Karen Winkfield, MD, PhD, is the Executive Director of the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance, a strategic partnership between Meharry Medical College and Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. A national expert in community engagement with research focused on the design and implementation of programming to reduce sociocultural and economic barriers that contribute to disparate health outcomes for racial/ethnic minorities and underserved populations, Dr Winkfield’s current responsibilities include collaborating with Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Meharry Medical College to ensure their investigators have access to expert faculty collaborators, core resources and services to catalyze innovative research.
Dr Winkfield is a radiation oncologist who specialized in the treatment of hematologic malignancies (lymphoma, leukemia, multiple myeloma, bone marrow transplantation) and breast cancer. She received her MD and PhD degrees at Duke University and completed her training in the Harvard Radiation Oncology Program. She is Professor of Health Policy at Meharry’s new School of Global Health and serves as Associate Director of Community Outreach and Engagement at the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center. Her goal is to empower the community with knowledge and encourage policymakers to invest in initiatives designed to improve the U.S. healthcare and cancer care delivery systems.
In 2021, Dr. Winkfield was appointed to serve a 6-year term on the National Cancer Advisory Board.