Contacts for Journalists

Each member of our press team oversees a number of specialties, serving as the first point of contact for reporters seeking experts and for faculty and staff seeking public relations advice. For areas outside of these specialties, please call our main media line at 858-249-0456. 

Beat List

Jackie Carr 

Jackie Carr

Assistant Executive Director of Communications and Media Relations
jcarr@ucsd.edu
858-249-0420

Beat Areas

  • Crisis communications / issues management
  • Hospital affiliations and sponsorships
  • Infectious diseases
  • Jacobs Medical Center
  • Labor Relations
  • Regulatory Affairs
  • Volunteer Services
Scott LaFee 

Scott LaFee

Director of Media Relations
slafee@ucsd.edu
858-249-0431

Beat Areas

  • Aging
  • Alzheimer’s disease
  • Autism
  • Clinical trials
  • HIV/AIDS
  • Neurosciences
  • Ophthalmology
  • Stem cells
Heather Buschman 

Heather Buschman, PhD

Senior Public Information Officer
hbuschman@ucsd.edu
858-249-0417

Beat Areas

  • Anesthesiology and pain medicine
  • Bioinformatics / data science
  • Cellular and molecular medicine (research)
  • Drug discovery
  • Microbiome
  • Nanomedicine
  • Orthopedic surgery and sports medicine
  • Pathology
  • Pharmacy and pharmacology
Yadira Galindo 

Yadira Galindo

Public Information Officer
ygalindo@ucsd.edu
858-249-0423

Beat Areas

  • Bone marrow transplantation
  • Cancer
  • Dermatology
  • Diabetes and endocrinology
  • Hematology
  • Metabolic diseases
  • Neurology (cancer)
  • Radiation oncology
  • Surgery (cancer)
  • Urology
Michelle Brubaker 

Michelle Brubaker

Senior Public Information Officer
mmbrubaker@ucsd.edu
858-249-0416

Beat Areas

  • Cardiovascular and heart surgery (includes transplant and endovascular surgery)
  • Eating disorders
  • Family medicine and public health
  • Gastroenterology
  • Neonatology
  • Obstetrics and gynecology
  • Pediatrics
  • Primary care
  • Pulmonary and critical care medicine
Gabrielle Johnston 

Gabrielle Johnston, MPH

Public Information Officer
gnjohnston@ucsd.edu
858-249-0428

Beat Areas

  • Allergy, immunology and rheumatology
  • Emergency medicine
  • Global public health
  • Hepatology
  • Nephrology
  • Neurology (stroke)
  • Psychiatry
  • Radiology
  • Surgery (general and abdominal transplant)
  • Trauma and burn care
  • Weight management and weight loss surgery

General Contact Info

During Business Hours:

  • Phone: 858-249-0456
  • Pager: 619-290-2688

Evenings/Weekends:

    • Pager: 619-290-2688.

   
Fax: 858-249-0453
healthscicomm@ucsd.edu

UC San Diego Health
Marketing and Communications
200 West Arbor Drive # 8907
San Diego, CA 92103-8907

Printable maps of UC San Diego Campus and Medical Centers: ucsd.edu/maps

Requests for Patient Conditions

In accordance with UC San Diego Health policies and procedures, we can neither confirm nor deny reports about potential patients. Patient conditions will not be given unless specifically requested by a patient.