Chinazo O. Cunningham, MD, MS Effective November 1, Dr. Chinazo Cunningham, Associate Professor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine) and Family and Social Medicine, will take on two new roles in the Department of Medicine.
Dr. Cunningham will become the Director of Diversity Affairs for the Department of Medicine. In this role, she will coordinate visiting professorship several times yearly; create and foster liaisons with the Internal Medicine Residency Program, including open houses, second visits, and other activities; and organize welcoming dinners with under-represented minority (URM), faculty, residents, and leadership.
Secondly, Dr. Cunningham will become Associate Chief and Director of Research Resources for the Division of General Internal Medicine. In this capacity, she will develop and direct a two-year General Internal Medicine (GIM) Research Fellowship Program. There will be an emphasis on minority recruitment, and research fellows' projects will focus on vulnerable populations and urban health. Fellows will learn clinical research methods through enrollment in Einstein's Clinical Research and Training Program (CRTP) or equivalent. In addition, there will be a fellowship curriculum. Dr. Cunningham will also develop research resources generally for the Division; create curriculum on mentorship for junior faculty and fellows; develop protocols and workflows for effective research administration within the Division; and work with the Division's data manager to create patient registries.
Dr. Cunningham has spent over a decade providing care, developing programs, and conducting research focused on marginalized populations including drug users, HIV-infected individuals, and the unstably housed. As a member of the faculty at Einstein, she has collaborated with community-based organizations to develop unique and innovative programs to deliver health care to these marginalized populations. Parallel with program development, her research has focused on improving access to care, utilization of health care services, and health outcomes. She has been the principal investigator on numerous grants funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Health Services and Resources Administration (HRSA), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency (SAMHSA), Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and local and state Departments of Health.
Prior to joining the Einstein faculty, Dr. Cunningham received her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University, her medical degree from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), and completed her residency in primary care internal medicine at UCSF and New York University (NYU), followed by a year of chief residency at NYU. While at Einstein, she received a master’s degree in clinical research methods.
