Marcella Nunez-Smith, MD, MHS

Research Interests

Chronic Disease; Internal Medicine; Global Health; Women's Health; Caribbean Region; Healthcare Disparities; Social Discrimination

Research Organizations

Internal Medicine: General Internal Medicine: Equity Research and Innovation Center (ERIC); Yale TCC

Faculty Research

Obesity Research Working Group

School of Public Health

Yale Cancer Center: Cancer Prevention and Control

Global Health Studies

Office of Cooperative Research

Yale Institute for Global Health

Research Summary

1. National Institutes of Health: Eastern Caribbean Health Outcomes Research Network (ECHORN); Formation of a research collaborative across the Eastern Caribbean islands that will recruit and follow a community-dwelling adult cohort to examine chronic disease burden and to enhance health outcomes research and leadership capacity in the region. Role: PI.
2. National Institutes of Health: Validating the Patient-reported Experiences of Discrimination in Care Tool (PreDict). This study advances preliminary work supported by YCCI and NIH to finalize and test an item bank, the Patient-Reported Experiences of Discrimination in Care Tool (PreDict), that can be used to assess the patient-centeredness of the care experience, to compare and report on hospital-level performance, and to ultimately improve the quality of care delivery within healthcare organizations. Role: PI.

Specialized Terms: Healthcare workforce diversity; Cancer disparities; Patient assessment of healthcare experiences; Healthcare system strengthening to address chronic disease in low and middle resource settings; Discrimination in health care systems; Role of race in professional experiences

Selected Publications

• Needs and Priorities in Women's Health Training: Perspectives from an Internal Medicine Residency Program.

  Hsieh E, Nunez-Smith M, Henrich JB. Needs and Priorities in Women's Health Training: Perspectives from an Internal Medicine Residency Program. J Womens Health. 2013 Aug;22(8):667-72.

• Socially-Assigned Race, Healthcare Discrimination and Preventive Healthcare Services.

  Macintosh T, Desai MM, Lewis TT, Jones BA, Nunez-Smith M. Socially-Assigned Race, Healthcare Discrimination and Preventive Healthcare Services. PLoS One. 2013 May 21

• Nunez-Smith M, Ciarleglio M, Sandoval-Minero T, Elumn J, Castillo-Page L, Peduzzi P, Bradley E. Medical school faculty promotion in the United States: Is there institutional variation by race/ethnicity? American Journal of Public Health. 2012 May;102(5):852-858. Epub 2012 Mar 15.
• Quality of care in the US Territories.

  Nunez-Smith M, Bradley EH, Herrin J, Santana C, Curry L, Normand SL, Krumholz HM. Quality of care in the US Territories. Arch Int Med. Published online June 27, 2011. doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2011.284

• Race/Ethnicity and Workplace Discrimination: Results from a National Survey of Practicing Physicians.

  Nunez-Smith M, Pilgrim N, Wynia M, Desai MM, Jones B, Bright C, Krumholz HM, Bradley EH. Race/Ethnicity and Workplace Discrimination: Results from a National Survey of Practicing Physicians. J Gen Intern Med. 2009 Sep 1: 24(11): 1198-1204. [PMID: 19727966].

• The Effect of Gender on the Clinical Clerkship Experiences of Female Medical Students: Results from a Qualitative Study.

  Babaria P, Abedin S, Nunez-Smith M. The Effect of Gender on the Clinical Clerkship Experiences of Female Medical Students: Results from a Qualitative Study. Acad Med. 2009 Jul; 84(7):859-866. [PMID: 19550176].

• The Impact of Race on the Professional Lives of Physicians of African Descent.

  Nunez-Smith M, Curry L, Berg D, Bigby JA, Krumholz HM, Bradley, EH. The Impact of Race on the Professional Lives of Physicians of African Descent. Ann Intern Med. 2007 Jan 2; 146(1) 45-51. [PMID: 17200221].

Full List of PubMed Publications

• Layne TM, Aminawung JA, Soulos PR, Nunez-Smith M, Nunez MA, Jones BA, Wang KH, Gross CP: Quality Of Breast Cancer Care In The US Territories: Insights From Medicare. Health Aff (Millwood). 2018 Mar. PMID: 29505365
• Armstrong-Hough M, Kishore SP, Byakika S, Mutungi G, Nunez-Smith M, Schwartz JI: Disparities in availability of essential medicines to treat non-communicable diseases in Uganda: A Poisson analysis using the Service Availability and Readiness Assessment. PLoS One. 2018; 2018 Feb 8. PMID: 29420640
• Chakkalakal RJ, Fox JP, Green JC, Nunez-Smith M, Nallamothu BK, Hasnain-Wynia R: Hospitalization Rates for Acute Myocardial Infarction Among Asian-American Subgroups: Have We Been Underestimating the Problem? J Immigr Minor Health. 2018 Feb. PMID: 27757693
• Nuti SV, Wang Y, Masoudi FA, Nunez-Smith M, Normand ST, Murugiah K, Rodríguez-Vilá O, Ross JS, Krumholz HM: Quality of Care in the United States Territories, 1999-2012. Med Care. 2017 Oct. PMID: 28906314
• Ross DA, Boatright D, Nunez-Smith M, Jordan A, Chekroud A, Moore EZ: Differences in words used to describe racial and gender groups in Medical Student Performance Evaluations. PLoS One. 2017; 2017 Aug 9. PMID: 28792940
• Boatright D, Ross D, O'Connor P, Moore E, Nunez-Smith M: Racial Disparities in Medical Student Membership in the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. JAMA Intern Med. 2017 May 1. PMID: 28264091
• Nwanyanwu KH, Grossetta Nardini HK, Shaughness G, Nunez-Smith M, Newman-Casey PA: Systematic Review of Community-Engaged Research in Ophthalmology. Expert Rev Ophthalmol. 2017; 2017 Apr 19. PMID: 29333193
• Wang KH, Goulet JL, Carroll CM, Skanderson M, Fodeh S, Erdos J, Womack JA, Abel EA, Bathulapalli H, Justice AC, Nunez-Smith M, Brandt CA: Estimating healthcare mobility in the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System. BMC Health Serv Res. 2016 Oct 21; 2016 Oct 21. PMID: 27769221
• Bongiovanni T, Yeo H, Sosa JA, Yoo PS, Long T, Rosenthal M, Berg D, Curry L, Nunez-Smith M: Attrition from surgical residency training: perspectives from those who left. Am J Surg. 2015 Oct; 2015 Jul 8. PMID: 26238074
• Frank JW, Wang EA, Nunez-Smith M, Lee H, Comfort M: Discrimination based on criminal record and healthcare utilization among men recently released from prison: a descriptive study. Health Justice. 2014 Mar 25. PMID: 25642407
• Hsieh E, Nunez-Smith M, Henrich JB: Needs and priorities in women's health training: perspectives from an internal medicine residency program. J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2013 Aug. PMID: 23915106
• Macintosh T, Desai MM, Lewis TT, Jones BA, Nunez-Smith M: Socially-assigned race, healthcare discrimination and preventive healthcare services. PLoS One. 2013; 2013 May 21. PMID: 23704992
• Nunez-Smith M, Ciarleglio MM, Sandoval-Schaefer T, Elumn J, Castillo-Page L, Peduzzi P, Bradley EH: Institutional variation in the promotion of racial/ethnic minority faculty at US medical schools. Am J Public Health. 2012 May; 2012 Mar 15. PMID: 22420820
• Chen PG, Curry LA, Nunez-Smith M, Bradley EH, Desai MM: Career satisfaction in primary care: a comparison of international and US medical graduates. J Gen Intern Med. 2012 Feb; 2011 Aug 25. PMID: 21866306
• Chen PG, Curry LA, Bernheim SM, Berg D, Gozu A, Nunez-Smith M: Professional challenges of non-U.S.-born international medical graduates and recommendations for support during residency training. Acad Med. 2011 Nov. PMID: 21952056
• Nunez-Smith M, Bradley EH, Herrin J, Santana C, Curry LA, Normand SL, Krumholz HM: Quality of care in the US territories. Arch Intern Med. 2011 Sep 26; 2011 Jun 27. PMID: 21709184
• Babaria P, Bernheim S, Nunez-Smith M: Gender and the pre-clinical experiences of female medical students: a taxonomy. Med Educ. 2011 Mar. PMID: 21299600
• Chen PG, Nunez-Smith M, Bernheim SM, Berg D, Gozu A, Curry LA: Professional experiences of international medical graduates practicing primary care in the United States. J Gen Intern Med. 2010 Sep; 2010 May 26. PMID: 20502974
• Nunez-Smith M, Wolf E, Huang HM, Chen PG, Lee L, Emanuel EJ, Gross CP: Media exposure and tobacco, illicit drugs, and alcohol use among children and adolescents: a systematic review. Subst Abus. 2010 Jul. PMID: 20687006
• Nunez-Smith M, Pilgrim N, Wynia M, Desai MM, Bright C, Krumholz HM, Bradley EH: Health care workplace discrimination and physician turnover. J Natl Med Assoc. 2009 Dec. PMID: 20070016
• Nunez-Smith M, Pilgrim N, Wynia M, Desai MM, Jones BA, Bright C, Krumholz HM, Bradley EH: Race/ethnicity and workplace discrimination: results of a national survey of physicians. J Gen Intern Med. 2009 Nov; 2009 Sep 1. PMID: 19727966
• Yeo H, Viola K, Berg D, Lin Z, Nunez-Smith M, Cammann C, Bell RH Jr, Sosa JA, Krumholz HM, Curry LA: Attitudes, training experiences, and professional expectations of US general surgery residents: a national survey. JAMA. 2009 Sep 23. PMID: 19773565
• Babaria P, Abedin S, Nunez-Smith M: The effect of gender on the clinical clerkship experiences of female medical students: results from a qualitative study. Acad Med. 2009 Jul. PMID: 19550176
• Nunez-Smith M, Curry LA, Berg D, Krumholz HM, Bradley EH: Healthcare workplace conversations on race and the perspectives of physicians of African descent. J Gen Intern Med. 2008 Sep; 2008 Jul 10. PMID: 18618190
• Nunez-Smith M, Curry LA, Bigby J, Berg D, Krumholz HM, Bradley EH: Impact of race on the professional lives of physicians of African descent. Ann Intern Med. 2007 Jan 2. PMID: 17200221

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