Michelle Williams

Personal bio
Michelle Y. Williams, PhD, RN, FAAN serves as the Associate Chief Nursing Officer, Research and Health Equity at Stanford Health Care (SHC), Clinical Assistant Professor and Section Chief of the Nursing Research Section, Division of Primary Care Population Health, Department of Medicine, at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Williams is the founding president of the Stanford Medicine Black Nurses Association Chapter of the National Black Nurses Association (NBNA). She is an executive officer and committee chair with the NBNA. Dr. Williams is also a member of the American Case Management Association board of directors, where she contributes to building case management standards for social health needs. She has over 30 years of executive, research and leadership experience as a chief nurse executive, director of maternal child health, director of mental health and forensic psychiatry, director of nursing administration and operations, director of quality assurance performance improvement, director of nursing academic and grant-funded programs, regional senior health plan director, and national director of technology innovation and research, among others. In her current role as Associate Chief Nursing Officer, Health Equity and Research at SHC, Dr. Williams founded and leads six divisions, including Clinical Trials Research Operations & Practice and Enterprise Expansion; Academic Nursing and Patient Care Research; Health Equity Research; Research Operations and Strategy; Research Quality and Compliance; and Nurse and Research Scientist Faculty Appointments. Dr. Williams holds dual appointments at Stanford University School of Medicine as Clinical Assistant Professor and Chief, Nursing Research Section within the Department of Medicine, Division of Primary Care and Population Health. Williams earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in nursing from the Holy Names University, Oakland, California, and a Ph.D. in nursing science from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; and is a Fellow of the Amercian Academy of Nursing. A longstanding health policy and systems scientist, Dr. Williams has advanced research, catalyzed transformation, and empowered stakeholders at complex health care organizations, to advance actionable research to strengthen health systems for resilience, responsiveness and readiness in fostering personalized medicine, care delivery excellence, and equity to all populations.

Currently teaching