By Nina Bai
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UC San Francisco pediatrician and epidemiologist, Elena Fuentes-Afflick, MD, MPH, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, which honors exceptional scholars, leaders, artists and innovators.
Fuentes-Afflick is professor and vice chair of pediatrics at UCSF and chief of pediatrics at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center.
She is among the 276 new members elected to the 2020 class, hailing from a wide range of disciplines and professions. Among this year’s class are musician Joan Baez, former Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., author Ann Patchett, and filmmaker Richard S. Linklater.
Founded in 1780, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences is one of the country’s oldest learned societies and independent policy research centers, convening leaders from academic, business, and government sectors to respond to the challenges facing the nation and the world.
Fuentes-Afflick’s research has focused on the issues of acculturation, immigrant health and health disparities, including work on maternal and infant health among Latino immigrants and the portrayal of body mass images in Latino television media. She also has written extensively on the need to reduce harassment and bias in academic medicine.
Since 2012, Fuentes-Afflick has been vice dean for academic affairs and faculty development for the UCSF School of Medicine, where she is responsible for overseeing all academic affairs, including the recruitment, development and advancement of a diversified academic workforce of the highest caliber. She also oversees innovative programs for faculty orientation, career development and leadership training.
She is past president of the American Pediatric Society and the Society for Pediatric Research and has been a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion in academic pediatrics. In 2010, she was elected to the National Academy of Medicine.
Fuentes-Afflick completed her residency training in pediatrics at UCSF and joined the faculty in 1993.
“The members of the class of 2020 have excelled in laboratories and lecture halls, they have amazed on concert stages and in surgical suites, and they have led in board rooms and courtrooms,” said Academy president David W. Oxtoby. “With today’s election announcement, these new members are united by a place in history and by an opportunity to shape the future through the Academy’s work to advance the public good.”
A complete list of new members, as well as the Academy’s press release, can be found on the Academy’s website.
