On Jan. 31, the UMass Chan Medical School community will gather for its 36th annual tribute in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. with Joan Y. Reede, MD, MS, MPH, MBA, dean for diversity and community partnership and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, serving as keynote speaker. Dr. Reede is also professor of society, human development and health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
At Harvard Medical School, Reede is responsible for the development and management of a comprehensive program that provides leadership, guidance and support to promote the increased recruitment, retention and advancement of underrepresented minority faculty. This charge includes oversight of all diversity activities as they relate to faculty, trainees, students and staff.
Long before diversity, equity and inclusion became institutional buzzwords, Reede worked to create programs aimed at improving the recruitment and retention of individuals from groups historically underrepresented in medicine.
While pursuing her master’s degree in public health at Harvard, Reede co-founded the Biomedical Sciences Career Program, which disseminates information about careers to young students of color and connects them with mentors. She is also the founder of a physician fellowship program for postgraduate education in working with minority and disadvantaged patients and is the organizer of the annual New England Science Symposium, which highlights research by minority scientists at many career stages, from undergraduate to postdoctoral.
At the UMass Chan tribute to Dr. King, a member of the UMass Chan community will be honored with the Chancellor’s Award for Advancing Institutional Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion and the Martin Luther King Jr. Semester of Service Student Awards will be presented, further connecting the UMass Chan community to a legacy of service like that of the civil rights leader. All members of the community are invited to attend the virtual event, which will take place via Zoom.
