Frenk, the current president of the University of Miami, will bring his experience in public health and diversity to UCLA.
Julio Frenk, an esteemed public health expert and the current president of the University of Miami, has been chosen to serve as UCLA’s next chancellor. The University of California Board of Regents announced this historic decision on Wednesday, making Frenk the first Latino to hold the position at UCLA, a university where 21% of undergraduates and 13% of graduate students identify as Hispanic.
Expressing his dedication to cross-cultural understanding, Frenk said in a press release, “I consider myself a boundary spanner and a bridge builder.” He highlighted the critical role of diversity in strengthening educational institutions on social, academic, and intellectual fronts.
Born in Mexico, Frenk holds a medical degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and formerly served as Mexico’s health secretary, where he implemented reforms that expanded universal health care access, including family planning resources. His career includes leadership roles with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization, and Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Since 2015, Frenk has led the University of Miami as its president, marking the first time a Latino held that role. His efforts there focused on enhancing diversity and inclusion, a commitment he described in a past interview as deeply rooted in his family’s experience. Frenk’s father, a Jewish immigrant who fled Nazi Germany, found a home in Mexico, where Frenk said his family received a warm welcome despite the country’s economic hardships.
As Frenk prepares to take up his role at UCLA in January, he will take a sabbatical from the University of Miami. Meanwhile, Joe Echevarria, a fellow Latino, has been appointed interim president at Miami to ensure a smooth leadership transition.
