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Kenan Distinguished Professor of Social Medicine Director, Center for Health Equity Research Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs Professor, Internal Medicine

Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
MSc, Clinical Research, Emory University
BA, Cornell University

Giselle Corbie, MD, MSc, is nationally recognized for her scholarly work on the inclusion of disparity populations in research, and has over a decade of experience in using community engagement to conduct innovative, translational health equity research. Her empirical work, using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, has focused on the methodological, ethical, and practical issues of research to address racial disparities in health. A Kenan Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Social Medicine and Medicine at the UNC School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, NC, Dr. Corbie has served as the Principal Investigator of several community-based participatory research projects focused on disease risk reduction among rural racial and ethnic minorities. These projects have include funding through the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities, the National Institute of Nursing Research, Greenwall Foundation, and the National Human Genome Research Institute.

Dr. Corbie is accomplished in drawing communities, faculty, and health care providers into working partnerships in clinical and translational research. This engagement ultimately transforms the way that academic investigators and community members interact while boosting public trust in research. She has also shown a deep commitment to working in North Carolina by bringing research to communities, involving community members as partners in research, and improving health of minority populations and underserved areas.

In 2013, she established and became Director of the UNC Center for Health Equity Research (CHER) to bring together collaborative multidisciplinary teams of scholars, trainees, and community members to improve North Carolina communities’ health through shared commitment to innovation, collaboration, and health equity. Dr. Corbie is currently the Co-PI for RWJF’s Advancing Change Leadership Clinical Scholars Program, which provides intensive learning, collaboration, networking, and leadership development to seasoned clinicians to create a community of practitioners promoting health equity across the country. She recently served as the President of the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM). In 2018, she was elected to the National Academy of Medicine.

Giselle Corbie-Smith, MD, MSc