Appointed as the first Dean for Diversity and Community Partnership in January 2002, Joan Y. Reede is responsible for the development and management of a comprehensive program that provides leadership, guidance, and support to promote the increased recruitment, retention, and advancement of underrepresented minority faculty at Harvard Medical School (HMS). This charge includes oversight of all diversity activities at HMS as they relate to faculty, trainees, students, and staff. In 1990, Dr. Reede founded the HMS Minority Faculty Development Program and also currently serves as Faculty Director of the Community Outreach programs. In 2008, she became the Director of the Harvard Catalyst Program for Faculty Development and Diversity. In addition, Dr. Reede holds appointments of Professor of Medicine at HMS, Professor of Society, Human Development, and Health at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, and Assistant in Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1989, prior to coming to HMS, Dr. Reede served as the medical director of a Boston community health center, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Youth Services. She has also worked as a pediatrician in community and academic health centers, juvenile prisons, and public schools. The impact of Reede’s work is reflected in the numerous programs she has created to benefit minority students, residents, scientists, and physicians. Dr. Reede created and developed more than 20 programs at HMS that aim to address pipeline and leadership issues for minorities and women who are interested in careers in medicine, academic and scientific research, and the healthcare professions. Supported by a dedicated staff, she has developed mentoring programs for underrepresented minority students from the middle school through the graduate and medical school levels. She has also designed a training program for middle and high school teachers, developed science curricula for public schools, implemented research and exchange clerkship programs at HMS, and designed and implemented innovative fellowships in minority health policy for physicians, dentists, and doctoral-level mental health professionals.

 She completed a pediatric residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and a fellowship in child psychiatry at Boston Children’s Hospital. She holds an MPH and an MS in Health Policy Management from Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, and an MBA from Boston University.