TENNESSEE — Consuelo Wilkins has been named a 2026 recipient of the Duke Medical Alumni Association's Distinguished Alumni Award. The award citation recognized her leadership in clinical and translational research and her national impact.

Wilkins serves as Senior Vice President and Senior Associate Dean for Community Health and Engagement at Vanderbilt Health, where she holds the Mildred Thornton Stahlman Chair in Rural Health. She is a tenured Professor of Medicine and Associate Director of the Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research.

She completed her residency in internal medicine at Duke University Medical Center. Before joining Vanderbilt Health in 2012, she served as a clinical investigator in Washington University's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center.

Wilkins has led over $150 million in federally funded studies. Her research focuses on engaging historically underserved populations in research design and conduct, and she helped establish national standards for stakeholder engagement, clinical trial design, and inclusive research participation.

She led the transition from a community review board model to a Community Engagement Studio model in research partnerships. The Community Engagement Studio model has been adopted across research institutions. Her leadership in the NIH All of Us Research Program and the Trial Innovation Network established frameworks for embedding participant voices into governance, design, and implementation.

In 2021, Wilkins testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, outlining a framework for improving the COVID-19 response that called for stronger data collection, community-driven solutions, and sustained commitment to long-term care and research.

She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2020 and serves as Section 12 chair. She was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2022 and received the Louis W. Sullivan, MD, Award from that society in 2025. She was named a Beeson Scholar in 2006 while at Washington University.

Wilkins has more than 170 peer-reviewed publications. She spearheaded additions to the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine curriculum and has mentored hundreds of trainees and faculty.

She earned a Bachelor of Science in microbiology and a Doctor of Medicine from Howard University, a Master of Science in Clinical Investigation from Washington University School of Medicine, and completed a fellowship in geriatric medicine at Washington University/Barnes-Jewish Hospital.