Marcella Nunez-Smith facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Marcella Nunez-Smith
|
|
|---|---|
Nuñez-Smith attends the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities 10th Anniversary Symposium in 2020
|
|
| 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 Serving with 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 doctor and scientist. She is a professor at the Yale School of Medicine. There, she helps lead research focused on making healthcare fair for everyone. She also works at the Yale School of Public Health and the Yale School of Management. From November 2020 to January 2021, she helped lead a group advising President Joe Biden on COVID-19. Later, President Biden chose her to lead a special team. This team worked to make sure everyone had fair access to help during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Marcella Nunez-Smith grew up in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. She went to All Saints Cathedral School there. Her mother was a nursing professor who taught about health in communities. One of her godparents was a surgeon.
College and Medical School
In 1996, Nunez-Smith earned her first degree from Swarthmore College. She studied biological anthropology and psychology. She then went to medical school at Jefferson Medical College. She graduated in 2001. After medical school, she trained in internal medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital. This hospital is connected to Harvard Medical School. In 2006, she earned a Master of Health Science degree from Yale University.
Career Highlights
Dr. Nunez-Smith is a professor of internal medicine, public health, and management at Yale School of Medicine. She is also the founding director of the Equity Research and Innovation Center. This center works to find new ways to make healthcare more fair. She also helps lead other important research programs at Yale.
In August 2020, she became the Associate Dean for Health Equity Research at Yale. This means she helps guide research that aims to reduce differences in health outcomes.
Helping with COVID-19
Dr. Nunez-Smith played a big role in the fight against COVID-19. She advised the state of Connecticut on how to safely reopen. She also worked with communities in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Her goal was to help people get tested and safely isolate if they were sick.
In November 2020, she was chosen to be one of three leaders for President-elect Joe Biden's COVID-19 Advisory Board. This group gave advice on how to handle the pandemic. In January 2021, President Biden asked her to lead his administration's task force on health equity. This task force looked at how the pandemic affected different communities. They gave advice on how to help those who were hit hardest by the virus.
Research and Impact
Dr. Nunez-Smith's research focuses on making health and healthcare fair for all communities. She pays special attention to groups that have faced challenges.
Health in the Caribbean
She has studied health in the U.S. Caribbean territories. Her research showed that people there had a higher risk of dying after a heart attack. This was compared to people living on the U.S. mainland. She started a network called the Eastern Caribbean Health Outcomes Research Network (ECHORN). This network studies early signs of diseases like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes in the eastern Caribbean. ECHORN has helped more research happen in the region. It has also become a model for how to reduce common diseases in communities that need more support.
Fair Healthcare Experiences
Dr. Nunez-Smith also created a tool to understand if patients feel they have been treated unfairly in healthcare. She has also looked into how diverse students and teachers are supported in U.S. medical schools. Her research helps make sure everyone has a fair chance in health and education.
