Mona Fouad, M.D., MPH, Founding Director of the Minority Health & Health Disparities Research Center and Senior Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion at the UAB School of Medicine, was inducted into the National Academy of Medicine on October 13, 2018. Fouad’s husband, Fouad Fouad, their two daughters, and Selwyn Vickers, M.D., FACS, senior vice president for Medicine and dean of the UAB School of Medicine, attended the induction ceremony. 

This exceptional honor, which is considered one of the highest attainable in the fields of health and medicine, recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service. Only 70 national members and 10 international members are elected each year. 

Fouad was the first person elected to the National Academy of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in two decades. Her wide-ranging and extensive career in medicine and research boasts local, regional, national, and international achievements. A nationally recognized expert in health disparities research, she was one of the scientists who established health disparities as a valid field of scientific study. Not only did Fouad serve two terms as a member of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Advisory Council on Minority Health and Health Disparities, she was among the experts tapped to assist in the establishment of the health disparities initiatives for the National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities. Her work as the founding director of the Minority Health & Health Disparities Research Center (MHRC) at UAB has given her the opportunity to impact the way health disparities research and interventions are conducted not only in the United States, but around the globe. 

“I’m thrilled and humbled to be elected to the prestigious National Academy of Medicine,” said Fouad. “It is a tremendous honor to be recognized.”

In addition to her work as a researcher, professor, and the Director of the MHRC, Dr. Fouad serves as the Senior Associate Dean for Diversity & Inclusion at the School of Medicine. Under her leadership, the UAB School of Medicine saw a record number of minority students admitted for the 2016-2017 academic year. Dr. Fouad as led efforts to mentor and promote minority students, researchers, and leaders through joint programs with the historically black colleges and universities of Morehouse School of Medicine and Tuskegee University. Pipeline programs, which target students beginning in high school, and follow them through in academic journey through college and medical school, have reached more than 400 minority health practitioners and researchers. These efforts include mentorship of junior faculty, many of whom Dr. Fouad personally mentors in spite of shouldering crucial administrative responsibilities.

Fouad has received numerous awards, including the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition Leadership Award in 2016, along with the prestigious Saint George National Award from the American Cancer Society, an award presented to outstanding community volunteers in recognition of their distinguished service in achieving the Society’s strategic goals. That same year, she was named by Al.com as one of the “Women who Shape the State.” She received the MOMENTUM Women’s Leadership Award in 2014, and in 2012 was awarded the Albert LoBuglio Distinguished Faculty Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Research Mission of the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center. In 2008, she was the recipient of the UAB President’s Diversity Faculty Award. In 2005, the American Medical Association’s Program on Health Disparities honored Dr. Fouad with the Excellence in Eliminating Health Disparities Award, and she received the Sullivan Best Practices Award in 2004.

“In her career, Dr. Fouad has had a huge impact in her interdisciplinary approach toward the elimination of health disparities,” said Selwyn Vickers, M.D., senior vice president for Medicine and dean of the UAB School of Medicine. “As both the dean and a frequent collaborator with Dr. Fouad’s research efforts, I’m pleased that Mona’s career is being honored in a way that truly highlights her accomplishments.”