Dr. Ruth Parker is professor of medicine, department of medicine, at Emory University School of Medicine. She is nationally recognized for her research, educational, andadvocacy efforts in health literacy. She was co-investigator on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation "Literacy and Health Care" project, and helped develop the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA). She has authored numerous paperson health literacy and is active in research, advocacy, and policy work in the field.

Dr. Parker has served in leadership roles as a health literacy advocate, including: chair, patient-center literacy advisory board of the ACP Foundation; chair, AMA Foundation Expert Panel on Health Literacy; and member, Institute of Medicine Committee on Health Literacy. Dr. Parker served as chair, expert panel for the ACP Foundation Prescription Label Project and is currently a member of the Institute of Medicine Roundtable on Health Literacy.

Dr. Parker has received national awards in recognition of her work, including the Silver Achievement Award from the AAMC in 2002, the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award from the ACP in 2005, the Walter C. Alvarez Award from the American Medical Writers Association in 2005, and U.S. FDA Advisory Committee Service Award in 2008.  

Dr. Parker attended Davidson College and received her medical training at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She completed her residency and chief residency at the Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York, and her fellowship as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. She holds board certification in both internal medicine and pediatrics.