Dr. Heron is a Board-certified Emergency Medicine physician who believes in the Power of P’s to address equity, inclusion and the link to wellness in African-American communities.
1 of the first 5 African-American women who are full Professors in Emergency Medicine in the US
1 of the first 5 African-American women Professors in Emergency Medicine who also hold the title of Associate Dean in school of medicine in the US
Born in Jamaica, West Indies and migrating to the United States in 1968, Dr. Heron has fiercely promoted her philosophy, purpose and passion (her foundational 3 P’s) to advance equity and inclusion in emergency medicine.
Arriving to the United States as a young child with her parents and her brother in 1968, Dr. Heron later recognized as an adult, that her family arrived the same year Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Currently a full professor, Vice Chair and Associate Dean at Emory University in Atlanta, GA - the birthplace and resting place of Martin Luther King Jr., Dr. Heron has spent the past 2 decades raising attention to the need for equity and inclusion for people of color, notably women of color to advance in academic medicine.
Her work clearly linked to her other area of interest - notably wellness in academic medicine, identifying how equity and inclusion are inexplicable linked to wellness and well-being. An editor of 2 pioneer textbooks addressing Diversity and Inclusion in Quality Patient Care, Dr. Heron has leveraged her interests and vision to advance the care of patients from multiple cultural spaces. She contributes to this narrative by offering lectures, workshops, and consulting services to assist in this goal.