Sheetal Desai, MD, appointed interim chair of UCI Department of Medicine

Sheetal B. Desai, MD, has been named interim chair of the Department of Medicine, replacing Alpesh Amin, MD, MBA, who has served as the Thomas & Mary Cesario Endowed Chair since 2008. Her appointment will begin July 1, 2024.

Desai joined the UCI Department of Medicine in 2007 and served for a decade as program director of the Rheumatology Fellowship, where she transformed the program into one of the most sought-after programs, doubled the fellowship positions and trained over 40 fellows. In 2018, she became Chief of Rheumatology and grew the division to eight clinical locations across UCI Health and created multidisciplinary clinics with Nephrology, Neuromuscular and Dermatology. She is also the DEI officer for the Department of Medicine and on the American College of Rheumatology’s Taskforce for Women. Desai has a passion for caring for those with lupus, and in 2012, started a multidisciplinary lupus clinic that combines clinical care from nursing, pharmacy, rheumatology and nephrology, for complex patients with lupus nephritis. 

She completed medical school at USC Keck School of Medicine followed by a Master of Education in medical education at USC Rossier School of Education. She went on to UCLA for her internal medicine residency and rheumatology fellowship before joining UC Irvine. Most recently she completed the nationally acclaimed Executive Leadership in Healthcare program through Drexel University. Her institutional project was Lactation Support for UCI Health physicians, and she has been instrumental in garnering leadership support and enterprise approval to provide lactation financial credit beginning July 2024.