
Anita Fernander
Advocacy Advisory Council Member
Dr. Fernander has served as the Executive Diversity Officer in the School of Medicine and Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of New Mexico since November of 2022. Dr. Fernander received her Master’s and Ph.D. in Clinical Health Psychology from the University of Miami, and Bachelor’s degrees (Physical Education and Psychology) from Oakwood University (an HBCU in Huntsville, Alabama). She completed her internship at the Salt Lake City Veterans Affairs Medical Center and a post-doctoral fellowship in Medical Psychology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Prior to joining UNM’s School of Medicine she served as the inaugural Chief Officer for Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (JEDI) at the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine and Interim Department Chair & Professor in the Department of Population Health at Florida Atlantic University (FAU). Dr. Fernander served on the faculty in the University of Kentucky’s College of Medicine for 19 years. There she engaged in leadership, teaching, research, and community engagement to address health inequities, enhance patient advocacy through cultural humility as a de-biasing
strategy, and exploring transformational interventions to address historical and contemporary racism embedded in the political and social determinants of health, and the subsequent impact of race-related stress experienced among African Americans. In her current role as Executive DEI Officer in the UNM SOM she oversees faculty, trainee and staff diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across SOM missions, including education, research, clinical care, and community engagement.