Toluwalase A. Ajayi, MD

Toluwalasé “Lasé” Ajayi, MD, is an experienced community pediatrician, adult and pediatric palliative medicine physician, and clinical translational researcher. In June 2022 she was elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees. Her extensive service includes roles as past chair of the California Medical Association (CMA) Council on Medical Services and past president of the San Diego County Medical Society.

Dr. Ajayi emigrated from Nigeria to the U.S. at the age of seven as a political refugee, growing up in Lawrence, Kan. She earned her medical degree from the University of Kansas, completed her pediatric residency at the University of Kansas Medical Center, and further specialized in adult and pediatric palliative medicine at the Institute for Palliative Medicine at San Diego Hospice.

Currently, Dr. Ajayi holds a joint faculty position as a clinical professor at UC San Diego in both the departments of pediatrics and medicine. She is also the program director for the UC San Diego and Scripps Health Palliative Medicine Fellowship program. Her translational research is conducted at the Joan & Irwin Jacobs Center for Health Innovation, where she leads initiatives on digital health equity.

Clinically, Dr. Ajayi practices at Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego as a hospitalist specializing in newborn care and serves as the interim director of the Pediatric Palliative Care Program. Additionally, she is an adult palliative medicine consultant at UC San Diego Health.

Previously, Dr. Ajayi chaired both the AMA Young Physician Section and the CMA Young Physician Section. Her leadership has extended to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), where she has been an AAP delegate to the AMA House of Delegates, focusing on the needs of children, particularly those with serious illnesses.

Dr. Ajayi’s research intersects innovative digital medicine technologies with unmet needs in health disparities, maternal fetal health, pain and palliative medicine. She has been actively involved with the NIH’s All of Us Research Program, the Palliative Care Research Cooperative, and is the principal investigator for PowerMom, a study exploring how mobile health technologies can optimize pregnancy outcomes through real-time, patient-reported data.

Dr. Ajayi resides in San Diego with her partner, Kyle Edmonds, MD, and their three children, Ayokárí, Tiwalolá and Palmer.

2024–2025

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