Joy Phinizy Williams

Dean Williams has facilitated the education, training and professional development of more than 400 physicians under-represented in Medicine, and nurtured the career aspirations of over 5000 high school and undergraduate students interested in health careers

Joy Phinizy Williams served the Office of Minority Student Development for 35 years in the role of Senior Associate Dean for Students, Director of the Georgetown Experimental Medical Studies (GEMS) Program, and Director of the Greater Washington Metropolitan Area Junior Science and Humanities Symposium at Georgetown University School of Medicine. Equally important to sustaining a legacy of committed leadership to Diversity and Inclusion, Dean Williams played a significant role in the professional development of the first African American male Dean at Georgetown School of Medicine.

Dean Williams was actively involved in community based partnerships serving as the Projector Leader for the Eastern Senior High School Health and Medical Science Academy’s Service Learning Project, and on the Advisory Committee for the National Institutes of Health Science in Our Lives’ Initiative. Employing a variety of strategies, all of these programs share the common goal of developing the capability of minority and other disadvantaged students to excel in science and math, and to prepare them for careers in Medicine or other health profession.

At Georgetown School of Medicine, Dean Williams served as principal investigator and program director of numerous training programs for high school, pre-medical, post-baccalaureate and medical students. She served on the GEMS Admissions Committee and the GEMS Academic Advisory Committee, and represents the school of medicine in the Association of American Medical Colleges’ (AAMC) Group on Student Affairs, and the AAMC Committee on Diversity Affairs. She was the Liaison to the AAMC Careers in Medicine Program and contributed to that program’s development as a member of its Advisory Committee. In November 2009, Dean Williams was invited to join a small working group to explore possibilities for including measures of integrity, dependability, empathy and other personal characteristics on the 2015 version of the MCAT. The efforts of this working group were recently published in the Journal of Academic Medicine, May 2013.

Dean Williams has shared her visionary leadership and passion for student development as the coordinator of the school of medicine’s Pre-Clinical Advising Program, and also served as one of the school of medicine’s most well respected and beloved Pre-Clinical Advisors, imparting wise advice and counsel to medical students.

Prior to joining the Georgetown faculty in the Department of Family Medicine in 1979, Dean Williams was instrumental in the development of outreach and education programs under the sponsorship of the League of Women Voters Education Fund and the Office of Economic Opportunity.

Given her lifetime of service to Health Professions Education and Advocacy, and the legacy of Health Professionals and Educators who are advocates for the most vulnerable populations in society, it is our honor to celebrate the legacy of leadership of Joy Phinizy Williams.