, Chancellor Frenk and several veterans and service members from campus and across Southern California marked Memorial Day, recognizing those who made the ultimate sacrifice, as well as UCLA's many programs supporting veterans, military-affiliated students and their families."The values we strive to uphold as a university - integrity, service, purpose - are reflected every day in the lives of those among us who have worn and will wear the uniform," Frenk said.

Renaissance and revival

Last week, students revived TEDxUCLA for the first time since 2023, bringing back the event as a campuswide "festival of ideas." Led by student Cylin Wang and a team of student organizers, the May 26 conference featured 10 UCLA-affiliated speakers exploring topics such as AI, friendship, urban cooling, art history, community and the future of social media.

Summer school for top librarians

UCLA Library will host 17 of the nation's most promising top managers of academic libraries for its biennial 2026 UCLA Library Senior Fellows summer program, which is known to be one of the most transformative leadership experiences in the library field. It is the longest-running leadership development program in the academic library profession and includes two weeks onsite at UCLA.

A new tradition

On May 26, Chancellor Frenk kicked off a new Bruin tradition with his State of the Campus address. Graduate Students Association President Naomi Hammonds, Academic Senate Chair Megan McEvoy and Staff Assembly President Michael McCormack-Colón also delivered remarks. Watch the highlights and read Chancellor Frenk's speech.

Explore more honors, recognitions and grant awards on Newsroom's Faculty Bulletin Board page and faculty and staff page.

Transitions and appointments

Steady leadership for Luskin

Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, who has served as interim dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs since January 2023, has been appointed the school's permanent dean, effective June 1. An internationally recognized public space scholar and author of 14 books, Loukaitou-Sideris is known for her research integrating social and physical issues in urban planning and architecture. Congratulations!

A voice for the vulnerable

Kathryn Kietzman, whose research has focused on health policies affecting older adults and other physically, socially and financially vulnerable populations, has been named an associate center director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR). Since 2021, Kietzman has served as the director of the UCLA CHPR's Health Equity Program.

A new lead for epidemiology

UCLA Fielding professor Dr. Onyebuchi "Onyi" Arah has been appointed interim chair of the department of epidemiology beginning July 1. Dr. Arah is a highly cited researcher and physician who has published work on a range of topics, including epidemiologic methodology, causal inference and vaccine epidemiology.

See more on Newsroom's faculty and staff page.