Devika Bhushan

 

Devika Bhushan, MD, is a pediatrician, public health leader, and writer on a mission to drive health innovation, equity, and resilience. Previously, as California’s Acting Surgeon General and the office’s inaugural Chief Health Officer, Dr. Bhushan was a key public health spokesperson, advisor to the California Governor, and led policy and practice innovation at a statewide level. Dr. Bhushan’s policy, research, and clinical expertise spans trauma-informed systems, stress and resilience, mental health, and gender and health equity. Her work and voice have been featured in The Lancet, Pediatrics, JAMA, National Public Radio (NPR), Slate, The Los Angeles Times, and Forbes Health. She trained at Harvard Medical School (MD, Cum Laude), Johns Hopkins (pediatrics residency), and Columbia (BA in Neuroscience and Behavior, Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa).

Dr. Bhushan serves on Stanford’s adjunct faculty and as a senior advisor to entities that aim to advance health, innovation, and equity. These include GreyMatter, a venture capital fund dedicated to mental health innovation; the California Council of County Behavioral Health Agencies, advocating for improved behavioral health; and Health Management Associates, focused on health policy and strategy. She serves on the national Board of Directors for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI, focused on national mental health advocacy).

Dr. Bhushan is an award-winning mental health spokesperson, known for destigmatizing living with mental illness and spreading hope by publicly sharing her journey with bipolar disorder in 2022. In 2023, she launched a vibrant well-being platform through a newsletter and YouTube channel/podcast.

Having spent her early years between the Philippines, India, and the United States, Dr. Bhushan is an immigrant and a first-generation American. She lives in San Francisco with her long-time partner and their son.