Family Medicine

Ayiti-Carmel Maharaj-Best, MD

Department of Family Medicine

Vice Chair for Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity

Dr. Ayiti Maharaj-Best is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Family Medicine. Her career focus is achieving health equity, particularly along the lines of gender and race. As an Associate Program Director for the Family Medicine Residency Program, Dr. Maharaj-Best has worked to counter the impact of structural racism by establishing new structures for residency and faculty interviews and for resident evaluations. As an educator, Dr. Maharaj-Best works to reinforce a learning climate that is supportive and safe for all types of learners. She is passionate about curricular development as a means of transforming the way physicians conceptualize their role and shaping trainees into advocates for justice and health equity.

As a primary care physician, Dr. Maharaj-Best cares for patients of all ages and genders. Clinically, she specializes in the areas of obstetrics and reproductive health, LGBTQ+ health and opioid use disorder. She is the former Chair of the Anti-Racism Task Force of the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, and currently serves as Co-Director of the medical student elective for visiting students who are Underrepresented in Medicine (UIM). In addition, Dr. Maharaj-Best is the founder of the UIM Resident Mentorship Program in the Department of Family Medicine, which aims to create a supportive and affirming training environment for UIM residents.