Giselle Corbie-Smith

Giselle Corbie-Smith is an American physician who is the Kenan Distinguished Professor of Social Medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. She serves as Director of the UNC Center for Health Equity Research and Associate Provost of the Institute of Rural Innovation. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2018. Her research considers racial disparities in healthcare.

Early life and education Corbie-Smith didn't realise that she wanted to become a physician as a child, but volunteered at her local hospital as a teenager. Her mother was a nurse. When she was in a third year of medical school, Corbie-smith recognised the importance of the doctor–patient relationship. In 1998 she joined Emory University for a master's in clinical research, and held a clinical ethics fellowship at the Center for Ethics in Public Policy and Professions. Corbie-Smith directs Project GRACE (Growing, Reaching, Advocating for Change and Empowerment), a large-scale initiative to stop the spread of HIV which involves members of the Nash and Edgecombe County communities. She has studied why people from ethnic minorities may not engage with medical trials and the ethical obligations associated with recruiting underserved populations. Corbie-Smith has identified that racism and medical mistrust cause delays in African-American men accessing preventative screening. She has shown that women with low levels of social support have a 20% greater risk of dying prematurely of cardiovascular disease than women with established networks to social support.

Corbie-Smith is part of the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute, where she leads Community Academic Resources for Engaged Scholarship (CARES) Services. She is a member of the UNC Provost's Task Force on Engaged Scholarship. In 2018 she was elected President of the Society of General Internal Medicine. She was made the Associate Provost of the Institute of Rural Innovation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2019.

Awards and honours 2007 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill James E. Bryan Award for Public Service 2008 National Institutes of Health Leadership in Health Disparities Research 2013 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Office of the Provost Engaged Scholarship Award for community-university partnership 2016 Society of General Internal Medicine Herbert W. Nickens Award 2018 Elected Fellow of the National Academy of Medicine 2019 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Edward Kidder Graham Faculty Service Award

Selected publications