Yale’s Marcella Nunez-Smith to Co-Chair Biden’s Coronavirus Task Force

A professor with the Yale School of Medicine will serve as a co-chair of President-elect Joe Biden’s task force on the coronavirus. Marcella Nunez-Smith is an 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.

Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler were also named to lead the advisory group for the Biden-Harris Transition Team.

“Dealing with the coronavirus pandemic is one of the most important battles our administration will face, and I will be informed by science and by experts,” President-elect Biden said in making the announcement. “The advisory board will help shape my approach to managing the surge in reported infections; ensuring vaccines are safe, effective, and distributed efficiently, equitably, and free; and protecting at-risk populations.”

This summer, Nunez-Smith was appointed Director of the Center for Community Engagement and Health Equity for Yale Cancer Center (YCC) and Smilow Cancer Hospital (SCH), as well as Chief Health Equity Officer & Deputy Chief Medical Officer, at SCH, and Associate Cancer Center Director for Community Outreach and Engagement at YCC. She is founding director of the Equity Research and Innovation Center.

Last month, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) provided research support to her work in population disparities, to enhance the COVID-19 diagnostic testing cascade. In a news release issued by the Yale Cancer Center, it was explained that she would work with established community partners in U.S. territories Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to address barriers to full participation in the testing continuum from diagnosis through to self-isolation and quarantine.

The Biden-Harris Transition Team has indicated plans to “invest $25 billion in a vaccine manufacturing and distribution plan that will guarantee it gets to every American, cost-free.”  In addition, the incoming administration plans to observe three principles in pursuing policy: “Put scientists in charge of all decisions on safety and efficacy; publicly release clinical data for any vaccine the FDA approves; and authorize career staff to write a written report for public review and permit them to appear before Congress and speak publicly uncensored.”

Earlier this year, Charles Fuchs, MD, MPH, Director of YCC and Physician-in-Chief at SCH, said “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.”

According to her biography on the Yale School of Medicine website, Nunez-Smith’s “research focuses on promoting health and health care equity for structurally marginalized populations with an emphasis on supporting health care workforce diversity and development, developing patient reported measurements of health care quality, and identifying regional strategies to reduce the global burden of non-communicable diseases.”

She is the principal investigator on several National Institutes of Health and foundation-funded research projects, including an NIH/NCI-funded project to develop a tool to assess patient reported experiences of discrimination in healthcare.  Her public health interests, according to the Yale Cancer Center website, are Health Equity, Disparities, Social Determinants and Justice.

The Transition Team has also indicated that “we must ensure that the millions of Americans who suffer long-term side effects from COVID don’t face higher premiums or denial of health insurance because of this new pre-existing condition.”

Originally from the U.S. Virgin Islands, Nunez-Smith attended Jefferson Medical College, where she was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society, according to her biography. She is board certified in internal medicine, having completed residency training at Harvard University’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and fellowship at the Yale Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program, where she also received a Masters in Health Sciences.

Among numerous institutional and national awards, 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.