Eve Higginbotham, SM, MD

Eve Higginbotham, SM, MD served for a decade as the inaugural Vice Dean for Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity. In that role she built the infrastructure for continued progress toward inclusive excellence, focusing on diverse faculty recruitment, retention, and culture. She is a Professor of Ophthalmology, and a glaucoma specialist. Dr. Higginbotham serves on the Boards of Ascension, MEE, and Gesu School in Philadelphia. Dr. Higginbotham has served as Chair of two NASEM Consensus Committees, specifically, The Impact of COVID-19 on the Careers of Women in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2021) and currently, Framework for the Consideration of Chronic Debilitating Conditions in Women, which is currently under review. She has also served as a member of other Consensus Committees, specifically, “Making Eye Health A Population Health Imperative: and Minority Serving Institutions: America’s Underutilized Resource for Strengthening the STEM Workforce (2019). She has served on Roundtables, specifically, the Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity and the Elimination of Health Disparities and currently the Roundtable on Mentorship, Well-being, and Professional Development. She continues to publish in ophthalmology, health policy, and health equity and actively mentors faculty, trainees, and students at the University of Pennsylvania. She is an elected member of the NAM Council, member of AAAS, and a graduate of MIT, HMS, and Penn Carey Law. Dr. Higginbotham completed her residency in ophthalmology at LSU and a glaucoma fellowship at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston.