Ursula Worsham
Biography
Ursula Worsham, EdD, is Assistant Dean and Chief Diversity Officer in the Office of Belonging, Equity, and Empowerment and Assistant Adjunct Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at UCI School of Medicine. She also serves as Associate Director of Leadership Engagement and Faculty Development at the UCI Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and as Cultural Proficiency Advisor for the School of Medicine's Office of Continuing Medical Education. Worsham has held multiple administrative roles at UCI since 2016, including Director of Admissions and Outreach, Executive Director of Student Support Services, and Interim Diversity Officer. Prior to joining UCI, she served as Senior Associate Director of Admissions and Scholarships at the University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education and spent sixteen years as Director of Admissions and Health Programs at Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions.
Worsham's work focuses on diversity, equity, and inclusion in medical education and healthcare, with particular emphasis on holistic admissions practices, implicit bias mitigation, and supporting underrepresented students in health professions. She co-investigates several funded initiatives, including a $3.6 million UC PRIME Pre-Health Pathways Program grant and a $2.7 million CIRM-COMPASS Scholars Program focused on regenerative medicine careers for diverse undergraduate students. She serves as faculty advisor for the UCI School of Medicine PRIME-LEAD ABC program, a mission-based model addressing racial diversity in medicine.
Worsham received her Doctor of Education in Higher Education Leadership and Administration from the University of Southern California and holds a Master of Science in Counseling from California State University, Long Beach. She serves on the UC Health Sciences DEI Leadership Collaborative as Co-Chair and is a member of the President's Task Force on UC Black Thriving. Worsham is a founding executive board member and board secretary of Crete Academy and serves on the Mental Wellness Committee of 100 Black Men of Orange County.
Return to topEducation
- EdD in Higher Education Leadership and Administration, University of Southern California
- MS in Counseling (Student Development in Higher Education), California State University, Long Beach
- BS in Health Science (Community Health Education), California State University, Long Beach
Distinctions
- Student National Medical Association and Latino Medical Student Association UCI Pre-Health Conference, Award of Excellence, 2023
- ARIISE Finalist, University of California, Irvine, 2018
- Office of Medical Education, MVP Outstanding Staff Service Award, UCI School of Medicine, 2019
Areas of Expertise
- Medical Education Leadership
- Holistic Admissions Processes
- Implicit Bias Mitigation
- Health Professions Workforce Development
- Cultural Humility Training
- Patient Discriminatory Behavior Management
- Mission-Based Program Models
Recent Publications
- McRae, D. S., Worsham, U., Alonzo-Diaz, L., Juarez, E., Johnson, E., “A prescription for change: Addressing retention among women physicians of color in California” (opens in new tab), Physicians for a Healthy California, 2024.
- Boysen-Osborn, M., Guirguis, N., Stokes, L., Sakaria, S., Meza, C., Worsham, U., Gonzalez, A., Le-Bucklin, K. V., “Improving diversity in medical student applicant pool through revised screening processes”, 2022. Presented at AAMC Group on Student Affairs, Careers in Medicine, and Organization of Student Representatives National Meeting, Denver, CO, April 2022.
- Major, C., Taylor Lucas, C., Enendu, K., Youm, J., Worsham, U., Le-Bucklin, K. V., “Leadership Education to Advance Diversity-African, Black and Caribbean (LEAD-ABC): A mission-based model approach to addressing racial diversity and inclusive excellence in medicine” (opens in new tab), Academic Medicine Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, vol. 96, no. 11S, pp. S199–S200, 2021.
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Last updated on 5/14/2026.