Valerie E. Stone

Valerie Ellen Stone (born 1958) is an American physician who is a professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School. She served for many years as Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and now serves as a faculty development leader in the department and the Cynthia and John F. Fish Endowed Chair in Medical Education. She specializes in the management of HIV/AIDS, health disparities and improving the quality of medical education.

Early life and education Stone is from Montclair, New Jersey. As a child she lost her grandmother to metastatic cancer, and as an undergraduate student she lost a cousin to pneumonia caused by HIV/AIDS. Stone was already a successful science student at high school, and decided that she would eventually pursue a degree in medicine. She worked as a DJ throughout her studies and lived in the Harkness dorm. Whilst she was studying medicine, she saw members of her family, classmates and friends get infected with HIV. She earned a Master of Public Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She later completed a fellowship in infectious diseases at the Boston City Hospital. In 1996, things dramatically changed, when highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) made it possible to manage AIDS like other chronic illnesses. Her research focused on why HIV/AIDS was so prevalent amongst Black communities, and how to optimize the care of patients from underserved communities. Whilst working at Harvard, Stone was an active primary care physician and a senior scientist at the Stoeckle Center for Primary Care Innovation at the Massachusetts General Hospital. She was appointed a full Professor of Medicine at Harvard in 2011, becoming the first African American woman Professor of Medicine and only the second African American woman Professor in Harvard Medical School history. In 2014, Stone was made Chair of the Department of Medicine at Mount Auburn Hospital, and was named the Charles S. Davidson Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Stone used social media to discuss the disproportionate impact of SARS-CoV-2 on communities of colour. In the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, Stone wrote to the faculty of Harvard Medical School to describe the anguish that she felt.

Academic service Stone was appointed a Fellow of the American College of Physicians in 1996. As part of this effort Stone created training programs in cross-cultural care, health policy and women's health. From 2012 to 2014 she served as Chair of the Education and Publications committee. 2017 Action for Boston Community Development Hero Award 2020 American College of Physicians W. Lester Henry Award for Diversity and Access to Care

Selected publications Her publications include:

Washington, Donna L.; Bowles, Jacqueline; Saha, Somnath; Horowitz, Carol R.; Moody-Ayers, Sandra; Brown, Arleen F.; Stone, Valerie E.; Cooper, Lisa A.; Writing group for the Society of General Internal Medicine, Disparities in Health Task Force (2008-01-15). "Transforming Clinical Practice to Eliminate Racial-Ethnic Disparities in Healthcare." Journal of General Internal Medicine. 23 (5): 685–691. doi:10.1007/s11606-007-0481-0 ISSN 0884-8734

Personal life Stone is married to Kathryn T. Hall, PhD, MPH who is Deputy Commissioner of the Boston Public Health Commission and on faculty at the Harvard Medical School. They have one daughter who works in healthcare management.