{{Short description|United States Virgin Islander physician-scientist}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Marcella Nunez-Smith | image = Marcella Nuñez-Smith at NIMHD 10th Anniversary Symposium 01.jpg | caption = Nuñez-Smith attends the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities 10th Anniversary Symposium in 2020 | office = Chair of the [[COVID-19 Equity Task Force]] | president = [[Joe Biden]] | term_start = January 20, 2021 | term_end = | predecessor = Position established | succeeding = | office2 = Co-Chair of the [[COVID-19 Advisory Board]] | alongside2 = [[David A. Kessler]], [[Vivek Murthy]] | term_start2 = November 9, 2020 | term_end2 = January 20, 2021 | predecessor2 = Position established | successor2 = Position abolished | birth_date = | birth_place = [[Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands]] | death_date = | death_place = | education = [[Swarthmore College]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br />[[Thomas Jefferson University]] ([[Doctor of Medicine|MD]])<br />[[Yale University]] ([[Master of Health Science|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]].
== Early life and education == Nunez-Smith grew up in [[Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands]],<ref>{{Cite news|title=Former Scholars Use Award as a Springboard to Expand Their Research|url=https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/11533/|access-date=2020-11-07|newspaper=Yale School of Medicine|language=en|date=November 10, 2015}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web|title=A champion of health care fairness|url=https://medicine.yale.edu/news/medicineatyale/a-champion-of-health-care-fairness/|access-date=2020-11-07|website=medicine.yale.edu|language=en|date=June–July 2018}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Marcella Nunez-Smith, MD, MHS|url=https://medicine.yale.edu/profile/marcella_nunez-smith/|access-date=2020-11-07|website=medicine.yale.edu|language=en|archive-date=2020-11-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107190341/https://medicine.yale.edu/profile/marcella_nunez-smith/|url-status=live}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":0" />
== Career == Nunez-Smith is C.N.H Long Professor of [[Internal Medicine|internal medicine]], public health, and management at [[Yale School of Medicine]].<ref name=":0" /> She is also the founding director at Equity Research and Innovation Center, Director of the Center for Research Engagement, Director of the [https://som.yale.edu/programs/emba/curriculum/areas-of-focus/healthcare/pozen-commonwealth-fund-fellowship Pozen-Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Health Equity Leadership at Yale University], and Deputy Director of the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation.<ref name=":0" />
In August 2020, Nunez-Smith was named Associate Dean for Health Equity Research at Yale.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Marcella Nunez-Smith Named Associate Dean for Health Equity Research|url=https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/26652/|access-date=2020-11-07|website=medicine.yale.edu|language=en|date=August 14, 2020|archive-date=2020-11-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107185721/https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/26652/|url-status=live}}</ref>
===COVID-19=== Nunez-Smith served as chair of the community sub-committee of the ReOpen Connecticut Advisory Group giving expert advice to the state of Connecticut.<ref>Brita Belli (May 4, 2020), [https://news.yale.edu/2020/05/04/yale-expertise-tapped-help-guide-connecticuts-reopening-strategy Yale expertise tapped to help guide Connecticut’s reopening strategy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200612075025/https://news.yale.edu/2020/05/04/yale-expertise-tapped-help-guide-connecticuts-reopening-strategy|date=2020-06-12}}, ''[[Yale News]]''</ref> She has also been working with community partners in [[Puerto Rico]] and the [[United States Virgin Islands|U.S. Virgin Islands]] to overcome obstacles in testing, self-isolation, and quarantine.<ref>{{Cite web|title=NIH Supports Two Yale-based Projects to Address COVID-19 Population Disparities|url=https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/27706/|access-date=2020-11-07|website=medicine.yale.edu|language=en}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Gross|first1=Cary P.|last2=Essien|first2=Utibe R.|last3=Pasha|first3=Saamir|last4=Gross|first4=Jacob R.|last5=Wang|first5=Shi-yi|last6=Nunez-Smith|first6=Marcella|date=August 2020|title=Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Population-Level Covid-19 Mortality|url= |journal=Journal of General Internal Medicine|language=en|volume=35|issue=10|pages=3097–3099|doi=10.1007/s11606-020-06081-w|issn=0884-8734|pmc=7402388|pmid=32754782}}</ref>
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]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|last=Lambert|first=Ben|date=2020-11-07|title=Report: Yale professor to co-chair Biden's COVID task force|url=https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/Report-Yale-professor-to-co-chair-Biden-s-15709884.php|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107202534/https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/Report-Yale-professor-to-co-chair-Biden-s-15709884.php|archive-date=2020-11-07|access-date=2020-11-07|website=New Haven Register|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Feuer|first=Will|date=2020-11-07|title=President-elect Joe Biden to announce Covid task force on Monday|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/07/president-elect-joe-biden-to-announce-covid-task-force-on-monday.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107212640/https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/07/president-elect-joe-biden-to-announce-covid-task-force-on-monday.html|archive-date=2020-11-07|access-date=2020-11-07|website=CNBC|language=en}}</ref> In January 2021, Biden appointed Nunez-Smith as the leader of his administration's task force on health equity.<ref>{{Cite web|title=How Biden's new health-equity advisor will take on the pandemic|url=https://fortune.com/2021/01/09/dr-marcella-nunez-smith-biden-covid-task-force-health-equity-advisor-vaccine/|access-date=2021-01-13|website=Fortune|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Rabin|first=Roni Caryn|date=2021-01-08|title=Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith Takes Aim at Racial Gaps in Health Care|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/health/coronavirus-marcella-nunez-smith.html|access-date=2021-01-13|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/11/10/fact-sheet-biden-administration-announces-new-investments-to-support-covid-19-response-and-recovery-efforts-in-the-hardest-hit-and-high-risk-communities-and-populations-as-covid-19-health-equity-task/|title = FACT SHEET: Biden Administration Announces New Investments to Support COVID-19 Response and Recovery Efforts in the Hardest-Hit and High-Risk Communities and Populations as COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force Submits Final Report|date = November 10, 2021}}</ref>
== Research == Nunez-Smith's research centers around health and healthcare equity for structurally marginalized communities.<ref name=":0" /> 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<ref>{{Cite web|title=Death Rate From Heart Attack Higher in U.S. Territories Than on Mainland|url=https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/1139/|access-date=2020-11-07|website=medicine.yale.edu|language=en|date=June 27, 2011|archive-date=2020-11-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109160032/https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/1139/|url-status=live}}</ref> 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]].<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Closing gaps in health outcomes|url=https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/12080/|access-date=2020-11-07|website=medicine.yale.edu|language=en|date=February 4, 2016|archive-date=2020-11-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109160032/https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/12080/|url-status=live}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.echorn.org/ |title=Home |website=echorn.org}}</ref>
Nunez-Smith has developed a tool to assess patient reported experiences of discrimination in healthcare.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Former Scholars Use Award as a Springboard to Expand Their Research|url=https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/11533/|access-date=2020-11-07|website=medicine.yale.edu|language=en|date=November 10, 2015|archive-date=2020-11-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109160031/https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/11533/|url-status=live}}</ref> Nunez-Smith has also investigated the experiences, promotion, and retention of diverse students and faculty at U.S. medical schools.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Office of Public Affairs & Communications|title=Race Impacts Professional Lives of Physicians of African Descent|url=https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/3508/|access-date=2020-11-07|website=medicine.yale.edu|language=en|date=January 2, 2007}}</ref> Her research is funded by the [[National Cancer Institute]] and the [[National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities]] as well as other organizations.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=NIH Supports Two Yale-based Projects to Address COVID-19 Population Disparities|url=https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/27706/|access-date=2020-11-07|website=medicine.yale.edu|language=en|date=October 1, 2020}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title=Studying heart disease, cancer and diabetes in eastern Caribbean|url=https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/1076/|access-date=2020-11-07|website=medicine.yale.edu|language=en|date=September 22, 2011}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://medicine.yale.edu/profile/marcella_nunez-smith/ Marcella Nunez-Smith, MD, MHS], Yale School of Medicine * Joanne Kenen, [https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/19/biden-coronavirus-racial-disparities-437903 The Biden adviser focused on the pandemic’s stark racial disparities], [[politico.com]], 19 November 2020 *{{C-SPAN|128346}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nunez-Smith, Marcella}} [[Category:American women epidemiologists]] [[Category:American epidemiologists]] [[Category:American internists]] [[Category:Jefferson Medical College alumni]] [[Category:People from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands]] [[Category:Swarthmore College alumni]] [[Category:Yale School of Medicine faculty]] [[Category:Yale University alumni]] [[Category:21st-century American women medical doctors]] [[Category:21st-century American medical doctors]] [[Category:Medical doctors from the United States Virgin Islands]] [[Category:Date of birth missing (living people)]] [[Category:1970s births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Biden administration personnel]] [[Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine]] [[Category:Women internists]]