Bruce Ovbiagele, MD, MSc, MAS, MBA is Professor of Neurology and Associate Dean at the University of California, San Francisco, as well as Chief of Staff at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System. Prior to these roles, he served for six years as Professor of Neurology and Chair of the Department of Neurology at the Medical University of South Carolina. He leads several NIH funded programs including the Program to Avoid Cerebrovascular Events through Systematic Electronic Tracking and Tailoring of an Eminent Risk-factor (PACESETTER) study, which is evaluating whether a theoretical-model- based, mHealth technology-centered, multi-level integrated approach can be effectively implemented to improve sustained BP control among stroke patients encountered in South Carolina (at least half of whom will be African American) within one month of stroke symptom onset; the Training in Research for Academic Neurologists to Sustain Careers and Enhance the Numbers of Diverse Scholars (TRANSCENDS) program which aims to train, mentor, and inspire a national cohort of underrepresented in medicine (UIM) individuals who are post-residency fellows and junior faculty, to conduct high-quality neurological research and develop successful academic careers; and the Health Equity and Actionable Disparities in Stroke: Understanding and Problem-Solving (HEADS-UP) symposium, which is an annual multidisciplinary scientific and educational forum targeting major inequities in cerebrovascular disease, with the ultimate objective of helping to bridge major inequities in stroke, including global health inequities, and promptly translating scientific results into routine clinical practice, for the benefit of vulnerable and underserved populations. He was Chair of the International Stroke Conference (2016-2018) and is an Associate Editor for the journal, Stroke.