Giselle Corbie-Smith

Giselle Corbie-Smith, MD, MSc, is Kenan Distinguished Professor, Departments of Social Medicine and Medicine, Director of the UNC Center for Health Equity Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Associate Provost for UNC Rural. Internationally recognized for her scholarly work and expertise in community-engaged and patient-oriented research, Dr. Corbie-Smith has empirically studied methodological, ethical, and practical issues relating to studying racial disparities in health. Dr. Corbie-Smith 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 included funding through the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), 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-Smith is accomplished in drawing communities, faculty, and healthcare 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 the health of minority populations and underserved areas. In 2013 she established 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 a shared commitment to innovation, collaboration, and health equity. Dr. Corbie-Smith is also the Co-Principal Investigator 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 served as President of the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) in 2018–2019. In 2018 she was elected to the National Academy of Medicine. In 2019 Dr. Corbie-Smith created and is the current host of A Different Kind of Leader, a podcast that captures insights from diverse leaders so that organizations are in a stronger position to grow, innovate, and meet the challenges of our day. Dr. Corbie-Smith earned her MD from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NY, and MSc in Clinical Research from Emory University, Georgia.