Professional Bio
Walter Clair, MD, MPH, is the Vice Chair for Diversity and Inclusion in the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt and a Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Additionally, he is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at Meharry Medical College.
He received his A.B. degree from Harvard College, an M.D. from Harvard Medical School, and an M.P.H. from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. His post graduate training included cardiology and cardiac electrophysiology fellowships at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. He served as the Executive Medical Director and Chief Medical Officer of the Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute from 2015-2021.
Dr. Clair received the Vanderbilt Cardiology Faculty Teaching Award two consecutive years (2007 and 2008). He is one the eight College Mentors for the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Advisory Colleges. This involves student wellness and career counseling as well as teaching in The Learning Community, a required seminar for medical students. In 2012 he received the Levi Watkins Faculty Award for Commitment to Diversity at Vanderbilt School of Medicine. In 2016, he was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha (Medical Honor Society). He is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the Heart Rhythm Society, and the American Heart Association.
After joining the Education Committee of the Heart Rhythm Society in 2009, the next year he became co-chair of its Patient and Caregivers sub-committee and served in that role until 2014. In 2013 he was a national medical spokesperson for the Heart Rhythm Society's "Arrest the Risk" campaign to increase awareness of sudden death risk factors among minority patients.
He has served on the board of the Nashville chapter of the American Heart Association (President 2018-19). He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Publications
Education
MD - Harvard University, 1981
Internship - Dept of Med - Brigham & Women's Hospital, 1982
Residency - Gen med/Primary Care Chief Resident - Brigham & Women's Hospital, 1983
Residency - Chief Resident - Brigham & Women's Hospital, 1984
MPH - Harvard University, 1985
Fellowship - Epidemiology - Harvard University, 1985
Fellowship - Cardiology - Duke University, 1992
Fellowship - Electrophysiology - Duke University, 1993
Contact
Email
Kimryn.Rathmell@Vumc.Org
Address
777 Preston Research Building
2220 Pierce Ave
Nashville, TN 37232-6307