Hospital and health system presidents, vice presidents and CEOs, and other experts in the medical field were named to the biennial list of the top 25 minority leaders in health care set out by the editors of the trade publication Modern Healthcare.
Many of those who made the list were physicians who use their positions to influence policy and care delivery models across the country. Their work highlights the continued need to nurture diversity in their organizations. Among this year’s honorees, six are AMA members.
AMA President Patrice A. Harris, MD, MA, a psychiatrist from Atlanta, was named to the list. Dr. Harris is recognized for being the first African American woman to serve as president of the AMA. During her time in AMA elected leadership, she has focused on addressing implicit bias in health care, including at medical schools and in hiring practices.
Dr. Harris continues to serve as chair of the AMA Opioid Task Force, which she has led since its inception in 2014. She was also instrumental in the AMA hiring its first ever chief health equity officer, Aletha Maybank, MD, MPH. Read this great Q&A with Dr. Maybank.
Bechara Choucair, MD, senior vice president and chief community health officer at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California, also made the list. Dr. Choucair is recognized for being at the forefront of a host of Kaiser Permanente initiatives. He has addressed affordable housing, preventing gun violence and increasing access to mental health services in schools.
The trade magazine’s list of minority leaders in health care is chosen by peers and the senior editors of Modern Healthcare. Everyone on the list is determined to be the top minority leaders in health care in terms of their efforts to promote diversity and inclusion from the C-suite.
Other AMA members on the list include:
Sachin Jain, MD, president and CEO of CareMore Health in Cerritos, California. Dr. Jain continues to push CareMore—an integrated health system for Medicare and Medicaid patients—to address issues that are traditionally outside the health care industry’s purview.
Vivian Lee, MD, a radiologist and president of health platforms at Verily Life Sciences, a research division of Google owner Alphabet Inc. As Verily, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, expands its footprint into health care, Dr. Lee is building a team of powerhouse health care leaders, including two former national coordinators for health information technology.
Thomas Sequist, MD, chief quality and safety officer at Partners Healthcare in Boston. Dr. Sequist leads a unique program that uses geocoding to address care quality and equity issues. He also works to advance career opportunities for Native Americans in health care.
Learn more with the AMA about Native Americans’ work to grow their own physician workforce.
Kimberlydawn Wisdom, MD, senior vice president of community health and equity, and chief wellness and diversity officer at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit. Dr. Wisdom leads efforts to address the social determinants of health and plays a prominent role in promoting diversity in hiring practices across the health system.
Read more about how Henry Ford Medical Group is moving medicine.
Modern Healthcare also named 10 minority leaders to watch. Making that list is AMA member Tamarah Duperval-Brownlee, MD, senior vice president and chief community impact officer of Ascension in St. Louis. Dr. Duperval-Brownlee is recognized for leading transformation of Ascension’s Washington, D.C., market, which improved operating performance by 50% in nine months.
Read about this year’s top minority physician leaders and see the full list at Modern Healthcare.
Visit MembershipMovesMedicine.com to learn more about other AMA members who are relentlessly moving medicine through advocacy, education, patient care and practice innovation, and join or renew today.
