Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program leaders honored for promoting diversity

James Gavin, MD, PhD, and David Wilkes, MD, will receive the ASH award for Leadership in Promoting Diversity at this year’s ASH Annual Meeting & Exposition.

Gavin and Wilkes are being honored for their joint commitment of nearly 30 years of service to diversity in medicine through their work with the Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program (AMFDP) of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Gavin, clinical professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, has participated in AMFDP for 39 years and served as director for 20 years.

James Gavin

Gavin has furthered the ASH-AMFDP partnership to increase diversity in the field of hematology. He also dedicated his personal work toward improving diabetes outcomes, which disproportionately affects the African American population, according to an ASH release.

“Dr. Gavin’s most notable accomplishments include serving as the first African American president of the American Diabetes Association, the president of the Morehouse School of Medicine and a senior science officer at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute-NIH Scholars program,” the ASH release read. “He has made unparalleled contributions to medicine through his pioneering research in diabetes, leadership, advocacy and, most notably, his dedication to advancing the careers of students, trainees and physician-scientists.”

David Wilkes

Wilkes, dean emeritus of University of Virginia School of Medicine and national director of AMFDP since 2013, has published several studies and delivered national presentations about eliminating bias and reducing discrimination in health care.

An elected member of National Academy of Medicine, Wilkes mad numerous significant contributions in the field of immunology. He and his colleagues have aimed to better understand the mechanisms of graft-versus-host disease, and their research helped lead to the development of a drug for pulmonary fibrosis.

“Dr. Wilkes is motivated to promote diversity in hematology because of the profound ways that unique perspectives improve academic medicine and increase cultural competency in patient care,” the ASH release read.

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ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition