Devika Bhushan, MD, FAAP, Senior Advisor and Expert by Experience, is a pediatrician, public health leader, and writer on a mission to drive health innovation, equity, and resilience. Previously, as California’s Acting Surgeon General, Dr. Bhushan was a key public health spokesperson and advisor to the California Governor. Dr. Bhushan’s policy, research, and clinical expertise spans trauma-informed systems, stress and resilience, mental health, and gender and health equity. Her work has been featured in The Lancet, Pediatrics, National Public Radio, The Los Angeles Times, and Healthy Children. She has served on Stanford’s faculty and trained at Harvard Medical School and Johns Hopkins.

In addition to her role in BrainStorm the film, Dr. Bhushan serves as a senior advisor to other entities that aim to advance health, innovation, and equity, including the Weitzman Institute, focused on primary care innovation, GreyMatter, a venture capital fund dedicated to mental health innovation, and Health Management Associates, focused on health policy and strategy.

Dr. Bhushan is deeply committed to destigmatizing living with serious mental illness and to promoting healing; to this end, she has shared her own journey with bipolar disorder publicly and built a vibrant community to advance well-being through a monthly newsletter and YouTube channel.

Having spent her early years between the Philippines, India, and the United States, Dr. Bhushan is an immigrant and a first-generation American. She lives in San Francisco with her long-time partner and their son. Connect with her on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok at @DrDevikaB or through her personal website.