Biography

Dr. Byrd was born and raised in Edwards and Jackson, Mississippi.  She obtained her BS (’04) from Tougaloo College in Tougaloo, Mississippi and MD,PhD (’16) from Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. She completed an Ethnic Skin Postdoctoral Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) under the direction of Dr. Ginette Okoye. Currently, she is an Associate Professor at Howard University College of Medicine and Adjunct Assistant Professor at JHUSOM (Departments of Dermatology) where her work centers on the establishment of tissue biorepositories to understand the immunopathological mechanisms contributing to skin of color diseases, particularly among African American patients with Hidradenitis suppurativa.  Her main research focus is elucidating the unreported roles of neutrophils and the innate immunity in the induction of local and systemic immune dysregulation. Dr. Byrd leads multidisciplinary collaborative projects with the overarching goal of establishing a scientifically-driven approach to treatment options for patients suffering from these debilitating diseases. Of much importance, she continues to pay-it-forward along her journey devoting time to training and investing in the next generations of scientists and physician scientists as well as engaging in community outreach. She is the inaugural recipient of the Skin of Color Society Career Development Award and the Society for Investigative Dermatology (SID) Freinkel Diversity Fellowship Award.  She has also received the American Skin Association Milstein Research Scholar Award for Melanoma/Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer, Mary Kay-SID Skin Health/Skin Disease Research Grant, as well as the Robert A. Winn Diversity in Clinical Trials Career Development Award (funded by Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation), has contributed to the scientific literature, given numerous lectures, national/international talks, and has been featured on the BET 33rd Annual UNCF An Evening of Stars® international program, recognizing her as one who is “changing the face of science, one mind at a time.”