Richard L. Kravitz was appointed the director of the University of California Center Sacramento (UCCS) in 2015 after serving as interim director for more than two years. UCCS is a systemwide program managed by UC Davis, and Kravitz has a dual report to the UC Davis provost and to the UC systemwide provost. He also is a distinguished professor of medicine in the Division of General Medicine at UC Davis Health, specializing in internal medicine and geriatric medicine.

As UCCS director, Kravitz oversees programs in undergraduate education and experiential learning, graduate student training in policy and leadership, and public outreach aiming to translate research into evidence-supported public policy.

Kravitz joined UC Davis in 1993 and served as director of the Center for Healthcare Policy and Research from 1996 through 2006. He grew that center from a small startup to a thriving organized research unit, which at the time of his departure had 20 staff members, 100 faculty affiliates and over $3 million annually in research grants.

Among the many awards he has received are the Elnora Rhodes Service Award from the Society of General Internal Medicine and the George Engel Award for Contributions to Theory, Practice and Teaching of Health Communication. He is also a two-time winner of Academy Health’s Research Article-of-the-Year Award

Kravitz holds a Bachelor of Science degree in biological sciences from Stanford University, a Master of Science in Public Health from UCLA and an M.D. from UC San Francisco. He completed additional clinical and research training at UCLA, where he served on the faculty before coming to UC Davis. Kravitz is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and Academy Health.

The director of UC Center Sacramento reports jointly to the UC Davis Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor and to the UC Systemwide Provost.