Marcella Nunez-Smith

Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith is the Inaugural Associate Dean for Health Equity Research and C.N.H. Long Professor of Internal Medicine (General Medicine), Epidemiology (Chronic Disease), and Public Health (Social and Behavioral Sciences) at Yale School of Medicine. She serves as Founding Director of the Equity Research and Innovation Center (ERIC), Director of the Center for Research Engagement (CRE), Associate Cancer Center Director for Community Outreach and Engagement at Yale Cancer Center, Chief Health Equity Officer at Smilow Cancer Hospital, and Deputy Director for Health Equity Research and Workforce Development at the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation.

Her academic appointments include:

• Primary Appointment: Professor of Internal Medicine (General Medicine)
• Secondary Appointments: Professor of Chronic Disease Epidemiology and Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Dr. Nunez-Smith's research focuses on promoting health and healthcare equity for structurally marginalized populations with an emphasis on community engagement, healthcare workforce diversity, patient-reported measurements of healthcare quality, and regional strategies to reduce the global burden of non-communicable diseases. Her work examines social and structural determinants of health, systemic influences contributing to health disparities, and community-academic partnered scholarship. Through the Equity Research and Innovation Center (ERIC), she combines primary data collection with expertise in qualitative and mixed methods, population health, and medical informatics.

Her research portfolio includes an NIH-funded project to develop a tool to assess patient-reported experiences of discrimination in healthcare, investigations of diversity promotion in academic medical faculty, and the Eastern Caribbean Health Outcomes Research Network (ECHORN). During the pandemic, she received NIH funding to leverage ECHORN to improve the COVID-19 testing cascade in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. She chaired the Governor's ReOpen CT Advisory Group Community Committee, served as co-chair of the Biden-Harris Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board, and was Senior Advisor to the White House COVID-19 Response and Chair of the Presidential COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force.

Dr. Nunez-Smith has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine (2021) and has mentored dozens of trainees while receiving numerous awards for teaching and mentoring. Her work through the Office of Health Equity Research continues to advance initiatives that address health disparities in communities both locally and globally.