Professor of Medicine
Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Maya Angelou Research Center on Minority Health

Dr. Kristy Freeman Woods, M.D., M.P.H., a nationally recognized expert on sickle cell disease, is Director of the Maya Angelou Research Center on Minority Health at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Dr. Woods is also Professor of internal medicine at Wake Forest School of Medicine.

The Maya Angelou Research Center on Minority Health was established to address racial and ethnic health disparities, which represent a major public health issue in the U.S. The Center’s primary goal is closing the gap in health, quality of life and life span differences between minorities and the general population.

Prior to joining Wake Forest University, Dr. Woods held faculty appointments at the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago, Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, Georgia and Meharry Medical College and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee. She has extensively lectured, published research and authored book chapters on sickle cell disease. Dr. Woods has served as principal investigator or co-investigator on a number of National Institutes of Health-supported studies.

Dr. Woods received her Bachelor’s Degree from Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, her medical degree from Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana and her Master’s Degree in Public Health from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

In addition to her new role on the Blue Ribbon Advisory Board, Dr. Woods serves on the board of directors of the Urban League of Winston-Salem.