Consuelo Hopkins Wilkins, MD

Consuelo Hopkins Wilkins, MD, is assistant professor of medicine and of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine and medical director for Barnes-Jewish Extended Care. She is regarded as an outstanding clinical geriatrician, clinical investigator and educator who is passionate about community health education.

Wilkins earned her medical degree in 1996 from Howard University in Washington, D.C., and a master of science in clinical investigation from Washington University. She completed an internal medicine residency at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC, and a fellowship in geriatrics at Washington University.

Since coming to St. Louis, Wilkins has been an outstanding advocate for community health and health literacy. She gives approximately 25 presentations a year locally and is a member of the speakers’ bureaus of the Alzheimer’s Association, American Heart Association and American Stroke Association. In addition, she has coordinated workshops on heart health for African-American women and on Medicare Part D for nearly 200 seniors.

Much of her outreach focuses on health literacy. She is health editor for the St. Louis American newspaper and hosts “Health Matters” on City TV10. With her help, grant support was secured from the Missouri Foundation for Health to expand the American’s Health Matters supplement, which covers medical issues contributing to health disparities.

Wilkins tirelessly serves on many boards and committees. During her tenure as its president, the National Medical Association’s (NMA) St. Louis chapter received the Chapter of the Year Award for health advocacy and education.

She has received several awards for her outstanding clinical and outreach efforts, including the Women of Distinction Award from the Professional Organization of Women and Howard University Alumni Association Alumnus of the Year. Wilkins continues her clinical research on issues affecting older adults. She is principal investigator on an NIH-sponsored grant examining vitamin D deficiency and the brain in older adults.