Rupa Marya, MD

Professor

Dr. Rupa Marya is a Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, where she practices and teaches internal medicine. Her work sits at the nexus of climate, health and racial justice. Dr Marya founded the Deep Medicine Circle, a women of color-led organization committed to healing the wounds of colonialism through food, medicine, story, restoration and learning. She is also a co-founder of the Do No Harm Coalition, a collective of health workers committed to addressing disease through structural change.

Dr Marya was recognized in 2021 with the Women Leaders in Medicine Award by the American Medical Student Association. She was a reviewer of the American Medical Association's Organizational Strategic Plan to Embed Racial Justice and Advance Health Equity. Because of her work advancing health equity, Dr. Marya was appointed by Governor Newsom to the Healthy California for All Commission, to advance a model for universal healthcare in California. She has toured twenty-nine countries with her band, Rupa and the April Fishes, whose music was described by the legend Gil Scott-Heron as “Liberation Music.” Together with Raj Patel, she co-authored the bestselling book examining the health impacts of colonialism on bodies, societies and the planet called Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice.
Education
2020 - Writers Residency, Mesa Refuge
2009 - Artist Residency, EDELO
2007 - Residency, Internal Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
2003 - Documentary Radio, SALT Institute for Documentary Studies
M.D., 2002 - School of Medicine, Georgetown University
Honors and Awards
  • Women Leaders in Medicine, The American Medical Student Association, 2021
  • Chancellor's Award Edison T Uno Public Service, UCSF, 2020
  • William Rashkind Endowed Lecture, American Heart Association, 2017
Publications