Marcella Nunez-Smith | |
---|---|
Chair of the COVID-19 Equity Task Force | |
Assumed office January 20, 2021 | |
President | Joe Biden |
Preceded by | Position established |
Co-Chair of the COVID-19 Advisory Board | |
In office November 9,2020 –January 20,2021 Servingwith David A. Kessler,Vivek Murthy | |
Preceded by | Position established |
Succeeded by | Position abolished |
Personal details | |
Born | Saint Thomas,U.S. Virgin Islands |
Education | Swarthmore College (BA) Thomas Jefferson University (MD) Yale University (MHS) |
Marcella Nunez-Smith is an American physician-scientist. She is C.N.H Long Professor of medicine and epidemiology at the Yale School of Medicine,where she serves as the inaugural Associate Dean for Health Equity Research and founding director of the Equity Research and Innovation Center. She also holds joint appointments at the Yale School of Public Health and the Yale School of Management. After co-chairing the Biden-Harris transition’s COVID-19 Advisory Board from November 2020 to January 2021,she was selected by President Joe Biden to serve as Senior Advisor to the White House COVID-19 Response Team and Chair of the Presidential COVID-19 Equity Task Force.
Nunez-Smith grew up in Saint Thomas,U.S. Virgin Islands, [1] where she attended All Saints Cathedral School. Her mother was a nursing professor who taught community health,and one of her godparents was a surgeon. [2] Nunez-Smith obtained her Bachelor of Arts in biological anthropology and psychology from Swarthmore College in 1996. She attended medical school at Jefferson Medical College,where she was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society and graduated in 2001. [3] Nunez-Smith was a resident in internal medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital,Harvard Medical School. She completed her Master of Health Science at Yale University in 2006. [3]
Nunez-Smith is C.N.H Long Professor of internal medicine,public health,and management at Yale School of Medicine. [3] She is also the founding director at Equity Research and Innovation Center,Director of the Center for Research Engagement,Director of the Pozen-Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Health Equity Leadership at Yale University,and Deputy Director of the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation. [3]
In August 2020,Nunez-Smith was named Associate Dean for Health Equity Research at Yale. [4]
Nunez-Smith served as chair of the community sub-committee of the ReOpen Connecticut Advisory Group giving expert advice to the state of Connecticut. [5] She has also been working with community partners in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to overcome obstacles in testing,self-isolation,and quarantine. [6]
A paper submitted in May 2020 of which Nunez-Smith was senior co-author considered state-level reporting of race and ethnicity of Covid cases and outcomes in the United States,for data up to April 2020,and found reporting from many states of this dimension to have been weak or lacking—an important omission,the paper argued,as from the data available it estimated that members of Black populations had encountered a 3.6 times greater risk of death,and members of Latin populations a 1.9 times greater risk of death,compared to White populations. [7]
In November 2020,Nunez-Smith was named as one of three co-chairs of U.S. president-elect Joe Biden's COVID-19 Advisory Board. [8] [9] In January 2021,Biden appointed Nunez-Smith as the leader of his administration's task force on health equity. [10] [11] Under her direction,the Health Equity Task Force issued a report advising the Biden Administration on how to best support COVID-19 response and recovery efforts in communities hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic. [12]
Nunez-Smith's research centers around health and healthcare equity for structurally marginalized communities. [3] In particular,she has studied adverse health and healthcare outcomes for those living in the Caribbean U.S. territories,including studies that show U.S. territory residents have a 17% greater risk of dying after a heart attack compared to those living on the U.S. mainland [13] She has established the Eastern Caribbean Health Outcomes Research Network (ECHORN) to study early risk and protective factors for cancer,heart disease,and diabetes in the eastern Caribbean. [14] [15] Since its inception,ECHORN has both expanded research and leadership capacity in the region,and served as an international model for reducing the global burden of non-communicable diseases among structurally marginalized communities. [16]
Nunez-Smith has developed a tool to assess patient reported experiences of discrimination in healthcare. [3] [17] Nunez-Smith has also investigated the experiences,promotion,and retention of diverse students and faculty at U.S. medical schools. [18] Her research is funded by the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities as well as other organizations. [3] [19] [14]
The Yale School of Medicine is the medical school at Yale University,a private research university in New Haven,Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813.
David Aaron Kessler is an American pediatrician,attorney,author,and administrator serving as Chief Science Officer of the White House COVID-19 Response Team since 2021. Kessler was the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from November 8,1990,to February 28,1997. He co-chaired the Biden-Harris transition’s COVID-19 Advisory Board from November 2020 to January 2021 and was the head of Operation Warp Speed,the U.S. government program to accelerate the development of COVID-19 vaccines and other treatments,from January to February 2021.
Vivek Hallegere Murthy is an American physician and a vice admiral in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps who has served as the 19th and 21st surgeon general of the United States under Presidents Barack Obama,Donald Trump,and Joe Biden. Murthy is the first surgeon general of Indian descent,and,during his first term as surgeon general,he was the youngest active duty flag officer in federal uniformed service.
Consuelo H. Wilkins is an American physician,biomedical researcher,and health equity expert. She is Senior Vice President and Senior Associate Dean for Health Equity and Inclusive Excellence at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She is a professor of medicine in the Department of Medicine,Division of Geriatrics at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and has a joint appointment at Meharry Medical College. She additionally serves as one of the principal investigators of the Vanderbilt Clinical and Translational Science Award,Director of the Meharry-Vanderbilt Community Engaged Research Core (CTSA) and as vice president for Health Equity at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Carolyn M. Mazure is an American psychologist and the Norma Weinberg Spungen and Joan Lebson Bildner Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at the Yale School of Medicine. She created and directs Women’s Health Research at Yale —Yale’s interdisciplinary research center on health and gender.
Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo is an American epidemiologist and physician. She is the 17th Editor in Chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and the JAMA Network. She is Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and the Lee Goldman,MD Endowed Professor of Medicine at University of California,San Francisco. She is a general internist and attending physician at San Francisco General Hospital.
Ann Elizabeth Kurth,PhD,CNM,MPH,FAAN,FACNM is President of The New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM),a leading nonprofit organization focused on health equity;she is the first epidemiologist to lead NYAM in its 176-year history. Previously she was the dean and Linda Koch Lorimer Professor at Yale School of Nursing (YSN). She is a fellow of the National Academy of Medicine and was a member of the United States Preventive Services Task Force. She is an expert in global health and HIV with work funded by the National Institutes of Health,Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation,CDC,and others,for studies in the US and internationally. Dr. Kurth has published ~250 peer-reviewed articles,chapters,and monographs. She currently co-chairs the National Academy of Medicine Board on Global Health,which includes a focus on health issues of national and global import.
Melissa Andrea Simon is an American clinical obstetrician/gynecologist and scientist who focuses on health equity across the lifespan. Simon is founder and director of the Center for Health Equity Transformation (CHET) in the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago,Illinois,and founder of the Chicago Cancer Health Equity Collaborative,a National Cancer Institute comprehensive cancer partnership led by the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University,Northeastern Illinois University,and the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is the George H. Gardner,MD Professor of Clinical Gynecology,the Vice-Chair of Clinical Research in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology,tenured professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology,Preventive Medicine and Medical Social Sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine,and Associate Director of Community Outreach and Engagement at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Giselle Corbie-Smith is the Kenan Distinguished Professor of Social Medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. She serves as Director of the UNC Center for Health Equity Research and Associate Provost of the Institute of Rural Innovation. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2018. Her research considers racial disparities in healthcare.
Valerie Ellen Stone is an American physician who is a professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School. She serves as Vice Chair for Diversity,Equity,and Inclusion,Department of Medicine,Brigham and Women's Hospital. She specializes in the management of HIV/AIDS,health disparities and improving the quality of medical education.
Jacquelyn Taylor is the Helen F. Petit Endowed Professor of Nursing at Columbia University School of Nursing (CUSON),where she is also the Founding Executive Director of the Center for Research on People of Color (CRPC). Dr. Taylor is also the Founding Executive Director of the Kathleen Hickey Endowed Lectureship on Cardiovascular Care,the first endowed lectureship honoring a nurse scientist at Columbia University. Additionally,Dr. Taylor holds an administrative role as Senior Advisor to the Chair of the Division of Cardiology at Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Taylor has been a trailblazer in cardiovascular genomics research among minority populations,and diversity and inclusion efforts,having been the first black woman to earn tenure at CUSON,New York University School of Nursing,and the Yale School of Nursing. Dr. Taylor has been recognized for her contributions to the advancement of biomedical sciences,health care,and public health,having been elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2019. Dr. Taylor is committed to mentoring and advancing health equity as she received the Columbia University Irving Medical Center 2021 Mentor of the Year Award and the 2021 Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research (FNINR) President's Award for her significant work in race,culture,and disparities in healthcare. Dr. Taylor has been PI of many studies including,but not limited to,an R01 from National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)- The Intergenerational Impact of Genetic and Psychological Factors on Blood Pressure (InterGEN),a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) award from President Obama in 2017,an MPI on a P20 from NINR on Precision Health in Diverse Populations in 2018,an MPI on an R25 on Research Opportunities in Cardiovascular Diseases for Minority Undergrad and Grad Students Across the Health Sciences (RECV) in 2020,an MPI of the TRANSFORM TL1 in 2021,and MPI on a NHLBI funded T32 on Postdoctoral Training in Atherosclerosis in 2022. In 2023,she was awarded grants as MPI on an NHLBI funded R01 on 'The Impact of a race-Based stress reduction intervention on well-being,inflammation,and DNA methylation on Older African American Women at Risk for Cardiometabolic Disease' (RiSE) and a NIMHD funded R01 'Identifying and reducing stigmatizing language in home healthcare' (ENGAGE),and MPI of a U54 from NICHD on NY-Community-Hospital-Academic Maternal Health Equity Partnerships (NY-CHAMP),and PI of its training core. In addition to leading these grants,Dr. Taylor founded the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at the Yale School of Nursing and served as its inaugural Associate Dean of Diversity,and then went on to become the inaugural Endowed Chair of Health Equity and to develop and direct the Meyers Biological Laboratory at NYU before joining Columbia University.
Katrina Alison Armstrong is an American internist. She is the chief executive officer of the Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Armstrong is the first woman to lead Columbia's medical school and medical center. She was the first woman to hold the position of Physician-in-Chief at Massachusetts General Hospital and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2013 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020.
Nancy J. Brown is an American physician-scientist. She is the Jean and David W. Wallace Dean and C.N.H. Long Professor of Internal Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine,having formerly served as the Hugh Jackson Morgan Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology,and Chair and Physician-in-Chief of the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
C. Debra M. Furr-Holden is a Professor of Epidemiology at New York University’s School of Global Public Health. She served as the school's Dean from July 1,2022,to March 29,2024.
Julie Morita is an American public health expert serving as the executive vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,and a member of President Joe Biden's COVID-19 Advisory Board. Prior to her position,she served as Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health.
The COVID-19 Advisory Board was announced in November 2020 by President-elect of the United States Joe Biden as part of his presidential transition. It was co-chaired by physicians David A. Kessler,Marcella Nunez-Smith,and Vivek Murthy and comprises 13 health experts. The board was then succeeded by the White House COVID-19 Response Team upon Biden's presidency in January 2021.
Joneigh Khaldun is the Vice President and Chief Health Equity Officer at CVS Health. Prior to serving in this position,she served as the Chief Medical Executive for the State of Michigan and Chief Deputy Director for Health in the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. On February 10,2021,she was announced as a member of the COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force under the Biden-Harris administration.
Marcella Alsan is an American physician and economist at Harvard University. She is known for her works in the field of health inequality and development economics. She is currently a professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and was previously an associate professor of medicine at Stanford University. She uses randomized evaluations and historical public health natural experiments to study how infectious disease,human capital,and economic outcomes interact. She has studied the effects of the Tuskegee Syphills Experiment on health care utilization and mortality among Black men. Alsan was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2021.
Karen Marie Winkfield is an American radiation oncologist,physician-scientist,and implementation scientist. She is the Ingram Professor of Cancer Research at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
Deidra C. Crews MD,ScM is an American nephrologist and epidemiologist. She is the Deputy Director of Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity and a Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Crews research focuses on social drivers of disparities in kidney disease and hypertension.