Director, Melvin and Bren Simon Gastroenterology Quality Improvement Program
Assistant Professor-in-Residence of Medicine
Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases
UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Dr. May graduated cum laude from Yale University with a degree in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology. After college, she attended the University of Cambridge to study epidemiology and international health, earning a master’s of philosophy before returning to the States to attend Harvard Medical School. She completed her internship and residency in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and remained at MGH for one year as a clinical educator in the Department of Medicine and manager of trainee affairs for the MGH Multicultural Affairs Office.
Dr. May came to UCLA in 2011 to begin her gastroenterology fellowship. As a fellow in the UCLA Specialty Training and Advanced Research (STAR) program, she earned a PhD in health policy and management from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Her doctoral dissertation addressed black-white disparities in colorectal cancer incidence, screening, and outcomes.
Dr. May joined the digestive diseases faculty at UCLA as a clinical instructor of medicine in 2015. She is a member of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC) and research collaborator at the UCLA Center for Cancer Prevention Control Research (CPCR). Her research focuses on eliminating patient, provider, and system-level barriers to colorectal cancer screening in Federally Qualified Health Centers and in the Veterans Health Administration. She is also faculty at the UCLA Center for World Health as co-director for the Global Health Education Program in the David Geffen School of Medicine. She has participated in global health programs in Costa Rica, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Malawi and Tanzania.
"I fight to make sure that everyone, regardless of background, knows that they can do something to reduce their risk of colorectal cancer and to provide support through advocacy and research for people and families impacted by the disease."