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Milagros C. Rosal, PhD, professor of population & quantitative health sciences in the Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine, has been appointed to the newly created position of vice provost for health equity at UMass Medical School, according to announcement by Chancellor Michael F. Collins and Provost Terence R. Flotte. In her new role, which begins immediately, Dr. Rosal reports to the provost with a direct advisory role to the chancellor.
“As a highly distinguished and accomplished faculty member and an influential thought leader in the field of health equity research, Dr. Rosal is uniquely equipped to help our institution develop and implement a strategic vision for increasing recruitment and retention of diverse faculty, an institutional priority articulated in the UMMS IMPACT 2025 Strategic Plan,” Chancellor Collins said. “While the term health equity is wide ranging, Dr. Rosal will draw upon her extensive experiences, expertise and networks to shape the vice provost for health equity position, doing so in concert with a number of senior leaders, including the vice provost for clinical and translational science, the vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion and the vice provost for faculty affairs; and will co-chair the Provost’s Faculty Recruitment Task Force, a group that will work to advance the Medical School’s diversity goals within the faculty ranks.”
With this appointment, and pending final Board approval, Rosal will be named the inaugural recipient of the newest endowed faculty position created specifically to support the faculty member who serves as vice provost for health equity so that they may advance all aspects of health equity across the research, education and patient care mission areas. This endowed chair, the Imoigele P. Aisiku, MD’97 Chair in Health Equity and Diversity, which is the first to be established by an alumnus of the Medical School, is made possible by the generosity of Imoigele P. Aisiku, MD, MSCR, MBA. Dr. Aisiku serves as the chief of the Division of Emergency Critical Care Medicine in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Brigham Health, where he also serves as the vice chair of diversity, inclusion and health equity. He is an associate professor of emergency medicine at Harvard Medical School, and also founded a successful telehealth company, which provides critical care telemedicine services.
“Rosal is a pioneering community-engaged researcher, who has long understood the importance of partnering with local community members and special populations to inform and shape her research studies and public health interventions,” Dr. Flotte said.
Her research focuses on the prevention and management of chronic health conditions that pose a significant burden to racial and ethnic minorities and socio-economically disadvantaged populations. She has been the principal or co-principal investigator on more than 40 research studies, most of which have been federally funded, including two center grants related to health equity: the Center for Health Equity Intervention Research funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and the UMass Chan Prevention Research Center funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Throughout her tenure at UMass Medical School, Rosal has been an ardent champion for diversity and health equity and has taken on numerous leadership roles that have contributed to the institution’s diversity and inclusion goals. For more than a decade,
