Excellence in Diversity Awards

Excellence in Diversity Award winners on stage

Black History Month Program Collaboration

The Annual Black History Awards Program takes place in the Spring semester of each academic year. The “Excellence in Diversity” Awards Program is a collaborative effort across all six colleges in MUSC’s enterprise and the community. Each year, an award recipient is honored from each individual college who has exemplified and championed for diversity, equity, inclusion, culture and justice. The student led committee seeks to highlight faculty and staff who have made contributions through their service, teaching or professional career to promote, create and nurture MUSC’s diversity and inclusion environment through their leadership.

Awards Program Speaker

Natalie Johnson, DHA

Dr. Natalie Johnson 

Dr. Natalie Gamble Johnson is the Associate Dean for Diversity Affairs for the College of Medicine. As the Associate Dean for Diversity, her passion is to increase and enhance diversity among medical students, faculty, residents at the College of Medicine with the overarching goal of diversifying the physician workforce. The work of Dr. Johnson and her colleagues has led to national presentations which broadly discussed the steps to diversifying the physician workforce. She co-authored an article entitled “Improving diversity through strategic planning: a 10-year experience at the Medical University of South Carolina.” She served as a representative on the national level for the Association of American Medical Colleges as the liaison for the Committee of Student Diversity Affairs and the Committee on Student Affairs. Dr. Johnson received her bachelor of science degree in Psychology from the College of Charleston, her master of arts degree in Clinical Counseling from Webster University, and her Doctorate of Health Administration degree from the Medical University of South Carolina. Her doctoral defense is entitled “The Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Two Pipeline Programs for Matriculation and Retention of Minority Students in a Medical School Program.” Prior to working for the College of Medicine Dean’s Office, Dr. Johnson worked at the MUSC Institute of Psychiatry as a research coordinator for adolescents with substance use and psychiatric disorders. She has co-authored several publications in the field of adolescent substance use. Dr. Johnson was the 2020 recipient of the MUSC Earl B. Higgins Achievement in Diversity Award, and the 2021 recipient of the Community Service Award for Physical and Mental Health, awarded by the North Charleston Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Incorporated. Dr. Johnson also currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Executive Board for Greg Mathis Charter High School.

2023 Excellence in Diversity Award Recipients

Headshot of Anita Ramsetty 

Sharee Wright, MD

College of Medicine

Pearl Givens 

Deirdre Sams Williams, DDS, MS

College of Dental Medicine

Chinnis Simone, DNP, MBA, NP-C, AE-C 

Simone Chinnis, DNP, MBA, NP-C, AE-C

College of Nursing

Marc Lapoint 

Kira Adkins, ParmD

College of Pharmacy

Kimberly Bryant 

Cory Robinson, PhD, MHA, PMP, FACHE

College of Health Professions

Akeya Harrold 

Cindy Wright, PhD

College of Graduate Studies