Zanthia Wiley, MD, FHM, FIDSA, named next associate vice chair of DOM RYSE (DEI)

The Department of Medicine is excited to announce that as of April 1, 2024, Zanthia Wiley, MD, FHM, FIDSA, will serve as the new associate vice chair of Represent, Support, Elevate (RYSE), the department’s initiative in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Dr. Wiley is an associate professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Disease for Emory’s School of Medicine. Dr. Wiley received her MD from the University of Alabama School of Medicine and completed both her internal medicine residency and infectious diseases fellowship at Emory.  Read full announcement.

Learn more about our new leader as she shares her vision for RYSE and diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Department of Medicine, below!

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What are you looking forward to the most in your new role?
What I look forward to the most is collaborating with my amazing colleagues throughout the Department of Medicine.  I have grown up in this department–from residency to hospital medicine to fellowship and now as ID faculty and as a clinical researcher. I will use my personal experiences and these relationships to explore how we can continue to help lift and guide one another to be our best. I look forward to listening and implementing–a powerful combination.

Why is health equity important to you?
One of my favorite quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is “Of all forms of discrimination and inequalities, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhumane.” Health equity is not just a program, an idea, or an initiative.  It is a right.  And it is all of our responsibilities to protect this right of our patients, irrespective of how they self-identify.

What is your vision for RYSE and why do you think its work is important?
My vision is to keep building off of the exemplary foundation that has already been set by RYSE.  In RYSE we “Represent, Support, and Elevate.” Our incredible council is committed to just that. We are about people. All of our DOM people – trainees, faculty, and staff.  One of my personal dreams for RYSE is to expand research exposures and opportunities for all of us.  The first ten years of my career were committed entirely to patient care (as a hospitalist) and I value that time immensely.  Now, as a clinical researcher committed to health equity, I have the best of all worlds. The honor to care for individual patients, the golden opportunity to affect populations as a clinical investigator, and a voice for community outreach.