Gregory A. Brent, MD and Tisha S. Wang, MD Appointed as Senior Vice Chairs in the Department of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine

Dr. Gregory Brent

Dr. Brent, chief of the division of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism, and professor of medicine and physiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine, will assume the role of senior academic vice chair. Dr. Wang, clinical chief of pulmonary, critical care, sleep medicine, allergy and immunology, vice chair of inpatient services, and professor of clinical medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine, will assume the role of senior clinical vice chair.

Dr. Brent joined the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA (DGSOM) in 1995 and is a professor of medicine and physiology. Over the past 27 years, he has been appointed to multiple leadership roles across various domains within the DoM and the DGSOM.

From 2011 – 2022, Dr. Brent served as chair of the department of medicine at VA Greater Los Angeles (VA GLA), leading a team of 250 VA-based DoM faculty who deliver care to 90,000 patients across Southern California. In partnership with DoM leadership, he oversaw the academic integration of the UCLA/VA DoM, including the core internal medicine residency and fellowship programs, clinical programs, and recruited over 50 physician scientist faculty. 

He has served as the chief of the division of endocrinology, diabetes & metabolism since 2016, and overseen a faculty of 65, achieving a 3-fold increase in research support and number of independently funded research faculty. The endocrine division has ranked in the top five nationally by US News and World Report for the past four years.

Dr. Brent’s laboratory investigates thyroid hormone action in models of metabolic regulation and neuronal regeneration. He has been continuously funded since 1992 including support from NIH, VA merit review, and the Department of Defense. His research has been recognized by his election to the American Society of Clinical Investigation and American Association of Physicians, and research and mentoring awards from the American Thyroid Association and Endocrine Society. Dr. Brent has mentored over 50 researchers, including serving as a mentor or co-mentor on multiple NIH K awards. He has served as chair of the NIH Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology Study Section and VA Endocrine Merit Review Board. Dr. Brent has been involved in DGSOM medical education for his entire time at UCLA, initially as co-chair of the problem-based learning course for Year 1 Medical Students. He was the inaugural Year 2 Endocrine Block Curricular Chair (2004-2014) and Site Director of the VA 3rd year Continuity Rotation (2011-2017). He received the UCLA Excellence in Education Award (2005), Alpha Omega Alpha Faculty Induction (2011), and four Year 1-2 Lucien Guze Golden Apple Teaching Awards (2005, 2009, 2011 and 2014).

Tisha S. Wang, MD

In her roles as clinical chief of pulmonary, critical care, sleep medicine, allergy and immunology, and vice chair of inpatient services, Dr. Wang has had extensive experience managing both inpatient and outpatient medicine operations at UCLA Health. She successfully led the creation and expansion of multiple inpatient and outpatient services in Westwood, Santa Monica, and the community which led to tremendous growth in both productivity and the breadth of a number of subspecialty clinical programs. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, she also assumed the role of co-director of the pandemic response team. In this complex role, she helped to organize clinical guidelines, surge staffing, bed allocation, crisis standards of care policies, and clinical trials.

In her current vice chair role, she continues to optimize inpatient staffing models, outside hospital transfer processes to align with UCLA Health priorities, and inpatient consultation policies, while helping to manage the hospital-based needs of the pandemic. While increasing the faculty in her division by 3-fold, she concurrently focused on building a culture based on collaboration and community. Dr. Wang has always led with a lens for equity, diversity, and inclusion with the mission to improve the diversity of our faculty and trainees to better serve the diversity of our community. As the pulmonary/critical care fellowship program director, she successfully retained every UIM trainee that graduated from the program in recent years and vastly improved the EDI statistics in the pulmonary division faculty. Her leadership over the past 14 years has earned her distinctions that include the 2020 UCLA Sherman Melinkoff Award, the 2019 Serge and Yvette Dadone Clinical Teaching Award from the UCLA Dean’s Office, and over 10 nominations for the DoM Faculty Teaching Award.

Nationally, Dr. Wang is chair of the Education Committee for the American Thoracic Society (ATS) and sits on the ATS Board of Directors. She is also on the executive committee for the California Thoracic Society (CTS) and will serve as the future president of CTS. Dr. Wang has national recognition as a clinical expert in rare lung disease and serves as the vice president and clinical director of the Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis (PAP) Foundation, a non-profit patient advocacy organization. In the area of PAP, she conducts multiple clinical trials in collaboration with a team of UCLA translational and basic scientists.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Brent and Dr. Wang for their accomplishments and new leadership roles. I am excited to work alongside these visionary and dedicated leaders who will help drive the strategic growth of the DoM and realize its impact amongst our patients, faculty, staff, and trainees.

Sincerely,

E. Dale Abel, MD, PhD
William S. Adams Distinguished Professor of Medicine
Chair and Executive Medical Director
Department of Medicine
David Geffen School of Medicine and UCLA Health