Deborah Dyett Desir, the medical director of the Yale rheumatology clinic in Hamden, Connecticut, and a faculty member at Yale Medical School, recently became president of the American College of Rheumatology. She is the first African American president, and the first woman of color, to lead the organization.
“It is a great honor to serve as president of this illustrious organization,” Dr. Desir said. “It is particularly meaningful to me as an African American. My father became a physician in the 1950s, a time when African American physicians could not join the American Medical Association or their local and state associations. I am committed to address existing health disparities and examine the role of implicit bias and institutional racism in health outcomes.”
Dr. Desir has more than three decades of experience in clinical medicine. In 1993, she started a rheumatology private practice in Hamden, Connecticut, which grew to include two satellite clinics in Branford and Milford. In 2019, Dr. Desir joined the Yale School of Medicine faculty. She was the president of the New Haven County Medical Association in 2020
Dr. Desir is a graduate of Harvard University and the Yale School of Medicine. She completed a residency in internal medicine at Yale New Haven Hospital and a fellowship in rheumatology at the Yale School of Medicine.
