Dr. Marina Tolou-Shams is the Kilroy Realty Endowed Professor in Psychiatry, Vice Chair of Community Engagement, Outreach, and Advocacy in the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Deputy Vice Chair for Research at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, and Director of the UCSF Juvenile inJustice Behavioral Health (JJBH) Lab.
Dr. Tolou-Shams holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago with forensic training from the University of Massachusetts. She has dedicated her career to advancing behavioral health equity for system-involved youth through clinical, administrative, education/training and research roles. As the principal investigator of multiple NIH-funded studies, her research emphasizes gender- and trauma-responsive interventions, technology-based solutions to expand access to care, and the impact of structural racism on behavioral health outcomes. With over 20 years in integrated behavioral health research, her work spans substance use, mental health and sexual/reproductive health interventions at individual, family, and systems levels.
As part of the leadership of the University of California Brain and Behavioral Health Consortium, Dr. Tolou-Shams collaborates with experts across California and UC departments to enhance behavioral health services and outcomes for Californians across the lifespan through research, education, and workforce development.
