Faculty & Staff

Dr. Gail E. Wyatt, a Clinical Psychologist, is a board certified Sex Therapist and Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Behavior at UCLA. She directs the Center for Culture, Trauma and Mental Health Disparities and the Sexual Health Programs. Dr. Wyatt has published well over 250 publications, written six books and has provided Congressional testimony 10 times. “Stolen Women: Reclaiming our Sexuality, Taking Back our Lives” by Wiley and Sons, is a best-seller that details the effects of slavery and oppression on African American women today. Dr. Wyatt guest edited the May, 2017 issue of Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Policy and Planning, including research conducted by first authored South Africans of color. She and her team just completed an implementation study of the culturally congruent, CDC endorsed Eban Intervention for HIV sero discordant couples. The intervention has been successfully adapted for South African couples. She and Dr. Harolyn Belcher co-edited a special issue on mentoring students of diverse backgrounds in the 2019 issue of the Journal of Orthopsychiatry.

Dr. Wyatt and her team also have one NIDA funded domestic and two NIH training grants that include implementation science. Her multidisciplinary team is currently using the UCLA Life Adversities Screener to implement ‘’Healing our Hearts, Minds and Bodies’, funded by NHLBI to reduce cardiovascular and trauma risks for HIV positive people of color. Other projects include a Gilead Science funded intervention for HIV negative women of color and a Cal Wellness Foundation funded a women centered intervention to reduce HIV, STI and reproductive health risks for women of color in Los Angeles County. In 2016, she received the Chancellor’s Award for Diversity and Inclusion. In 2017, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Psychological Association for her work on the effects of trauma on mental health. In 2019 she was made an Honorary Professor at the University of Capetown, South Africa for research and mentoring and she guest edited a special issue on African American women and HIV, in Ethnicity and Disease in 2020. She has been married to Dr. Lewis Wyatt for 55 years, has a son, two granddaughters and a daughter who is an angel.

Norweeta G. Milburn, Ph.D. is a Professor-in-Residence in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the UCLA Semel Institute Center for Community Health. She received her Ph.D. in Community Psychology from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). Prior to coming to UCLA, she was an Associate Professor of Psychology at Hofstra University in New York and Assistant Director of the Psy.D. Program in School/Community Psychology. Her research interests include homelessness, substance abuse, family interventions and mental health.

Alison Hamilton, Ph.D., M.P.H., is Chief Officer of Implementation and Policy at the VA Center for the Study of Healthcare Innovation, Implementation & Policy at the Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, and a Professor-in-Residence in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA. She received her Ph.D. in medical and psychological anthropology from UCLA in 2002, and her M.P.H. in Community Health Sciences from UCLA in 2009. Dr. Hamilton’s research portfolio focuses on improving health services for vulnerable populations by understanding people’s lived experiences and implementing evidence-based and evidence-informed practices in contextually and theoretically informed ways. She is currently PI of five major VA- and NIH-funded implementation and health services research initiatives. She serves as an Associate Editor for Implementation Science Communications, and on the Editorial Boards of Implementation Science, Women’s Health Issues, and Implementation Research and Practice.

Dan J Stein is Professor and Chair of the Dept of Psychiatry and Mental Health at the University of Cape Town, Director of the Medical Research Council (MRC) Unit on Anxiety Disorders, and Visiting Professor of Psychiatry at Mt. Sinai Medical School in New York. He is interested in the psychobiology and management of the anxiety, obsessive-compulsive and related, and traumatic and stress disorders. He has also mentored work in other areas that are of particular relevance to South Africa and Africa, including neuroHIV/AIDS and substance use disorders.

Professor Simbayi is the Deputy Chief Executive Officer (DCEO) for Research (DCEO-R). He is the founding Executive Director of the HIV/AIDS, STIs and TB (HAST) research programme, the largest and most successful research programme in the HSRC, a position which he held since its founding in July 2010 until 31 May 2016. From July 2007 until June 2009 he also served as the Deputy Executive Director of the then Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS and Health (SAHA) research programme. Between February 2008 and June 2009 he also served as the Acting Executive Director of the SAHA programme, followed by one year as the Executive Director from July 2009 until June 2010. From the time that he joined the HSRC on 1 November 2001 until June 2007, Professor Simbayi served as a Research Director in charge of the Behavioural and Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS Research Unit in SAHA as well as the Regional Coordinator for Southern Africa of the Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS Research Alliance (SAHARA).

Professor Mashudu Davhana-Maselesele was born at Balanganani village at Ha-Davhana being the third born child of the late Vhamusanda Vho DMK Davhana and Mrs Nyambeni Rhodah Davhana (nee‘ Nengovhela). She trained as a nurse and midwife at the then Venda Nursing College and served as a Professional nurse at Donald Fraser hospital. She obtained BA(Cur) Nursing Education and Community Health Nursing Science; Honours BA(Cur) in Nursing Education and Masters in Nursing Education all at UNISA. She completed her Doctoral degree in Programme Development at the University of Johannesburg. She was awarded a scholarship through Fogarty Funding to pursue her Postdoctoral studies at the University of California (Los Angeles) USA in collaboration with University of Limpopo. Her PostDoctoral studies focused on trauma research with special emphasis on Gender Based Violence. She also did Postgraduate Diploma in International Research Ethics in Southern Africa (IRENSA) at UCT.