Monica Willis Parker, MD, is a graduate of Fisk University and the University of Nebraska Medical Center. She joined the Emory School of Medicine faculty in 1995. She has transitioned roles as a geriatric primary care provider to that of clinical research investigator. She now leads the Minority Engagement Core (MEC), one of six cores of the Emory Goizueta Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. Dr. Parker serves as Co-investigator on several NIH-funded projects. She advocates and educates about the importance of research participation for the elimination of health disparities in persons of color. She has co-authored several peer reviewed articles on the differences in neurocognitive disorders between African and European Americans, African American caregiving needs, and research participation for African Americans with colleagues at Emory, the Mayo Clinic, and Ohio State University.
Active in many civic and social organizations, most notably, she was appointed the inaugural Health and Human Services Facet Director of The Links Incorporated (2010-2014). She serves on several boards, which include AGRHODES Nursing and Rehab centers, Georgia Alzheimer’s Association Board of Governors, the Health Outcomes Task force for the National Alzheimer’s Association, Georgia Museum of Art (GMOA), and the Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism for the State Bar of Georgia.
A recipient of several honors, she was named Atlanta Magazine’s “Groundbreaker of the Year”; “A Key to A Cure” Award recipient of the Wesley Woods Foundation; and one of Atlanta’s Top Doctors, in Family/Geriatric Medicine 2009-2013, by Castle-Connolly Associates.
