Lilia Diaz

UCLA, Anderson School of Management

“First-generation Latina pursuing her medical and business degrees to improve health equity for under-resourced communities.”

Hometown: Hamilton City, CA

Fun Fact About Yourself: I can lift more than 300 pounds.

Undergraduate School and Major:

• UCLA, Physiological Science B.S., Human Biology and Society, B. S.
• UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: UCLA Carceral Ecologies Research Lab, Research Director

UCLA Anderson is founded on the Three Pillars: Share Success, Think Fearlessly, and Drive Change. Which pillar resonates most with you and why? The pillar that most resonates with me is “Drive Change.” With my dual degrees of MD/MBA, I am working towards building a skillset to contribute to solutions within healthcare access and quality. My main driver is improving quality of life for communities.

What makes Los Angeles such a great place to earn an MBA? I am a triple Bruin and have lived in LA for over 7 years. The weather, beach, and diversity (in food, art, and people) make LA a special place to develop as an individual and professional.

Aside from your classmates and location, what was the key part of UCLA Anderson’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? For years, I have been interested in entrepreneurship; the Business Creation Capstone is the perfect opportunity to work with classmates to bring a business idea to life and apply concepts taught in the classroom.

What course, club or activity excites you the most at UCLA Anderson? I am most excited to be part of the Entrepreneurship Association, mainly because I want to surround myself with individuals who have the courage to build their own business and to understand how they approach problems.

What is your unique quality that will enable you to make a big contribution to the Class of 2026? My background is one of six children from a Mexican immigrant family who grew up in rural Northern California. That, along with my medical education, enables me to bring a perspective of the deep struggle to receive proper healthcare in the US along with the challenges of providing medical care to patients as a student doctor. It is this perspective that propels me to pursue a career that improves the quality of life for individuals and communities through improved health.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I have been in school most of my life. Over the last year, I cared for patients as a student doctor. My biggest accomplishment has been listening to patients, especially during times when the medical team has yet to diagnose a patient or when the patient is navigating a chronic illness.

What do you hope to do after graduation (at this point)? I hope to improve healthcare quality and access through the incorporation of AI and improved systems.

DON’T MISS: MEET UCLA ANDERSON’S MBA CLASS OF 2026