50 Most Influential Clinical Executives - 2021

Before his inauguration, then-President-elect Joe Biden identified the effect COVID-19 has had on communities of color as a central part of his response plan. He tapped Nunez-Smith, an associate professor and associate dean for health equity research at the Yale School of Medicine to helped lead the administration’s charge. As chair of the White House COVID Equity Task Force, she’s focused her efforts on addressing vaccine hesitancy, including an outreach campaign built around finding trusted messengers to talk about vaccine safety; improving data collection; and identifying opportunities to push more vaccines into communities.