Kimberly D. Manning, MD
Physician
Internist, hospitalist, educator, storyteller, blogger, content creator, diversity champion
Kimberly D. Manning, MD Heading link
The Department of Medicine Inclusion Council honors and celebrates the accomplishments of Kimberly Manning, MD, FACP, FAAP. Dr. Manning may be best known for her innovative approach to medical education and has been recognized nationally for her mentorship, teaching, blogging, and public speaking. Her blog, “Reflections of a Grady Doctor” was named as one of the top four medical blogs by “O” The Oprah Magazine in 2010. She serves as the Associate Vice Chair of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Department of Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine.
Dr. Kimberly Manning’s journey to medicine began in high school, when her father told her that, as a Black man in Alabama, people warned him that becoming a physician was not attainable. Hearing this story from her father motivated her to pursue a career in medicine.
Following high school, Manning attended Tuskegee University in Alabama, a Historically Black College/University (HBCU), then pursued her medical degree training at Meharry Medical College, also an HBCU. Upon completion of her M.D. in 1996, Manning attended one of Case Western’s affiliates for her residency training where she completed a combined internal medicine and pediatrics residency. In 2000, she was Chief Resident at Case Western Reserve University/MetroHealth and was selected by her classmates for honorary membership in the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society.
In 2001, Manning joined Emory University School of Medicine where she is a Professor of Medicine. Her leadership led to the development of the strategic plan for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Emory University School of Medicine. She also led the Task force on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and has been a critical mentor and advocate for underrepresented minorities in medicine.
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Dr. Manning presenting at the Women in Medicine Summit in 2023.
Her passion for storytelling to build and strengthen diverse and humanistic clinical environments as well as cultivating psychologically safe learning climates is evident in her social media presence. After attending a workshop about mission-based tweeting in medical education at an Academic Alliance of IM Week, she began thinking about using Twitter based on your personal mission.
Dr. Manning is intentional about everything she posts, focusing on medical education, diversity, equity, and inclusion, humanizing patients, and justice, telling her stories in a thread format, gaining her over 100,000 followers. Recognizing herself a as person from an historically excluded group she “tells the stories in the ways that I wish I could hear”. Her stories celebrate Black joy, welcoming people in through weaving in various aspects of her identity.
Often sharing stories from her experiences at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, “People and patients at indigent care hospitals are so often misunderstood. I know firsthand how remarkable the people are inside these walls. They are more than homelessness. They are more than substance abuse. They are more than public assistance. They are human beings with hopes, dreams and lives uniquely their own.”
In 2018 she was awarded the prestigious ACGME Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award—given to only 9 program directors annually across all ACGME residency programs in the US. As a national leader in diversity, she received the Society of Hospital Medicine Excellence in Diversity Leadership Award in 2020 and the AAMC Group on Diversity and Inclusion Exemplary Leadership Award in 2022. At Emory, she received the Evangeline Papageorge Award, The Golden Apple Teaching Award, and the Juha P. Kokko Teaching Award. She serves on the board of trustees for the Arnold P. Gold Foundation and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. She also co-hosts a podcast called The Human Doctor.