Yvonne Maddox

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Interviewee

Yvonne T. Maddox Ph.D.

Interviewer

Aaron Condon

Biography

Dr. Maddox's career focuses primarily on policy ensuring equity for minorities, women, and children, in the United States and abroad regarding access to healthcare and in the field of biomedical research. Dr. Maddox began her tenure at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1985 as a health scientist administrator for the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. She later became the deputy director of the Biophysics and Physiological Sciences Program and chief of the Pharmacology and Physiological Sciences Section. She was the acting director of the Minority Access to Research Careers Program from 1993 to 1994 for that institute. From 1995 to 2014, Dr. Maddox was the deputy director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), where she led many federal and international efforts to improve maternal and child health, including the NICHD Safe to Sleep, the NIH Down Syndrome Consortium, and the Global Network for Women's and Children's Health Research. While deputy director of NICHD, Dr. Maddox was also acting director of the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research and the institute's acting associate director for Prevention and International Activities. Dr. Maddox was the NIH acting principal deputy director from January 2000 to June 2002, which is the primary administrator of the agency. Before leaving to run the Extramural Research Services division for the Department of Defense’s Uniform Services University of the Health Sciences, Dr. Maddox was called to take the role of acting director for the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. Currently, Dr. Maddox is the President and CEO of the T.A. Thornton Foundation, which seeks to provide advanced academic opportunities to researchers from underrepresented communities.

Date of Interview

Summer 9-10-2025

Keywords

NICHD, national institute for child health and humand development, MARC, nih principal deputy director, black, NIH, racism, bias, workforce, research, diversity, HBCU, minority community, biomedical, leadership, National institute for minorty health and health disparities, NIMHD, USUHS, USU, uniformed services

Disciplines

African American Studies | Digital Humanities | Labor History | Oral History | Public History | United States History

Recommended Citation

Maddox, Yvonne T. Ph.D., "Yvonne Maddox" (2025). We Are NIH Oral History Project. 5.
https://openspaces.unk.edu/nih-oh/5