The award-winning author of Beyond Your Bubble: How to Connect Across the Political Divide and Facing the Fracture: How to Navigate the Challenges of Living in a Divided Nation, Tania Israel, PhD, will deliver the 2026 Evelyn Lee Visiting Scholar Lecture on Wednesday, October 14.
Israel, a professor emeritus of counseling psychology at UC Santa Barbara, will present her talk entitled "Teaching and Practicing Mental Health in Turbulent Times" as part of the UC San Francisco Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Grand Rounds series at 12:00 p.m. PDT in the UCSF Nancy Friend Pritzker Psychiatry Building. The event will also be streamed live via Zoom at psychiatry.ucsf.edu/watchgrandrounds.
Israel’s work on navigating political conflict has been received enthusiastically by professional conferences, corporations, campuses, political organizations, and faith communities. She has shared her expertise with top media outlets, such as the TODAY show, New York Times, Washington Post, and NPR, as well as on her podcast, Ready to Be Strong. Her TEDx talks include "How to Win a Political Argument" and "What Halibut Fajitas Taught Me About Bridging the Political Divide."
Israel has facilitated educational programs and difficult dialogues about a range of topics, including abortion, law enforcement, religion, and sexual orientation. She has received honors from Congress, the California State Legislature, and the American Psychological Association.
The annual Evelyn Lee Visiting Scholar Lecture in Cultural Competency and Diversity is sponsored by the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Diversity Committee in remembrance of Evelyn Lee, EdD, who served as a clinical faculty member for more than twenty years before her passing in 2003. In addition to her work at UCSF and San Francisco General Hospital, Lee served as executive director of San Francisco-area mental health agency Richmond Area Multi-Services and authored more than 30 publications fostering cultural competence and cross-cultural communication in mental health. The lectureship aims to further her mission of expanding diversity, equity, and inclusion in the field of mental health by bringing prominent experts to share their experiences and expertise with campus trainees, faculty, and staff.
