A Yale University professor will co-chair President-elect Joe Biden's COVID-19 task force, according to NBC News.
Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith will be one of three task force co-chairs.
She is an associate professor of medicine at Yale University. She will help advise President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
“It’s always exciting to see someone you know get a leadership position, someone you know and respect and have looked up to for a long time," said Rachel Osborn, a residency program director at Yale New Haven Hospital She is a powerhouse of science and it’s wonderful to see that coming back to the forefront of the conversation of this pandemic.”
“I think it’s also just really amazing to see a person of color and a woman of color elevated to this position at this time in history is also something I think is really empowering for a lot of folks who are Yale and around the country,” Osborn added.
Former Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy and former FDA Commissioner Dr. David Kessler will also be co-chairs of the task force, according to NBC News.
“She’s always been involved in public health and kind of health disparities research and global health. So she’s really just been a fixture in the medical school,” Dr. Danilo Rojas, a former student of Nunez-Smith's, said.
Local
“Dealing with the coronavirus pandemic is one of the most important battles our administration will face, and I will be informed by science and by experts,” President-elect Biden said in part in a statement.
The President-elect named his full COVID-19 advisory board on Monday.
