She is the recipient of several fellowships and awards including the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. She was an NIMH pre-doctoral recipient and investigated the measurement of prejudice and discrimination at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. She is also a PRIDE/NHLBI Scholar in cardiovascular disease and sleep medicine. The scope of her work includes community-based behavioral interventions aimed at reducing racial/ethnic health disparities in cardiovascular related morbidity and mortality across the life course. Dr. Williams earned both her doctorate degree and MPH from Columbia University.