Mekbib Gemeda

Mekbib Gemeda serves as the Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion at Eastern Virginia Medical Sschool (EVMS). He is charged with spearheading efforts to build institutional capacity and human capital to address health equity and workforce diversity gaps that EVMS strives to impact as it seeks to become the most community-oriented school of medicine and health professions in the United States.

To that end, Mekbib oversees EVMS Diversity and Inclusion, which supports efforts to integrate diversity and inclusion as a strategic priority across the mission areas of education, patient care and research at EVMS. Its initiatives focus on supporting the integration of cultural competency and community health in the medical and health professions curriculum; developing and implementing programs to enhance diversity among students, residents, faculty and staff; and advancing community engagement and partnership.

Prior to joining EVMS, Mekbib served for eight years as the Assistant Dean for Diversity Affairs and Community Health and the founding Director of the Center for the Health of the African Diaspora at New York University School of Medicine. He implemented successful programs at NYU to increase diversity among students, residents, faculty and leadership, and he established pipeline and community engagement initiatives. He also led efforts to integrate into the core medical curriculum cultural competency and a social determinant framework.

Mekbib has more than a decade of experience in national and local efforts to reduce health disparities and increase diversity in the biomedical workforce. He was involved in developing a robust NIH-supported biomedical research center and a nationally recognized faculty and graduate-student recruitment and retention program at Hunter College of the City University of New York. He was also involved in developing the largest national online network of minorities in science, justgarciahill.org.