The American Medical Association has selected Aletha Maybank, MD, to serve as its inaugural chief health equity officer.
Most recently, Dr. Maybank served as deputy commissioner and founding director of the Center for Heath Equity within the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. She drove a culture of understanding how their work affects health equity among the health department's staff and oversaw the rebranding of local district public health offices to Neighborhood Health Action Centers.
She previously served as an assistant commissioner at the NYC Health Department and founding director of the Office of Minority Health in the Suffolk County Department of Health Services in New York.
In addition to her medical degree, she holds a master's degree in public health from New York City-based Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
As chief health equity officer at the AMA, Dr. Maybank will establish the organization's Center for Health Equity, which will focus on ingraining the notion of health equity within the AMA as part of its processes, innovation and organizational performance.
At its 2018 annual meeting, the AMA's House of Delegates passed a new policy to define health equity and create a strategic framework toward achieving the goal.