Edith Williams has a mantra that she’s embraced throughout her health care career: “I can show you better than I can tell you.”
She said it’s an approach that has allowed her to thrive in various leadership positions and has prepared her for her new role as director of the Center for Community Health and Prevention at the University of Rochester Medical Center. She’s the first Black woman to lead the center.
“I know there are some who are assuming that I was appointed to this role because I am a Black woman,” Williams said. “What I can do to any of those naysayers is show them my record of accomplishment, show them everything that we're about to do in this center, and I think that will speak volumes more than the color of my skin.”
As a Black woman, Williams said she understands that some odds are stacked against her, but she is prepared to show and prove that she is indeed the right choice for the position. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Black women hold less than 8% of executive positions.
Williams said being a woman of color, in her new role, gives her an advantage when it comes to advancing the institution’s mission. It focuses on disease prevention and healthy living programs — it also does public health research and policy work.
“It gives them a level of credibility that they may otherwise not have,” she said. “It allows for a level comfortability between the community and the university that may have been harder to navigate under other leadership.”
Dr. Nancy Bennett founded the CCHP in 2006 as a hub aimed at creating a healthier Rochester through various programs and initiatives. Bennet, who was known as “Nana,” announced her retirement towards the end of 2023 and Williams took over at the top of the new year.
Williams came to URMC in 2022 as the founding director of Health Equity Research, a position Bennett recommended her for.
Many of the center’s programs serve the needs of underrepresented communities and racial groups.
Celia McIntosh, president of Rochester’s Black Nurses Association, understands the value of being able to navigate comfortably within your targeted demographic.
“A lot of the times as Black women we’re in the community already doing the work,” she said. “If you've lived in this community, or any community, you have your own lived experience. So you're also bringing that to the table.”
McIntosh said Williams will need the support and resources necessary to be successful in her new role.
“It's great to have Black leaders at the table, but they can't be at the table and be unsupported,” McIntosh said. She said support must include the resources and budgets they need “to lead the charge.”
Williams praises URMC for being supportive towards her goals for the center.
She said she plans to use the center’s funding and resources to collaborate with other organizations and people in the community to strengthen established programs and further develop the newer initiatives like community meetings -- a tack intended to establish and foster relationships with the public.
“You just have to talk to people,” Williams said, “You have to be a part of their world and allow them to be part of yours before we can begin to do any work.”
