Saya Yusa is a Preventive Medicine Fellow at UCLA and a practicing family physician dedicated to advancing health equity through clinical care, research, and policy. She earned an M.D. and Public Health Certificate from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine in Flint, where her training emphasized community health, health equity, systemic racism, and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). She completed a Family Medicine residency at Harbor-UCLA and later practiced at Venice Family Clinic, providing full-scope care in county, school-based, and federally qualified health center settings serving under-resourced populations.
She recently completed a Master’s in Health Policy and Management at UCLA and is currently leading a quality improvement project on continuity of care and physician burnout, as well as a qualitative study examining the impact of burnout on early-career physician wellness and retention. Her broader research interests focus on workforce sustainability, clinician well-being, and continuity of care as key drivers of equity in primary care delivery.
She has extensive experience engaging diverse audiences and across different healthcare systems and organizations—from counseling patients and families in urgent care and lifestyle medicine clinics, to mentoring underrepresented students, to communicating with policymakers on issues such as safe community spaces, healthcare workforce funding, and preventive health. Her career has always been rooted in addressing the economic, racial, and health inequities that shape the U.S. healthcare system. Through her work, she aims to advance systemic solutions that strengthen the healthcare workforce, reduce disparities, and improve access to preventive and primary care for underserved communities