LaShyra Nolen
Student Council President '23, Harvard Medical School
Founding Executive Director, We Got Us
LaShyra Nolen is a third-year student at Harvard Medical School where she serves as student council president, the first documented black woman to hold this role. She has led numerous initiatives for community advocacy within HMS and beyond. Recently,
Ms. Nolen founded We Got Us, a community empowerment organization committee to increasing vaccine and healthcare access for marginalized communities. She is a published author and continues to be a fervent advocate for social justice. Her commentary
has been published in the Washington Post, NPR, Teen Vogue, Health Affairs, and Undark Magazine. Her work has earned her the honor of becoming the youngest 2020 National Minority Quality Forum 40 under 40 Leaders in Minority Health and
one of 25 selected 2020 Young Futurists for The Root. Her community and family drive her passion for social justice.
Ms. Nolen is pursuing an MD and MPP dual-degree to continue to advocate for humane health care reform on both local and national scales.
Ryan Walker, MD, MPH
Resident, Greater Lawrence Family Health Center
Dr. Walker is a 4th year family integrative medicine resident, focusing on obesity medicine. She also has interests in women's health, addiction medicine, community organizing, and patient education. Dr. Walker was raised by a close-knit family and community
and lives by the principle of Ubuntu -- I am because WE are. She connects with people and shares knowledge through teaching, discussion, and mentorship. Upon completion of her residency, she will practice full-spectrum family medicine at a community
health center.
She is a first-generation college graduate, and obtained bachelor degrees in biology and psychology with minors in Chemistry, Women and Gender Studies, and Public Health from the University of Miami. She served in City Year Miami before matriculating
to Tufts University School of Medicine, where she earned an MD and MPH.
Vanessa Britto, MD, MSc, FACP
Associate Vice President of Campus Life and Executive Director of Health and Wellness, Brown University
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University
Dr. Britto worked in federally qualified health centers prior to her roles at Brown, helping to establish a multidisciplinary women’s health practice and hospital-based preventive cardiology program that she co-led while growing a private practice in
internal medicine. At Brown University, Dr. Britto oversees Health Services, Counseling and Psychological Services, Health Promotion, Emergency Medical Services, and Accessibility Services which collectively comprise Health and Wellness. She volunteers
with a non-profit medical mission organization that travels to Cape Verde. Dr. Britto lectures nationally and internationally on healthcare disparities, and adolescent and women’s health.
Dr. Britto received her undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and her medical degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine. She completed her residency and a general medicine fellowship at Rhode Island Hospital. While in fellowship,
she earned a Master of Science in Community Health. This year, she was awarded the “2020 Woman Physician of the Year Award” by the RI American College of Physicians.
Adaira Landry, MD, ME
Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Assistant Residency Director, Harvard Emergency Medicine Residency Program
Academic Society Associate Director & Advisor, Harvard Medical School
Dr. Landry is Co-Chair for the Diversity and Inclusion Committee within the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Department of Emergency Medicine Office of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Social Justice. She also is the Co-Director of a national mentoring program,
Diversity Mentoring Initiative, hosted by the Emergency Medicine Residents Association and the Academic College of Emergency Physicians. She is an advisor for Academic Life in Emergency Medicine, a leading medical education online resource. In addition,
she speaks nationally on strategies to optimize mentor-mentee relationships.
Dr. Landry attended University of California, Berkeley to study molecular cell biology and African American studies. She completed her medical school training at David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, and her emergency
medicine residency at New York University as Chief Resident. Dr. Landry completed a combined fellowship in ultrasound at the Department of Emergency Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a master’s degree in education at the Harvard Graduate
School of Education.
Joan Y. Reede, MD, MS, MPH, MBA
Dean for Diversity & Community Partnership, Harvard Medical School
Faculty Director of Community Outreach, Harvard Medical School
Dr. Reede is Harvard Medical School’s first Dean for Diversity and Community Partnership, responsible for a comprehensive program that promotes the increased recruitment, retention, and advancement of underrepresented and diverse faculty. She also serves
as Professor at HMS and at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Assistant in Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Reede has created numerous diversity and leadership-focused programs, including the HMS Minority Faculty
Development Program and the Biomedical Science Careers Program. Her advisory roles include serving on the Health and Human Services Advisory Committee on Minority Health and the Secretary’s Advisory Committee to the Director of the National Institutes
of Health.
Dr. Reede graduated from Brown University and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She completed a pediatric residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and a fellowship in child psychiatry at Boston Children’s Hospital. She holds an MPH and
an MS in Health Policy Management from Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, and an MBA from Boston University.
Simone Wildes, MD, FACP, FIDSA
Chair, Massachusetts Medical Society Committee on Diversity in Medicine
Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine, Tufts Medical Center
Dr. Wildes is an infectious disease physician, public health expert, and ABC News medical contributor. She works at South Shore Health in Weymouth MA. Dr. Wildes is actively involved with the Massachusetts Medical Society as an executive board member,
chair of the Committee on Diversity, and vice chair of the Committee on Public Health. She is also a member of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 Health Equity advisory group.
Dr. Wildes earned her bachelor’s degree from Barry University in Florida and her medical degree from the Loma Linda University School of Medicine in California. She completed her internship, residency and infectious disease fellowship at Hahnemann University
Hospital and is currently a clinical assistant professor of medicine at Tufts Medical Center. She is a member of the Infectious Disease Society of America and the American College of Physicians. She also volunteers at her local church in Boston as
its health director and is involved with Boston’s Faith-based Cancer Disparities Network.
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