Yvonne Maddox

Dr. Yvonne T. Maddox.jpg
Dr. Yvonne T. Maddox, Ph.D. is the acting director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD).
Born	(1943-01-06) 6 January 1943 New Kent County, Virginia
Alma mater	Georgetown University American University Virginia Union University
Scientific career
Institutions	National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development National Institutes of Health

Yvonne T. Maddox is the acting director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), which is an institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As acting director, she leads the research activities of the NIMHD and the minority health and health disparities research across the NIH. Maddox previously served as the acting deputy director of the NIH and the deputy director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

Education

Yvonne T. Maddox conducts research early in her career.

Maddox received her Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Virginia Union University in 1965, and completed graduate studies in biology from 1973 to 1975 at American University. From 1975 to 1976, Maddox was an NIH Pre-doctoral Fellow in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Georgetown University. In 1981, she received her Ph.D. in physiology from Georgetown University. From 1981 to 1983, Maddox was an NIH Post-doctoral Fellow in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Georgetown University. She also studied as a visiting scientist at the French Atomic Energy Commission in Saclay, France, and graduated from the Senior Managers in Government Program of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Career

NIH director Francis Collins and NIMHD acting director Yvonne T. Maddox at NIMHD’s first scientific operational planning meeting.

Maddox has a focus on minority health and health equity in both the United States and on a global scale. She has also long been a champion of health issues related to women and children. Maddox started out her career in 1965 as a laboratory specialist in the Department of Medicine at the Medical College of Virginia. From 1968 to 1985, she worked as a researcher, instructor and visiting scientist in various institutions including the Department of Inhalation Toxicology at Hazelton Labs in Reston, Virginia; Department of Ophthalmology at the Washington Hospital Center; Department of Biology at American University; Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Georgetown University Medical Center; French Atomic Energy Commission in Saclay, France; and Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Georgetown University Medical Center.

In 1985, Maddox began her career at NIH as a health scientist administrator at the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). At NIGMS, she went on to serve as deputy director of the Biophysics and Physiological Sciences Program and chief of the Pharmacology and Physiological Sciences Section from 1991 to 1994, and became acting director of the Minority Access to Research Careers Program from 1993 to 1994.

From 1995 to 2014, Maddox served as the deputy director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). As deputy director, she led many federal and international efforts to improve maternal and child health, including the NICHD Safe to Sleep campaign (formerly the Back to Sleep campaign), the NIH Down Syndrome Consortium, and the Global Network for Women’s and Children’s Health Research.

While serving as acting director of NICHD, she also served as NICHD's acting director of the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research from 1998 to 1999 and, from 2001 to 2002, she served as the institute's acting associate director for Prevention and International Activities. In addition, Maddox became the NIH acting deputy director from 2002 to 2012.

In 2014, Maddox became the acting director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, the NIH institute that leads scientific research to improve minority health and eliminate health disparities.

Awards and Honors

During her career at the NIH, Maddox has received numerous honors and awards, including the U.S. Presidential Distinguished Executive Rank Award, the U.S. Presidential Meritorious Executive Rank Award, the Public Health Service Special Recognition Award, the Department of Health & Human Services Secretary’s Award and Career Achievement Award, and the NIH Director’s Award. She is an inductee into the Historical Black Colleges and Universities Hall of Fame in the field of medicine. She is also a recipient of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Distinguished Public Service Award. She was awarded the prestigious HeLa Award from the Morehouse School of Medicine for her research in reproductive sciences.

Most recently, Maddox received the 2014 National Caucus on Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Health Disparities’ Vanguard Award for Scientific Leadership in Health Disparities. She has received several honorary degrees and has served on many public service and academic boards. She has authored numerous scientific papers, reviewed articles and delivered keynote scientific lectures, both domestically and internationally.

External Links

http://www.nimhd.nih.gov http://www.nichd.nih.gov http://www.nih.gov

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Institutes of Health.