A Message From UCAAN’s Leadership

California Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris has announced that she will step down from her position on February 11. It is hard to overstate her influence in catalyzing the statewide movement to identify, address, and overcome the health impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress on California’s families. In just two years, she worked with the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to launch the ACEs Aware initiative, which has trained more than 20,000 clinicians in ACE screening and response, resulting in more than 600,000 screens of Californians served by Medi-Cal, and provided 185 grants totaling $45 million in funding to further build the movement to combat ACEs and create lasting change. She also co-led California’s successful COVID-19 vaccine rollout, championing vaccine equity, and strongly advocated for and supported improved mental health services for children and adults in the state. We are grateful for her vision, incredibly hard work, and enormous successes.

Some of Dr. Burke Harris’ most recent work focused on creating a robust and sustainable home for ACEs Aware, grounding this provider training initiative in academic and clinical science and ensuring sustained resources and expertise to foster rich partnerships across the state that will continue to grow the movement. In October 2021, we joined with Dr. Burke Harris and DHCS to launch the UCLA/UCSF ACEs Aware Family Resilience Network (UCAAN), a multi-campus initiative that will house, sustain, and cultivate ACEs Aware activities, grants, and training programs. We are honored and humbled to be entrusted with the responsibility of carrying forward Dr. Burke Harris’ legacy.

We look forward to partnering with you in the years to come to ensure that all Californians are ACEs Aware and all families have the opportunity to be safe, healthy, and well.

Sincerely,

Shannon Thyne, MD
Co-Principal Investigator, UCAAN
Professor and Vice Chair of Pediatrics at UCLA
Chief of Pediatrics at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center
Director of Pediatrics, LA County Department of Health Services

Edward Machtinger, MD
Co-Principal Investigator, UCAAN
Professor of Medicine at UCSF
Director, Center to Advance Trauma-Informed Health Care (CTHC) at UCSF
Director, Women’s HIV Program at UCSF