Veronica Barcelona becomes New York Academy of Medicine Fellow

On January 31, 2024, Veronica Barcelona, PhD, assistant professor, was named a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM). Founded in 1847, the NYAM has recognized nearly 2,000 individuals as fellows. These individuals join a community of distinguished professionals, elected by their peers, who share NYAM’s commitment to achieving health equity. This community also works together to address clinical and population health issues facing individuals and communities in New York City and cities around the world. Barcelona is the 18th Columbia Nursing faculty to be named an NYAM fellow.  

At the nursing school, Barcelona conducts research focusing on the root causes of inequities in pregnancy and birth outcomes for pregnant people and their newborns. She was recently awarded $2.1 million to analyze Black women’s DNA to see how individual and structural racism alter their gene expression. In another study, she is using natural language processing methods to identify stigmatizing language in the electronic health records of pregnant people admitted for labor and birth at two New York hospitals. 

“Admission to the New York Academy of Medicine is a significant honor. I look forward to working with its prestigious members to promote maternal health equity and achieve birthing justice in New York,” says Barcelona.