Lauray MacElhern, MBA

Lauray MacElhern has more than 20 years of expertise launching, growing, and sustaining numerous health, wellness, and educational programs and organizations. As Managing Director of the UC San Diego Centers for Integrative Health since 2011, Lauray MacElhern oversees the business administration, strategy, operations, marketing, finance, management, and development of its five Centers: Center for Integrative Medicine, Center for Mindfulness, Krupp Center for Integrative Research, Center for Integrative Education and Center for Integrative Nutrition. As one of the founding members of the Centers for Integrative Health in 2011, Lauray has supported its growth over the years from a 10-person micro-granted program to a ~100-person multi-Center enterprise. Lauray also has expertise in curriculum development and is co-founder, teacher, and trainer of the UC San Diego Natural Healing & Cooking program and the UC San Diego Integrative Nutrition Certificate program. She serves as Co-Director of the Center for Integrative Nutrition and Treasurer for the Krupp Endowed Fund.  She has served as Clinical Chair of the prestigious Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health. She has worked collaboratively on several funded projects with the CA Department of Public Health, Department of Homeland Defense, and CA Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST). Lauray joined UC San Diego after running a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organization, The Cancer Project, dedicated to nutrition education and research for cancer prevention and survival. As part of that role, she worked with and trained more than 100 nutritionists around the world on how to teach the organization’s award-winning cooking and nutrition courses. Under her leadership, the organization reached millions through its public outreach efforts and within community centers, hospitals, and medical centers in more than 160 cities across the U.S., U.K., Canada, Panama, Jamaica, India and Spain.   For the prior decade, Lauray specialized in technology, management, marketing, and leadership roles contributing to the successful start-up of three ventures. She has achieved formal recognition from NASA and the Telly Awards for her work. From an early age, Lauray has been personally immersed and passionate about healing cooking, natural medicine, Ayurveda, and Chinese medicine. She earned her bachelor’s degree in communication and commerce through coursework in the Wharton School and Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and advanced degree coursework in nutrition and biological sciences through extension programs at Harvard University, UC Berkeley, and American University. She earned her MBA from Rady School of Management where she was the recipient of a Pauline Foster MBA Fellowship.