Top Diversity Leaders in Healthcare - 2023

Ford heads the center’s efforts to narrow cancer disparities in South Carolina. She is working to build a diverse pipeline of future cancer scientists as a step toward more inclusive clinical trials. She launched a program that gives high school students the opportunity to be mentored by researchers for two years while earning a stipend. Under her leadership, her team has partnered with community groups across the state to boost healthcare access, including through a mobile health unit for breast and cervical cancer screenings, a van that provides HPV vaccines to adolescents, and community forums.