Marcella Nunez-Smith, MD, MHS, has been appointed Director of the Center for Community Engagement and Health Equity for Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital, as well as Chief Health Equity Officer and Deputy Chief Medical Officer at Smilow and Associate Cancer Center Director for Community Outreach and Engagement at Yale.
Marcella Nunez-Smith, MD, MHS
“Dr. Nunez-Smith’s accomplished leadership since joining the faculty at Yale in 2006, innovative ideas for expanding our positive impact in our communities, and passionate and determined values will propel our efforts to improve our understanding of and reduce health disparities relevant to cancer care,” said Charles Fuchs, MD, MPH, Director of Yale Cancer Center and Physician-in-Chief at Smilow Cancer Hospital.
“I look forward to this opportunity to work closely with the leadership of Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital to help reach our goal for improved health equity in the care of our patients and our communities,” said Dr. Nunez-Smith.
Dr. Nunez-Smith is Associate Professor of Medicine at Yale School of Medicine, of Epidemiology and Public Health at Yale School of Public Health, and of Management at Yale School of Management. She is also a core faculty member of the National Clinician Scholars Program and a medical student academic advisor in the Office of Student Affairs at Yale School of Medicine. Among numerous other institutional and national awards, Dr. Nunez-Smith was honored by the Society of General Internal Medicine with the prestigious Herbert W. Nickens Minority Health and Representation in Medicine Career Award in 2017.
Consolidating Efforts
In her new role, Dr. Nunez-Smith will unify the accomplished work in community engagement and health equity across Yale Cancer Center, Smilow Cancer Hospital, Yale School of Medicine, and Yale School of Public Health by developing an umbrella infrastructure, The Bridge Center. The center will guide and support partnerships within and beyond the university to reach and sustain its goals for health equity. In addition, the center will oversee several approaches to community-engaged research; community outreach; education; policy and advocacy; and access to clinical care, including community engagement, cancer screening, and clinical research.
