In January, Wake Forest University School of Medicine welcomed its new dean, L. Ebony Boulware, MD, MPH. Boulware also serves as chief science officer and vice chief academic officer of the newly formed Advocate Heath, and she is at the forefront of integrating the School of Medicine’s second campus in Charlotte.
Boulware is working toward curating the educational and research collaborations across the Winston-Salem and Charlotte campuses, which will create a unique ecosystem as the academic core of one of the largest academic learning health systems in the country.
Boulware grew up discussing the importance of social justice and health equity around the family dinner table. Her parents, who were both physicians, cared for patients from diverse and historically underserved backgrounds which offered Boulware the opportunity to witness firsthand the significance of cultivating and maintaining excellent health care for all individuals.
With this awareness and passion instilled in her, she pursued a career heavily focused in clinical and epidemiological research, a pathway that allowed her to merge her desire to address racial, ethnic and socioeconomic inequities in health. Boulware’s research – which has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute and other organizations – has focused on uncovering how patients, health care providers, health care systems and community contexts impact the way patients receive their care.
Boulware has published more than 200 manuscripts, book chapters and editorials and has mentored numerous students, residents, fellows and faculty members. She is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is also a mother who enjoys reading, exercising and meditating.
Here, Boulware shares more about herself and her background.