Expert on race’s role in medical care wins fellowship

Marcella Nunez-Smith, M.D., M.H.S., assistant professor of medicine, has received the 2008 Herbert W. Nickens Faculty Fellowship from the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC). The fellowship recognizes a junior member of a medical school’s faculty who leads efforts to remedy inequities in medical education and health care.

Nunez-Smith’s research focuses on the impact of race and ethnicity on the professional experiences of health care providers. She is assistant director and a recent graduate of the School of Medicine’s Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, which aims to prepare physician leaders to improve the nation’s health and health care system by translating research into action at the local, state and national levels.

In 2007, Nunez-Smith was named one of the 15 inaugural Yale Center for Clinical Investigation (YCCI) Scholars, a program that provides support for junior faculty members and senior fellows who are strongly committed to careers in clinical or translational research.

The Nickens Faculty Fellowship is named in memory of Herbert W. Nickens, M.D., an African-American physician who worked to increase diversity in medicine and improve the health of minorities. Nickens, who completed a residency in psychiatry at Yale in the 1970s, served as vice president of the AAMC’s Division of Community and Minority Programs from 1988 to 1999.