Dr. Brenda Ayers is a Board-certified physician in Internal Medicine who serves as Medical Director for Health Equity for Nuvance Health. For 20 years, Dr. Ayers has made her career in Hospital Medicine where she has spent the last 13 years with Nuvance Health at Vassar Brothers Medical Center.  During that time, she served as the Medical Director of the Vassar Hospital Medicine Service.  In addition, Dr. Ayers currently serves as the Associate Vice President of Medical Affairs for Vassar Brothers.

In April of 2022, Dr. Ayers became the Nuvance Health inaugural Medical Director of Health Equity.  As part of the newly formed Office of Health Equity Diversity and Inclusion (HEDI), her role focuses on identifying equity gaps and health disparities which impact patient outcomes and finding ways to close those gaps.  Since taking on the role of Medical Director for Health Equity, Dr. Ayers has spearheaded several Network initiatives aimed at closing equity gaps.  These include the Eliminating Racial Algorithms in Clinical Evaluation and Decisions (ERACED) Taskforce, the Nuvance Health Food As Medicine (F.A.M.) Program, development of a HEDI curriculum for residents and faculty; and she co-leads the Clinical Polices and Pathways Committee of the Nuvance Hypertension Taskforce which serves to close equity gaps in hypertension control for vulnerable populations.

Dr. Ayers holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry from Swarthmore College after which she did research for several years at Rockefeller University, co-authoring multiple publications.  After completing her research, she attended medical school at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University.  She completed residency at University of Pittsburgh and has since practiced exclusively as a Hospitalist.