Our Team
Table of Contents
Dr. E. Nate Thomas III, PhD
Dr. Thomas has more than 25 years of experience working with leaders in secondary and higher education, and is especially skilled at developing and implementing diversity, mentoring, and leadership initiatives. He earned his doctoral degree in Ecological-Community Psychology from Michigan State University and his Master’s and Undergraduate degrees in Clinical/Community Psychology from Norfolk State University. Dr. Thomas has served as an executive diversity leader at the University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC) School of Medicine, the University of Kansas, and at the University of South Florida Polytechnic. He is recognized for his Thomas Principles, a mentoring model designed to increase college student progression and graduation rates. In 2018, Dr. Thomas with Dr. Arredondo received a $3.2 million grant to pipeline students from disadvantage communities to UMKC health science professional schools, and he helped the UMKC School of Medicine achieve national recognition by receiving the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award.
Hugh Smith, MS
Director
Hugh Smith, a native of New Orleans, earned his BS in Biology and Society from Cornell University and his MS in Athletics Administration from North Carolina Central University. Hugh joined the UNC School of Medicine in 2013 as Associate Director for Faculty Pipeline Initiatives and leads the SOM Resident Diversity Initiatives. Mr. Smith has developed resident recruitment events, such as the Carolina First Look, and the Back to Carolina program in an effort to build a more diverse community of medical students, trainees, faculty, and staff. Hugh has lived in Chapel Hill since the year 2000 with his wife, Giselle, and their three sons, Noble, Aydan, and Micah.
Stephanie Brown, PhD
A historian by training, Stephanie holds a BA and an MA from North Carolina State University and a PhD from UC Berkeley, where she taught history courses that focused on themes such as culture, religion, race, ethnicity, and social inequality. Before coming to the School of Medicine, Stephanie’s research in the Middle East sought non-traditional ways to engage with and understand groups that had been historically underrepresented or ignored. In the School of Medicine, Stephanie works to develop policies and programs designed to promote institutional inclusion, especially among faculty and staff.
Darian Blakey, BA
Darian Blakey earned a BA in Communications from North Carolina State University, where, she learned content development, media pitching,event coordinating, and editing. Before joining UNC School of Medicine’s Office of Inclusive Excellence, Darian interned with media industry professionals and acquired substantial knowledge of how to write and publish targeted creative content for various audiences and analyze insights from marketing campaigns. In the School of Medicine, Darian heads the Office of Inclusive Excellence’s social media accounts and provides support for the Office.