Chiquita A. Collins, Ph.D., has been named the inaugural vice dean for inclusion and diversity and chief diversity officer in the Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine, Interim Dean Ronald Rodriguez, M.D., Ph.D., announced. The appointment is effective Sept. 1.
“Working collaboratively with senior leadership, Dr. Collins will be responsible for using her experiences and knowledge of best practices to develop and implement a school-wide diversity strategic plan to improve the quality of the educational and social experience for faculty, trainees, and staff, focusing on creating a more culturally competent and globally aware school community,” Dr. Rodriguez said.
Dr. Collins is currently the associate dean of diversity and cultural competence at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
She has worked extensively in health disparities, and in 2016 received the distinction of having one of the top-100 cited papers on health care disparities research published over a period of three decades.
At UT Health, she will also join the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics as associate professor. Dr. Collins received her B.A. degree in sociology from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1990 and her doctorate from the University of Michigan in 1996.