Alejandra Casillas MD, MSHS is an assistant professor of medicine in residence, in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. She practices primary care at 200 Medical Plaza, and teaches UCLA medical students and internal medicine residents at Simms Mann in the Venice Family Free Clinic. Dr. Casillas completed her undergraduate studies at Harvard College and medical studies at Harvard Medical School, where she received the Dean’s Community Service Award. She then finished her internal medicine and primary care residency training at the University of California San Francisco, also serving as Chief Medical Resident at UCSF Medical Center from 2008-2009. Dr. Casillas returned to her native hometown of Los Angeles as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at UCLA—where she completed a health services fellowship, conducted multiple community-partnered research projects, and received a masters’ degree at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. After completing her training, Dr. Casillas worked at the University medical centers in Geneva and Lausanne, with funding from the Swiss Office of Public Health, to address immigrant health disparities in the French-speaking region of Switzerland.

Dr. Casillas’ research focuses on health inequities. Her studies examine how medical care access and interventions can be developed to improve the quality of life for minority and limited-English-speaking populations. She has led research projects that focus on reproductive health, depression, and cognitive decline in minority populations. Her current research portfolio is composed of multiple studies that investigate how electronic health tools are received in the Los Angeles county safety net health system, and how the health care system can develop a more meaningful experience for these underserved populations.