School Notes: School of Medicine
January/February 2021

A new mission

Dean Nancy J. Brown ’81, with input from throughout the medical school community, unveiled a new mission statement for the school: Yale School of Medicine educates and nurtures creative leaders in medicine and science, promoting curiosity and critical inquiry in an inclusive environment enriched by diversity. We advance discovery and innovation fostered by partnerships across the university, our local community, and the world. We care for patients with compassion, and commit to improving the health of all people.

Yale experts to help guide response to the pandemic

Shortly after the election, President elect Joe Biden tapped three Yale public health experts to serve as cochairs of the country’s COVID-19 advisory board. Marcella Nunez-Smith ’06MHS, the medical school’s associate dean for health equity research, founded its Equity Research and Innovation Center and is associate director for community outreach and engagement at Yale Cancer Center. (See Milestones for a Yale Alumni Magazine article on Nunez-Smith.) As the 19th US surgeon general, Vivek Murthy ’03MD, ’03MBA, led public health efforts to protect the nation from Ebola and Zika and respond to the Flint water crisis. David A. Kessler served as FDA commissioner under the Bush and Clinton administrations and was dean of the medical school from 1997 to 2003. “Yale faculty and alumni have been working diligently to address the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and we are delighted that the three coleaders of the task force, all with ties to Yale, are poised to have an even greater impact,” said Dean Nancy J. Brown.