Vonzella Bryant, MD is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and Assistant Dean of Student Affairs at the Boston University School of Medicine. She has over 20 years as an Attending Physician. She is the clerkship director of medical students rotating in the emergency department at Boston Medical Center. Vonzella has presented on increasing diversity in emergency medicine at multiple national conferences. Because of her work being on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic, she earned a spot on the US News & World Report list of “Hospital Heros” with Drs. Fauci and Gupta and selected to be a Celtics “Hero Among Us” and “Hero of the Match” for the New England Revolution. She is Vice President of Operations of New England Medical Association (NEMA) which serves as the collective voice of black physicians in the New England area.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility
Dr. Bryant is dedicated to increasing diversity in the field of medicine and creating a working and learning community that advocates to eliminate health disparities.
Dr. Bryant worked as an advisor and facilitator for Boston University School of Medicine CLEAR (Creating Leadership and Education to Address Racism) which facilitated opportunities for medical students to deepen their knowledge and understanding of race and racism and its impact on patients and providers. This included the creation of the “Racism in Medicine” curriculum that has been implemented for medical student education in the preclinical and clerkship years. Dr. Bryant has also been involved in sessions for local high-school students from disadvantaged backgrounds around careers in the field of medicine, providing insight on the various routes leading into medicine. It is this exposure that can spark the interest of young students of color to also enter the field of medicine and create a more diverse workforce which studies have shown will lead to better healthcare outcomes.
Dr. Bryant has a passion for and has given multiple regional and national lectures on increasing diversity in the field of medicine and advocating for healthcare equity. She has served as a liaison for our department’s JEDI (Justice Equity Diversity and Inclusion) residency committee for recruitment of underrepresented in medicine (URIM) interns. The program increased the percentage of URIM residents from 10% to 21% in a 4 year period. And 65% of our residents are women. She has led and facilitated microaggression bystander training workshops in the emergency department that included MDs, RNs, CNAs, coordinators and safety officers to create a supportive learning and working environment. This workshop is now catching fire throughout the country after Dr. Bryant ran the same workshops at regional conferences including Brown University Women in Medicine and Science Professional Development series and the BUSM McCahan Educational Day, and nationally for Emergency Medicine (EM) conferences including Council of (EM) Residency Directors (CORD) and Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM). Another national Emergency Medicine society, American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM) even named their Diversity & Inclusion committee JEDI as well.
Dr. Bryant has demonstrated leadership skills as Vice President of Operations of New England Medical Association (NEMA) which serves as the collective voice of Black physicians in the New England area. NEMA has partnered with major healthcare institutions including Boston Medical Center and has had multiple meetings, either in-person or webinars for Black physicians including topics on wellness, financial stability, patient advocacy and networking. The organization has had webinars for non-physicians in the community including “Impact of Race and Trauma on Pediatric Mental Health” and “Mental Health in the Black Church”. They were champions for helping to fight vaccine hesitancy during this COVID-19 pandemic including have Black physicians volunteer to give vaccines at the Reggie Lewis Center located in the middle of Roxbury last February.
Assistant Dean
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Student Affairs
Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other
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Bryant, V. Always Consider an Upper GI Source for Rectal Bleeding. Emergency Medicine News. 2002; 24(10):28.
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Bryant, V. Alvarez, A. “Diversity as a Vehicle for Excellence: Perspectives on a More Inclusive Recruitment Process in Emergency Medicine”. Common Sense, AAEM. (July/Aug).
This graph shows the total number of publications by year, by first, middle/unknown,
or last author.
2002 Resident Ultrasound Award
2001 Save of the Month Award
1998 National Medical Fellowship:
Scholarship Award
1997 National Medical Fellowship:
Scholarship Award