Welcome Ana Núňez, MD, FACP, Vice Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

As many of you have heard, we are excited for Ana Núňez, MD, FACP, to join the Medical School as our inaugural Vice Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion on Aug. 31.

We began the search for the new Vice Dean role last year to bring focus and urgency to our diversity, equity, and inclusion goals. In leading this work, Dr. Núňez will collaborate with faculty, staff, and students across the Medical School, as well as partners from our communities, to ensure we are addressing issues of inequities, bias, and discrimination in our clinical programs, recruiting, curriculum, and research. We are looking forward to her joining the leadership team; her collaborative approach, clear vision, and fresh ideas and energy are vital to this important work.

Dr. Núňez currently serves as associate dean for Diversity and Inclusion in the College of Medicine at Drexel University, where she is also a professor in the Department of Medicine and OB-GYN. She received her Doctorate in Medicine from Hahnemann University and Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Wilkes University. She has fellowships in medical education from Michigan State University and health services research from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).

She is nationally recognized as a medical education and health services researcher, having developed novel curricula in the areas of sex and gender medicine, primary care, trauma/violence prevention and cultural competence. She has served as principal investigator on numerous educational and health services grants. These include her directorship of Drexel's nationally designated Center of Excellence in Women's Health—one of three original centers. Her innovative sex and gender medical education model was funded for national replication by the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for Improvement of Post Secondary Education's Disseminating Proven Reforms.

She has received many awards for improvement of the lives of women and serves on a number of national advisories, including the National Science Foundation/NIH Smart & Connected Health (SCH) Program, the Technical Expert Panel (TEP) for Achieving Health Equity in Preventive Services Project, and the National Association of Chronic Disease. She is identified as a leader in social justice and medical education by the AAMC with her prestigious Herbert J. Nickens award. She serves as Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Health Equity.

We are grateful to the search committee, co-chaired by Michael Goh, PhD, vice president for Equity and Diversity, and Anne Joseph, MD, MPH, Wexler Professor of Medicine, for their excellent work.

"Dr. Núñez is best described as a physician-leader. She has almost 30 years of established clinical practice that is coupled with senior level leadership in academic health centers. In the breadth and depth of her experience, she is best known for her ability to create cross-functional collaborations and systems of partners to enact diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. I am excited that she will be joining our medical school at a time where there is so much synergy of vision and purpose amongst senior leadership, staff, learners, faculty, and clinicians. And, I am further heartened to have another partner in our university system to help realize diversity, equity, and inclusion as everyone’s everyday work." - Michael Goh, PhD, Vice President, University of Minnesota, Office for Equity and Diversity.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Núňez to our Medical School, helping her to feel a part of our community and supporting her success in every way possible.