San Diego pediatrician re-elected to AMA Board of Trustees

CHICAGO - The American Medical Association (AMA), the nation's largest physician organization, today announced the re-election of San Diego-based pediatrician and palliative care physician Toluwalasé "Lasé" A. Ajayi, MD, to its Board of Trustees. Dr. Ajayi will serve as chair of the Board.

"I believe health care access must be real, not theoretical, and built on stable coverage, fair payment and fewer barriers to care. I believe in strengthening our physician workforce by expanding training pathways, supporting trainees from all walks of life, and fixing the friction that drives physicians out of practice. I believe in physician-led, patient-safe innovation that reduces burden and works for every patient," said Dr. Ajayi. "I am deeply honored to be re-elected to, and now serve as chair of, the AMA Board of Trustees so I can continue working on behalf of physicians to help improve our health care system and improve health outcomes for our patients."

With more than a decade of experience in organized medicine, Dr. Ajayi recently completed her first term as a member of the AMA Board of Trustees. She previously served as chair of the AMA Young Physician Section and as president of the San Diego County Medical Society. Her leadership roles also extend to the California Medical Association as chair of the Council on Medical Service and to the American Academy of Pediatrics as the associate director of public policy on the Council of Community Pediatrics.

Dr. Ajayi is a board-certified pediatrician and an adult/pediatric palliative care physician. She works in clinical practice as a newborn hospitalist and home-based physician for medically fragile children at Rady Children's Hospital San Diego and is an adult palliative medicine consultant at UC San Diego Health. She serves as a clinical professor at the University of California, San Diego, in both the departments of medicine and pediatrics, and directs the UC San Diego-Scripps Health palliative medicine fellowship program. Dr. Ajayi is also an experienced clinical translational researcher who leads initiatives on digital health equity at the Joan & Irwin Jacobs Center for Health Innovation at UC San Diego Health.

Dr. Ajayi earned her medical degree and completed her medical residency in pediatrics from the University of Kansas. She completed a fellowship in palliative and hospice medicine at the San Diego Hospice and Institute of Palliative Medicine. She is a mother of three and lives in San Diego with her partner, Kyle-a physician who also practices palliative medicine.