Richard S. Baker, MD
Dean, College of Medicine
Richard S. Baker, M.D. is Dean of the College of Medicine at Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science and President of the Charles Drew University Multi- Specialty Practice Group. He holds a joint faculty appointment at UCLA where he serves as Associate Dean at the David Geffen School of Medicine and is a member of the Jules Stein Eye Institute. He is a board certified ophthalmologist and a fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Previous positions at Charles Drew University include Associate Vice President for Research, Associate Dean for Research, Assistant Dean for Medical Student Research and Director of the Charles Drew RCMI Biomedical Research Center.
Dr. Baker is the founding Director of the Drew Health Services Research Center and Co- founder and Executive Director of the Drew Urban Telemedicine Center of Excellence. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles County Medical Association (LACMA) and the Association of Minority Health Professions Schools (AMHPS). Previous Board service includes the California Black Health Network, Drew Economic Development Corporation, Drew Faculty Practice Plan, and a founding board member of the Los Angeles Eye Institute.
Dr. Baker has been recognized for his scientific and civic contributions by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, the National Association of Public Hospitals, the California State Legislature, Tavis Smiley/Microsoft, the City of Lynwood and numerous community organizations. He is an elected member of the Phi Kappa Phi national honor society.
A native of Harlem New York, Dr. Baker received his undergraduate degree in Physics from Stanford University. He was awarded his M.D. degree from Harvard Medical School with concurrent doctoral training in Health Sciences Technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Upon completion of medical school, Dr. Baker was awarded a fellowship at the Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School. He then went on to complete an internship in General Surgery at the University of Minnesota. After completion of his internship, Dr. Baker was awarded a National Institutes of Health Fellowship in Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the University of Minnesota. He then completed his ophthalmology residency training at the Charles Drew University.
He has been Principal Investigator of multiple studies and a published author in the field of Ophthalmology, Telemedicine, Epidemiology and Health Services Research. He has served on numerous expert panels for the National Institutes of Health and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and has over 200 scientific publications, book chapters, and presentations.
