News 2020
Will the COVID-19 pandemic help end systemic racism?
Dr. Fola May has focused her career on health inequity research. Now, the coinciding COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests have highlighted pre-existing racial disparities and thrown her research into the spotlight.
Fola P. May, MD, PhD, MPhil, announced board member of Fight Colorectal Cancer (Fight CRC)
Dr. May, director of the Melvin & Bren Simon GI Quality Improvement Program, was first involved with Fight CRC as a Medical Advisory Committee member. In 2020, she was asked to become one of the charter members of the Health Equity Committee, a team formed to help shape Fight CRC's diversity and inclusion culture and better engage employees, survivors, patients and caregivers, and was then appointed a Fight CRC board member. Fight CRC is the leading patient-empowerment and advocacy organization in the United States, providing balanced and objective information on colon and rectal cancer research, treatment and policy. They are champions of hope, focused on funding promising, high-impact research endeavors while equipping advocates to influence legislation and policy for the collective good.
Fola P. May, MD, PhD, MPhil, discusses critical need for Federal funding to support scientific research
In partnership with the American Gastroenterology Association, Dr. May, director of the Melvin & Bren Simon GI Quality Improvement Program, participated in a congressional briefing to explain how increased funding could help curtail the loss of scientists in academic medicine. Lack of robust and sustainable funding has been one of the primary causes for many to leave the field.
Dr. Fola May was interviewed by ABC and BBC and wrote an opinion piece for CNN on how Chadwick Boseman's death shed a much needed light on colorectal cancer
The passing of Chadwick Boseman at the age of 43 sent shock waves through not just the Black community, but the entire world. Dr. May was interviewed on the importance of early detection and healthcare disparities that impact colorectal cancer detection and treatment.
- Chadwick Boseman's death she a much needed light on colorectal cancer | ABC 20/20 News Special “Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King:" Colon cancer and its impact on BIPOC communities | , KNX Radio, and BBC World Service Radio, which was syndicated by NPR stations across the U.S.
Folasade P. May, MD, PhD, MPhil, recognized as one of "100 in 100" trailblazing women at UCLA Health and DGSOM
UCLA marked Women's Equality Day by highlighting some of the trailblazing women at UCLA Health and the David Geffen School of Medicine who are making a difference in our world. Dr. May, director of the Melvin and Bren Simon GI Quality Program, was recognized as a national expert in cancer prevention research and a champion for health equity. She was recognized for her passion in improving awareness about health disparities and her involvement in advocacy at the state and national level to develop and encourage policy to improve health care delivery.
Folasade P. May, MD, PhD, MPhil, Receives 2020-21 Ablon Scholars Award
On behalf of the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC) and the Broad Stem Cell Research Center (BSCRC), Dr. May, director of the Melvin and Bren Simon GI Quality Improvement Program, was selected to receive a JCCC–BSCRC Ablon Scholars Award. The JCCC–BSCRC Ablon Scholars Program is generously funded by the Wendy Ablon Trust. The physician-scientists and other researchers who are selected as Ablon Scholars will expand our understanding of stem cells and help shape future stem-cell-based treatments with an emphasis on cancer and neurological disorders. Dr. May will receive $100,000 per year, for up to three years, to support direct research costs related to population medicine in cancer.
‘White Coats for Black Lives' is a lifetime commitment for Dr. Fola May
Folasade P. May, MD, PhD, MPhil, director of the Melvin and Bren Simon GI Quality Improvement Program, was featured in a that chronicles her career devoted to addressing racial disparities in health care. Dr. May traces her passion for helping those with little access to health care to trips she made when she was young to Sub-Saharan Africa. She accompanied her father, a surgeon who had originally moved from Nigeria to the U.S. to attend college. On these missions, she helped transport patients, deliver supplies and eventually observe surgeries.
Having long studied race and health care disparities, Dr. May feels that COVID-19 has amplified those differences in care. She recently contributed to a paper published in the journal Gastrointestinal Endoscopy looking at how the pandemic has impacted colon cancer disparities as health clinics serving low-income patients and people of color have been required to cancel colonoscopies to preserve resources and prevent coronavirus transmission. Another recent publication, in Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology, discusses how COVID-19 has exploited baseline disadvantages in health.
Folasade P. May, MD, PhD, MPhil, published in Nature on COVID-19 health inequities and in Healio on How academic medicine can respond to racial injustice in America
Dr. May, director of the Melvin & Bren Simon GI Quality Program, collaborated with colleagues at several other instutions to publish a comment inNature titled . The comment examines the perpetuation of systemic inequity through social determinants of health during COVID-19.
Healio published Dr. May's perspective . This piece discusses how we can transition from discussions about race and racism in academia to action that addresses systemic racism.