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Cedric Bright, MD ’90, will take on a new role as Associate Dean for Inclusive Excellence starting August 1, 2017.

In his new role Dr. Bright will report to Paul Godley, MD, PhD, MPP, Vice Dean for Diversity and Inclusion. Dr. Bright will lead Office of Inclusive Excellence Diversity & Inclusion training activities within the School of Medicine and coordinate with the UNC Health Care System in similar efforts.

Dr. Bright
Dr. Bright

An alumnus of the UNC School of Medicine, Dr. Bright is a general internist who has been a member of our faculty since July 1, 2011, when he came from Duke University Medical Center to serve as Assistant Dean for Admissions and Director of the Office of Special Programs.

In that role, Dr. Bright and the Office of Special programs have done outstanding work maintaining the School of Medicine as one of the top schools in graduating people of color.

In particular, Dr. Bright has championed the effort to diversify the medical student body and we have achieved excellent outcomes with increased religious diversity, LGTBQ diversity, and ethnic diversity. In fact, UNC has been a leader in the matriculation and graduation of African males in a time where those numbers have been declining across the country.

In 2016 Dr. Bright’s work was featured in Diverse Medicine’s Black Men in White Coat video series.

Dr. Bright also leads the Office of Special Programs to support a variety of groups of underrepresented students – including the Latino Medical Student Association and the Queer Straight Alliance – and is director of the Medical Education Development program. Dr. Bright will continue to lead this pipeline program and will continue to offer pre-medical and pre-dental advisement, and to serve on various student support and advocacy committees.

Dr. Bright is well recognized nationally for his work in medical education. A recent president of the National Medical Association, Dr. Bright is a leader at AAMC and a nationally recognized pre medical advisor. He was featured in the AAMC report from 2015 “Altering the course: Black Males in Medicine”. He has also led workshops on inclusion in a variety of settings including this year’s American Medical Association national meeting and SGEA meeting of the AAMC.

“Dr. Bright has done amazing work in bringing in outstanding classes of medical students,” said Julie S. Byerley, MD, MPH, Vice Dean for Education. “In particular, Dr. Bright has championed the effort to diversify the medical student body and has produced remarkable results. I look forward to seeing the positive impact he will make on the student body and the campus in his new role.”

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Bright on this exciting new opportunity!