Dr. Laraque-Arena, leader in health equity, named new WIMLF president
Danielle Laraque-Arena, MD, a champion for children’s rights and health equity, has been named president of the Women in Medicine Legacy Foundation, an organization which celebrates the determination, passion, and fortitude of women of the past to build a path to a future.
Dr. Laraque-Arena succeeds Julia Haller, MD, ophthalmologist-in-chief at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. Under Dr. Haller’s leadership, WIMLF invested in making historical content, including oral histories, accessible and relevant to modern audiences.
Dr. Laraque-Arena’s goals at WIMLF include strengthening the link between women in medicine and health justice.
“Knowing our history completely and reflecting on it illuminates our path forward as women in science and medicine work to make a positive difference in people’s lives,” she says.
Vicki Burkhart, WIMLF executive director, says Dr. Laraque-Arena’s experience in clinical care, research, and education makes her ideally suited to lead the organization, which is poised to prepare for its upcoming 25th anniversary.
“Dr. Laraque-Arena is a pioneer, blazing a trail in such vital health issues as lead paint poisoning, gun violence and injury prevention. Her ability to identify challenges and develop solutions has established her as a role model for ascendant leaders in health care,” she said.
A pediatrician and an expert in child abuse, Dr. Laraque-Arena has advanced maternal-child health in underserved and disenfranchised communities, holding multiple leadership positions regionally, nationally, and internationally. She is president and professor emerita of SUNY Upstate Medical University. On the WIMLF board, she chaired the Alma Dea Morani Award committee, which recognized such distinguished women as Jennifer Doudna, PhD, who earned the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her groundbreaking development of genome-engineering technology, and Vivian Pinn, MD, the first director of the Office of Research on Women’s Health at the National Institutes of Health.
Born in Haiti, Dr. Laraque-Arena came to the United States when she was in second grade and completed her medical studies at the University of California at Los Angeles, internship and residency at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. As a Robert Wood Johnson Fellow, she researched lead poisoning and calcium status in Black preschoolers. Driven to address the health needs of disadvantaged communities, she accepted her first academic position at the College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University and Harlem Hospital Center.
In the 1980s, she addressed three of Harlem’s greatest health threats: guns, AIDS and crack cocaine, an experience that helped shape her career as an educator and researcher.
“I am keenly aware of the role of poverty and structural racism as determinant in the health of populations,” she says. “Providing comprehensive care in the community is a priority because we can see how we can change people’s lives.”
Dr. Laraque-Arena looks forward to WIMLF’s continued growth as a hub for historic records and examining the intersection of gender and race to understand various challenges.
“Our purpose also is to promote the contributions of women physicians and scientists. In doing so, we are helping to lay the groundwork for future achievements,” she says.