100 Most Influential People in Healthcare - 2021

As expert on disparities in health access, Nunez-Smith focused on COVID-19’s burden on communities of color since the earliest days of the pandemic.

She is associate dean for health equity research, C.N.H Long Professor of Internal Medicine, Public Health and Management, and director of the Equity Research and Innovation Center at Yale University. She is also co-chair of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board and a White House task force on health equity.

Nunez-Smith speaks: “What’s needed to ensure equity in the recovery is not limited to health and healthcare. We need to have conversations about housing stability and food security and educational equity, and pathways to economic opportunities and promise.”