2.27.2025
Black History Month | Alem Mulat, PharmD, BCPS: ‘I Can Be Whatever I Want to Be’
2.25.2025
Black History Month | Gregory Townsend, MD: ‘Creating a Culture Where Everyone Feels Valued, Included, and Respected’
This Black History Month — UVA Health Office of Diversity and Community Engagement and UVA School of Medicine Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are recognizing UVA Health team members whose work echoes the theme of “African Americans and Labor: Acknowledging Our Contributions Across UVA Health.”
‘A Better Fit for Me’
Gregory Townsend, MD, was born in New York City, but when he was six weeks old, his parents moved the family to their native Jamaica. They lived in the Caribbean island nation for about a year.
The family then returned to the United States, this time, settling into Henrietta, a suburb of Rochester, New York — where he mostly lived until the age of 17.
What piqued Dr. Townsend’s interest initially in becoming a physician? “I have loved biology since I was a small child and upon entering college I envisioned doing research in some related field,” he recalls. "But during gap years after college, I realized I really enjoyed working with people, and I thought that medicine would be a better fit for me. I’m absolutely sure I made the right decision!”
Dr. Townsend earned his undergraduate degree from the College of William and Mary and his medical degree from UVA School of Medicine. He didn't attend his medical school graduation; instead, he took an eight-week camping trip to national parks in the Western United States [pictured, right, in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado].
He completed his residency in internal medicine and pediatrics at West Virginia University Medicine, then returned to Charlottesville for his fellowship training in infectious diseases in 1991. He joined UVA School of Medicine faculty in 1993 and now serves as Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and International Health. Dr. Townsend also is chair of the Institutional Review Board for Health Sciences Research. And at UVA Health, he specializes in treating patients at the Ryan White HIV Clinic.
Dr. Townsend also is marking a little more than a decade as UVA School of Medicine Associate Dean for Diversity and Medical Education. His motivation is deep rooted.
“As a Black man, I’ve always been acutely aware of the need for diversity,” he explains. “We were the only Black family in town when we moved to Henrietta. I was the only Black person in any of my science classes in high school [right photo] and college. I was one of a handful of persons of color (POC) in my medical school class. I was the only POC in my residency program, and I may have been the only POC in any of the residency programs at my institution. I was the first POC in my fellowship program. I was one of a handful of Black faculty members when I joined the faculty here. So it has not been lost on me that there is a lack of representation by POC in the circles that I move in — circles that represent opportunities for growth and advancement.”
But Dr. Townsend says what really sealed the deal for him in accepting the role of Associate Dean for Diversity and Medical Education was his work as a physician specializing in the care of people with HIV. “Like many infectious diseases, HIV disproportionately affects the poor and disenfranchised. And POC are vastly overrepresented among people living with HIV.”
Dr. Townsend says he’s had to think about the social determinants of health (SDoH) and how they affect people who have come from marginalized communities. “Being directly involved in diversity, equity, and inclusion work here presented itself as a way to help UVA Health become more responsive to the needs of our patients and to our current and prospective team members and students who come from those groups,” he explains.
‘We Are All Responsible’
What is he most proud of as Associate Dean for Diversity and Medical Education? “The thing that I am most proud of is my role — whatever that may have been — in facilitating the emergence of a culture here where a number of people recognize that we are all responsible for diversity, equity, and inclusion work.”
He says he’s “absolutely thrilled” when he hears about a diversity, equity, and inclusion project that a person or group has taken on without any help or input from him or the diversity, equity, and inclusion office.
“Frankly, my wish is that, at some point, we no longer need a diversity, equity, and inclusion office or any diversity, equity, and inclusion positions, just as we don’t need a Dean for hard work, collaboration, or innovation, etc. We all recognize that those are essential elements of a successful academic health care enterprise. And I hope that someday, we will put diversity, equity, and inclusion in that group as well.”
Stepping In
Dr. Townsend says undoubtedly, his favorite accomplishment as Associate Dean for Diversity and Medical Education is the establishment of the Stepping In program with several colleagues, especially Margaret “Peggy” Plews-Ogan, MD, founder and former Director, UVA Center for Appreciative Practice; Jann Balmer, PhD, RN, former Director, Continuing Medical Education; and Pamela Lace, MA, CME Program Manager.
They’ve trained more than 3,000 at UVA Health on how to deal with disrespectful behaviors — and colleagues at several academic health care institutions across the country have trained more than 20,000 using UVA Health’s program.
“Again, it’s all in the name of creating a culture where everyone feels valued, included, and respected,” he says.
‘Incredibly Grateful and Humbled’
Dr. Townsend is an ex-officio member of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. University of Virginia Health System Awards Selection Committee, serving since 2014. At the latest awards ceremony, he and Judy Jones Pointer, M.Ed., BA, who served as chair of the committee for more than a decade, received special acknowledgements for their contributions.
But as always, Dr. Townsend is focused on others: “The awards’ nominators have recognized how important it is to acknowledge the importance of the nominees’ efforts toward diversity, equity, and inclusion work — and nominees and awardees have been incredibly grateful and humbled by their nominations,” he explains.
‘Assuring the Work Continues’
“This is a tough time for all of us who are interested in diversity, equity, and inclusion work, especially with the announcement that diversity, equity, and inclusion work at the federal level is to come to a halt,” says Dr. Townsend. “And while I refer to it as diversity, equity, and inclusion ‘work’ — it is so incredibly gratifying that it doesn’t feel like work to me. I truly believe the most important thing I have done in my more than 30 years here has been to be involved in diversity, equity, and inclusion activities.”
