cefound, Author at Carol Emmott Foundation

What Inspires Investment: An Interview with Shannon Lorbiecki, Director, Manatt Health and CEF Leadership Council member

“The Fellowship, and now The Equity Collaborative, are very important programs and a very important effort. I believe that improving gender and other levels of diversity is critical to fixing what is broken in the healthcare industry. I have found the Foundation very effective at using funds wisely, investing resources effectively, and leveraging them for the greatest benefit.”

-Shannon Lorbiecki, Director, Manatt Health

July 7, 2020 interview with Shannon Lorbiecki, Director, Manatt Health

Interviewed by Vicki Weiland, Development Director, Carol Emmott Foundation

What is your connection to the Foundation?

I was introduced to the Carol Emmott Fellowship by Christine Malcolm. I worked with Christine at Navigant. Her energy, enthusiasm, and commitment got me really excited. In 2018, I assisted with Christine, Kerry Shannon, Dave Anderson, Gayle Capozzalo, and others to develop opportunities for fellows to engage in strategy within the Fellowship curriculum. Fellows who are doctors or operations people for instance, it was felt, might need strategy mentorship as a part of their leadership development experience. I and others served as advisors/mentors to these fellows. I continue to serve on the Leadership Council and have volunteered as a “just in time” mentor, offering specific expertise as needed in “real time” by the fellows. Lastly, I have helped recruit fellows through sponsor clients over the years and will continue to do so.

What kinds of support do you wish you had received as you were/are advancing in your career?

The strong encouragement and push that the Fellowship gives women leaders that allows them to be more confident, more aggressive, intentional, and more comfortable taking risks; putting themselves out there in ways they could not otherwise have imagined. I have been very conservative in my career. If I had had that network of career minded, strong, successful women around me early in my professional life, it would have made all the difference in the world.

Was there a moment when you knew that the work of the Foundation had real impact?

I watched the initial cohort that I had a chance to work with, the class of 2018, go through the program and watch their progress every step of the way. I was there when they started and then when they completed. The confidence they gained and the specific career impact the program was having on them; the additional responsibilities and promotions they received was amazing in such a short time. Later, I watched a small group of alumnae who completed the Fellowship program a few years ago, and the way they were talking about next steps in their careers with practical, focused conversation and vision. There was such a tangible difference in their approach, and the way their leadership had developed was obvious.

Why do you donate?

There are a few reasons. One, I wish I had had such an opportunity earlier in my career, and at this point the most important thing I feel I can do is to help develop the next generation of women leaders to be the best that they can be. I have seen many overlooked, because they didn’t raise their hand, and they didn’t push for opportunities that were rightly theirs. Two, there is such under-representation of women in health leadership, and this needs to change. And three, I want to support Fellowship opportunities for women in safety net organizations and others that may not have resources.

What prompted you to commit to an ongoing recurring gift?

I would rather make a recurring commitment vs. having to think of doing so when I am at an event or at year-end from a budgeting and planning perspective. And, my decision to give speaks to the legacy that I want to leave and the impact I want to make through my contributions, and this organization aligns perfectly with what is really important to me.

What would you say to others who are considering support?

The Carol Emmott Fellowship, and now The Equity Collaborative, are very important programs and a very important effort. I believe that improving gender and other levels of diversity is critical to fixing what is broken in the healthcare industry. I have found the Foundation very effective at using funds wisely, investing resources effectively, and leveraging them for the greatest benefit.

Congratulations! CEF Allies Among Nation’s 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives

Each year, Modern Healthcare recognizes the 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives—leaders who are paving the way to better health through innovation, community engagement, leadership, and clinical excellence. We’re pleased to share that six of this year’s honorees are part of The Carol Emmott Foundation community.

Join us in congratulating our colleagues for their extraordinary success, as well as their steadfast commitment to fully inclusive gender equity across all sectors of healthcare.

Odette Bolano, President and CEO, St. Alphonsus Health System; CEF Board member and Leadership Council member
Dr. Joanne Conroy, President and CEO, Dartmouth-Hitchcock and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health; CEF Board member, Leadership Council member, and Executive Sponsor of the Fellowship
Dr. Omar Lateef, CEO, Rush University Medical Center; Executive Sponsor of the Fellowship
Dr. Vivian Lee, President of health platforms, Verily Life Sciences; CEF Leadership Council member
Dr. Jaewon Ryu, President and CEO, Geisinger Health; CEF Leadership Council member and Executive Sponsor of the Fellowship
Dr. Susan Turney, CEO, Marshfield Clinic Health System; incoming CEF Board member and Executive Sponsor of the Fellowship

View the full list of honorees at Modern Healthcare.

Black Lives Matter

Voices are raised this week across the country to call out these injustices, and to call for action toward a better future. Our mission- to transform health by accelerating the advancement and impact of women leaders and achieving gender equity and fully inclusive leadership and governance in our healthcare institutions- has never been more important.

Dear Carol Emmott Community,

I write to you at an extraordinarily difficult time, when so many are suffering tremendous loss and trauma. While our community spans the nation, there is much we can do together to address the challenges we face.

We are in the midst of a global public health crisis which has taken hundreds of thousands of lives and altered daily life for all of us in significant ways.

The effects of COVID-19 are far reaching, but the crisis is not felt equally among individuals and communities. Health outcomes differ profoundly based on neighborhood, race, socioeconomic status, access to healthcare, and employment. And, in the United States, the historical and present manifestations of racism, redlining, and discrimination mean that low income communities and communities of color are bearing a disproportionate burden of the economic struggle, illness, and death rates.

The current public health crisis coincides with other persistent, relentless threats to the Black community. These threats include the patterns of racism that are enacted in appallingly frequent and lethal violence against Black people and others from marginalized communities.

This is unacceptable. The pandemic cannot cause us to lose sight of these profound inequities; it should redouble our commitment to eradicate them.

Voices are raised this week across the country to call out these injustices, and to call for action toward a better future. Our mission- to transform health by accelerating the advancement and impact of women leaders and achieving gender equity and fully inclusive leadership and governance in our healthcare institutions- has never been more important.

The Carol Emmott Foundation stands against racism, and we will work together to address it. This is urgent work that must happen now.

We can gather, even at a distance, to mourn, to support one another, and to envision, plan, and act for the more just future we so urgently need. As a start, we will continue our weekly Virtual Care Gatherings for Fellow and Alumnae on Fridays. Our virtual door is open to all who want to participate.

I am reminded of a statement made by a former physician colleague: “Three millimeters deep, and we all look the same.” Social programming across the millennia has trained our eyes to see our differences rather than our beauty. We hear the emotions and words without seeing the peace or loneliness between those words. We will hate less, hurt less, and fear less when we see the beauty, hear the silence, and touch with love.

My deepest thanks to our staff and the Carol Emmott Fellows, Alumnae, Board, Sponsors, Champions, Leadership Council, Donors, and Volunteers whose hard work advances equity and justice. We will move forward, together.

Sincerely,

Anne McCune
CEO, The Carol Emmott Foundation

#georgefloyd #blacklivesmatter #justiceforgeorge

COVID-19, the Moment in Time for Women in Health Care

Women comprise the largest number of warriors on the front lines of health care in every sector: hospitals, clinics, home care. And although this virus is an equal-opportunity killer, not everyone involved in health care is at equal risk. Those who are standing at patients’ bedsides for hours on end, staffing ER’s, working in intensive care units, EMTs bringing in fresh cases, and team members delivering meals and cleaning rooms; these are the people most at risk. We already know that women are vital to health care, but never have we had such a sharp lens as the nightly news reports and press updates to view the images of who is delivering care versus who is making decisions, especially in a crisis.

Nancy M. Valentine, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN FNAP
President, Valentine Group Health, LLC
Leadership Council Member, the Carol Emmott Fellowship

The COVID-19 crisis presents startling images of our current reality: nurses wearing garbage bags for protection (in a country that spends more on health care than any other!), physicians crying after their shifts for brief emotional release before facing a new day. These are depressing and chilling images, and a window into the physical and emotional trauma being borne by those who serve and care at this time. We’re seeing heartbreaking loss of vital talent with at least 9500 U.S. healthcare workers contracting the virus, some dying. Additionally, the longer-term consequences of PTSD-like reactions among staff are unknown at present. Collateral damage among our healthcare workforce cannot be underestimated.

As communities rally to applaud health care workers and refer to them as heroes, the images begin to blur in a dizzying array as the days go on. Who are these heroes and heroines? Why did it take something of this magnitude—being brought to our knees in fear of death! —for people to recognize the art of caring and self-sacrifice performed by healthcare workers every day?

Clinicians work in teams and everyone is important, and our male colleagues are our partners. But in a state of crisis, let’s look at who is predominantly providing frontline defense. When we look behind the images, many of which we don’t see in the media, the story is clear. Most care is being provided by women. In a recent article, the New York Times reported that 73% of healthcare workers contracting the virus are women. (1)

Given the magnitude of what we are experiencing in stress on the healthcare systems, stress of caregiving, lack of PPE, and overall unpreparedness given the Covid-19 pandemic, we must ask, what are the implications—and opportunities– for women in health care? Where do women factor into influential leadership roles?

Let’s look at the numbers.

Physicians. There are nearly 1.1 million physicians in the US, and approximately 900,000 are in practice. (2) Female physicians now account for approximately one third of the U.S. physician workforce and comprise half of all U.S. medical school graduates. (3) In looking at where most female physicians are practicing, the numbers vary greatly by location. In those states hardest hit by CV-19, female physicians have a larger presence than in many other states: California (37%), Colorado (37%), Connecticut (40%), District of Columbia (48%), Illinois (39%), Louisiana (32%), Massachusetts (42%), New Jersey (38%), New York (40%), Pennsylvania (37%). (4)

o Approximately 25% of all ED physicians, a third of all infectious disease doctors, and nearly half of all internal medicine physicians are female. These are generally the specialties directly involved with this crisis and are areas where women are represented in relatively higher numbers as compared with other areas such as neurological surgery or orthopedics, for example. (5)

o Physician Assistants number 88,604; 55,677 are female and 29,850 are male (3,077 are unspecified). Highest concentration in the affected states of California, Illinois, New York, and Pennsylvania. (6)

Nurses.

o Registered nurses. There are more than 3 million registered nurses in the US and they are employed in hospitals (1,713,120/30.69%). home healthcare (177,790/11.86%), nursing homes (151,300/9.43%), outpatient (147,550/ 15.47%). Approximately 250,000 work as Advanced Practice Nurses in roles such as nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, and nurse anesthetists. Much like physicians, there are higher concentration of numbers in the most affected states as noted. (7) The percentage of RN’s who are women is 90%. (8)

o Licensed practical nurses. There are 728,900 LPN’s/LVN’s in the US. (9) The percentage of LPN’s/LVN’s who are women is 93%. (10)

With a combined workforce of nearly 4 million, nurses are in every workplace affected by the pandemic. Nurses make up 59% of the global health care workforce and deliver up to 80% of all health care services, making nurses the largest single sector of the healthcare workforce affected.

EMT’s and Paramedics. There are 262,100 employed in US. (11) Of this number, approximately 35% are women. (12)

Essential Support Staff. Women dominate roles as housekeepers, nurses’ aides, dietary staff, etc., all vital jobs in the operation of any healthcare facility.

The point is, women are on the frontlines in the “9/11 of health care” –working in teams, leading teams, savings lives, compassionately looking at death in the eyes of patients, comforting families at a distance, maintaining dignity in the midst of chaos, all the while putting themselves and possibly even their families at risk. They show up for work, volunteer, and travel from other states to help where needed. In the midst of fear, they move forward with courage and commitment despite the unknown.

And this is where the predominant representation of women in health care ends. As women are “doing,” it is men who are leading, men who are deciding the critical policies and industry responses to this crisis.

Women are largely absent in leading and influencing health care in top strategic roles.

Here are some additional realities:

The gender gap in hospital CEO’s is profound at 14% women (2014) (13)
CEO jobs for women in health care has stagnated at 13% with about 30% occupying other management level positions. (2019) (14)
Not a single woman serves as CEO of a Fortune 500 health care company. Only 22.1% of their board members are women, about the same level as the Fortune 500 overall (20.2%). As evidence of the sluggish improvement, in 2015, 21.0% of Fortune 500 healthcare board members were women. At this rate, we are not projected to reach 50/50 gender parity on health care boards until 2049. (15) Pharmaceutical companies, hospital chains, and insurance companies need women at the top for all the same reasons they are effective on the frontlines. But most of us may well be at the end of our careers—or dead! —before we see the full power and potential of women brought to bear in industry-leading roles.
The White House Coronavirus Task Force team of 21 members, mercifully, has two women represented: Dr. Deborah Birx, US Global AIDS Coordinator, is tasked as the response coordinator and Ms. Seema Verma is administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Although few are privy to “insider” White House discussions, it appears that most of the decision-makers and influencers are men—some who have no expertise in health care. And social media is now focused on Dr. Birx’s scarves as her signature in press briefings.

During this pandemic, we are witnessing strong people–men and women– working within a fragile health care system that is characterized not only by insufficient PPE, but by a general lack of emergency medical preparedness across healthcare settings. It is women who lack a voice in the business, governance, and policies that impact everyone risking their lives. Top business players and healthcare companies are making decisions on manufacturing of healthcare products, supply chain distribution, and innovations in care delivery—for the most part without the vital input, experience, and wisdom of women.

This is the moment in time for women to stand up and assert stronger control and influence in order to advocate for what is needed to improve our health care world. Women in health care have the in-the-trenches view of opportunities for improvement and innovation. Let’s speak up more loudly, clearly, and even publicly with our ideas and solutions. Putting our ideas in writing might seem too time-consuming during a crisis–and sometimes it is–but it’s one way to attract and solidify not only the appreciation but also the recognition we deserve from executives, board members, and influencers. Women belong at the top of organizations; our voices and ideas are needed there more than ever. Part of making that happen is up to industry and organization leaders and part of it is up to us. We must use our knowledge and voice to make the gains we all need and deserve.

Chaos can be a game changer. The Crimean war was Florence Nightingale’s “Lady of the Lamp” emergence as a world changing figure. (16) Clara Barton, referred to as “the angel of the battlefield” for her work during the Civil War and many contributions thereafter, became a lifelong influencer beyond the founding of the Red Cross. (17) Leaders do emerge from despair and seemingly impossible circumstances. We need to find our emerging women leaders, promote them, and support their transformation. It may have taken a world-wide, invisible virus for us to realize that the time is now for women to assume more leadership roles in health care. We cannot wait for another crisis. Allow the women in the trenches who have been on the battlefield emerge from their chrysalis, spread their wings and fly.

Women in health care have learned from this crisis and can use this knowledge and experience to take action locally, regionally, and nationally. Everyone has a network. Let’s think strategically. How can we use our personal and professional contacts to start conversations with business leaders, politicians, health care leaders, and others who are supportive of achieving the equity needed to impact healthcare on a broader scale? The Carol Emmott Foundation (CEF) is an exemplar and has been out front with an agenda that provides a “best in class” incubator for leadership development and nurturance of top talent.

With the support of CEF over the past five years, Fellowship leaders and participants alike have identified and tapped many top industry leaders who are networked with other talented thought leaders. This blossoming network has helped to bring the agenda to advance women in health care to the forefront. Recognition of the CEF career-changing work is spreading as a pebble in a pond. This is a positive example of contagion, as evidenced by an increase in applications for fellowships, former fellows advancing in next step positions, and many experts willing to donate time to coaching and mentoring participants. (18)

CEF has recently added The Equity Collaborative, which comprises 13 health systems across the nation with the goals of developing and sharing best practices in establishing gender equity within their institutions and across the nation. (19) These contacts in business and health care can be tapped along with others in social policy, political action, and corporate equity roles to think of what specifically can be done to accelerate the process of advancing talented women in order to more rapidly shift this equation.

Let’s not wait until the middle of the century for society to make the changes we have earned. Women can and want to advance in the near term. COVID-19 has served as a wake-up call. Now more than ever, we need women leading from the top as well as being boots on the ground. Now more than ever we need women steering health care in a positive and more accountable direction, with patient and consumer advocacy at the forefront. Let’s harness the sadness, sorrow, and vital lessons of this life-changing, world-wide experience to make these changes now. Those who died in this disaster would want nothing less.

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The Carol Emmott Foundation announces new CEO, expanded programs

Recruiting veteran healthcare leader Anne McCune to serve as CEO supports the Foundation’s ambitious growth plans for promoting gender equity in health organizations nationwide.

Recruiting veteran healthcare leader Anne McCune to serve as CEO supports the Foundation’s ambitious growth plans for promoting gender equity in health organizations nationwide

CALIFORNIA (Jan. 21, 2020) – To achieve a larger vision of inclusive gender equity in all aspects of health, the Carol Emmott Foundation recruited a nationally recognized healthcare leader to serve as its next chief executive officer to support the growth of its two flagship programs, the Carol Emmott Fellowship and The Equity Collaborative.

“Anne McCune is a nationally recognized strategic healthcare leader with a distinguished career as a senior executive for several renowned pediatric and academic health systems and as a managing director in consulting. She brings to the Foundation a proven track record of steering large health organizations through change and successfully executing their strategic initiatives. These skills represent the qualities of our Fellowship participants and support The Equity Collaborative’s goals,” said Carol Emmott Foundation Board Chair David Blumenthal, M.D., who is president of The Commonwealth Fund.

McCune joins the Foundation as the Collaborative is engaging top health organizations nationwide in a one-of-a-kind program to support systemic change in corporate cultures to improve gender parity. At the same time, the Fellowship, which builds the leadership capacity and reach of women leaders in health, is expanding through a scholarship program and alumnae network. McCune succeeds Christine Malcolm who retired December 31, 2019 after positioning the Foundation for long-term success.

“It is exciting to be joining the Foundation as it gains momentum and has the influence to change the career trajectories of impactful women leaders in health as well as the cultural norms within the large organizations where they work,” McCune said. “There is a real opportunity for progress with today’s heightened awareness that a lack of diversity in leadership comes at a huge societal cost. I’m proud to be part of an organization with solutions and a clear vision for how to secure a future in which diverse groups of men and women will together lead our institutions and ultimately improve everyone’s health as a result.”

McCune’s previous experience includes serving as chief operating officer at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital/Stanford Children’s Health, Children’s Hospital and Research Center Oakland (now UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland), and City of Hope. In addition to these roles, she has had an extensive consulting career with Accenture, Optum, and KPMG. This experience provides McCune with a deep understanding of the dynamics within health organizations nationwide and how they can be best supported to drive change going forward.

The Carol Emmott Foundation was established with the goal of transforming health by accelerating the advancement and impact of women leaders and achieving gender equity and fully inclusive leadership and governance in healthcare institutions. While women fill roughly three-quarters of all healthcare jobs, studies show they hold less than 20 percent of hospital chief executive roles and even fewer health system chief executive roles.

21 distinguished health leaders awarded Carol Emmott Fellowships

Fellows selected for Class of 2020 represent diverse skills and backgrounds but share a proven ability to effect change.

Fellows selected for Class of 2020 represent diverse skills and backgrounds but share a proven ability to effect change

Twenty-one accomplished female leaders, representing health organizations from across the U.S., have been awarded the opportunity to join the Carol Emmott Fellowship program in 2020.

The Fellowship expands the leadership capacity of women, who are already influential in their fields, so that they may increase their ability to make an impact and ultimately contribute to improving gender equity in health leadership through their own career advancement. Members of the Class of 2020 represent a range of professional backgrounds including a surgeon who leads one of the nation’s largest kidney transplant programs to the chief of staff for a seven-hospital health system, a director of obstetrics, a vice president for operations and systems integration, and a chief financial officer.

The Carol Emmott Fellowship was established to address the problem that women are significantly underrepresented in the highest ranks of health leadership. While they fill roughly three-quarters of all healthcare jobs, studies show they hold less than 20 percent of hospital chief executive roles and even fewer health system chief executive roles.

“When women are under-represented in leadership roles, the fields of health and medicine are deprived of the full range of talents, skills, and perspectives that gender equity affords. Failing to act to reverse this historical pattern undermines the organizations upon which we all depend to protect and enhance our health and well-being,” said Christine Malcolm, executive director of the Carol Emmott Fellowship and chief executive officer of The Carol Emmott Foundation. “We and our sponsors and donors embrace the ideal of inclusive gender equity, where the provider community, leadership, and board reflect the people we serve, and are attuned to their needs. We are most grateful to our donors who funded three scholarships to support public health, equity, diversity, and inclusion this year. With these scholarships, the program is truly open to all.”

The Class of 2020, like previous Fellowship cohorts, includes women who are already shaping the health field by making contributions that transcend their roles and institutions, including:

The deputy vice president of a national civil rights and advocacy organization who helped form a strategic alliance to position community leaders as candidates for trusteeships or board positions in hospitals and health systems;

An associate vice president whose research and policy recommendations resulted in the passage of legislation that increased access to health insurance in North Carolina; and,
An associate chief scientific officer who helps lead one of the largest DNA screening programs in the country with more than 250,000 participants that has identified individuals at risk for life-threatening conditions before their symptoms emerged.

Carol Emmott Fellows are nominated by their sponsoring organization and compete for acceptance into the program with a proposed impact project to advance an area of health. They continue to work for their organizations during the Fellowship, which provides them with more opportunities to increase their visibility in their health communities while building a network of relationships with top leaders from across the nation. The 14-month program includes a series of in-person convergence conferences with monthly webinar discussions led by some of the brightest minds in health and policy leadership. Fellowship recipients are also paired with hand-selected mentors who are nationally recognized senior executive health leaders. When fellows complete the program, they join the Carol Emmott Fellowship Alumnae Network.

Learn more about the Class of 2020 fellows by reading their biographies.

Carol Emmott Fellowship Class of 2020 and Sponsoring Organizations

Melissa Breen
Chief of Staff,
Marshfield Clinic Health System
Sponsor: Marshfield Clinic Health System

Leigh A. Burgess, MHA, MEd, MA
Vice President Research Operations,
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health
Sponsor: Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health

Rita Carreón
Deputy Vice President, Health,
UnidosUS
Scholarship Recipient*

Morgan Jones, MSPH, FACHE
Associate Vice President, Strategic Planning,
Duke Health
Sponsor: Duke University Health System

Courtney Kammer, MHA
Vice President Provider Services and Recruitment;
Interim Vice President Talent Management,
Rush University Medical Center
Sponsor: Rush University Medical Center

Ratna Kanumury, MMSc, PA-C CCH
Director of APP Services,
Cook County Health
Scholarship Recipient*

Laura Kazaglis
Vice President of Practice Operations,
John Muir Health Physician Network
Sponsor: John Muir Health

Irene Kim, MD, FACS
Associate Professor of Surgery;
Co-Director Comprehensive Transplant Program;
Surgical Director Kidney Transplant Program,
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Sponsor: Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Ewa Kisilewicz, MBA
Principal,
BDC Advisors, LLC
Sponsor: BDC Advisors, LLC

Hamila Kownacki, RN, MSHA
Chief Operating Officer,
Sutter Health CPMC
Sponsor: Sutter Health

Monica M. Lee-Griffith, MD, MBA
Director of Obstetrics, Henry Ford Hospital;
Vice Chairperson, Department of Women’s Health,
Henry Ford Health System
Sponsor: Henry Ford Health System

Jaspreet Loyal, MD, MS
Medical Director Inpatient Pediatrics,
Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital;
Associate Professor in Pediatrics,
Yale School of Medicine
Sponsor: Yale New Haven Health

Christa Lese Martin, PhD, FACMG
Associate Chief Scientific Officer, Geisinger;
Professor and Director,
Geisinger Autism & Developmental Medicine Institute
Sponsor: Geisinger Health System

Sarah McKay, MHA
Vice President, Perioperative Services,
Tufts Medical Center
Sponsor: Tufts Medical Center

Ratan Milevoj, MBA
Director, Innovation and Organizational Renewal,
Valley Children’s Healthcare
Sponsor: Valley Children’s Healthcare

Heather L. Nelson, MHA, CHCIO
Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer,
UChicago Medicine
Sponsor: University of Chicago Medicine

Jennifer Nickoles, MS
Vice President for Operations and System Integration,
Johns Hopkins Health System;
Chief of Staff,
Johns Hopkins Medicine
Sponsor: Johns Hopkins Medicine

Ellen Piernot, MD, MBA, CPE
Chief Medical Officer,
Golden Valley Health Centers
Scholarship Recipient*

Julia W. Puchtler, CPA
Chief Financial Officer,
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Sponsor: University of Pennsylvania Health System

Christine Thorburn, MD
Rheumatologist and Board Chair,
Palo Alto Foundation Medical Group,
Palo Alto Medical Foundation
Sponsor: Sutter Health

Debbie C. Thurmond, MS, PhD
Ruth and Robert Lanman Endowed Chair and Professor,
Department of Molecular & Cellular Endocrinology;
Deputy Director, Diabetes and Metabolism Research Institute,
City of Hope Beckman Research Institute
Sponsor: City of Hope

*Scholarships are awarded via a competitive process and given to outstanding candidates whose institutions are unable to provide financial sponsorship.

Introducing The Equity Collaborative: Video

The Carol Emmott Fellowship program has been successful in supporting female and diversity candidates to achieve high-level positions within healthcare. To reach a larger vision of gender parity in health leadership, however, it has become clear that health organizations need to evolve in order to address some of the structural challenges preventing equality.

In response, the Carol Emmott Foundation was created to house both the Carol Emmott Fellowship program and a newly launched program to address this issue at a systemic level, The Equity Collaborative.

The Equity Collaborative is comprised of a group of dedicated healthcare systems working together in a learning community to accelerate progress in achieving institutional gender equity and promoting gender equity across the industry. Mary Pittman, president and CEO of the Public Health Institute and CEF board member, describes the important work of The Equity Collaborative:

The Equity Collaborative brings together 13 large healthcare systems from across the nation. Each organization has made a three year commitment to work together and share best practices to enhance fully inclusive gender equity within their institution. Collaborative members will create a set of shared metrics to measure how much they are able to ‘move the needle’ and influence other healthcare organizations to join the movement.

Join these leading organizations in creating real improvement in our field! Download the prospectus from The Equity Collaborative to learn more or contact Gayle Capozzalo, executive director of The Equity Collaborative, at gayle@theequitycollaborative.org.

Accelerating the Path Forward for Women as Leaders in Healthcare

We are grateful to Leadership Council Member, Kevin Fickenscher, president and CEO of CREO Strategic Solutions, for this article.

The person who helped me the most, who contributed more to my graduation from medical school than any other, the one who consistently helped me to “focus on the important stuff” during the basic science years – was a fellow medical student. She was a woman. She was my steady mate through those formative years. Without Cynthia, I would not have had the career, the opportunities nor any of the accolades that I’ve garnered over the years. You would think that in an industry where 65% of the workforce and 80% of the consumer decision-making is derived from women, that there would be more women leaders in healthcare. Yet, according to a recent Oliver Wyman study[1], a mere 13% of the CEOs and 30% of the C-suite are represented by women.

Let’s consider the physician component of healthcare. In 1950, the number of women in medicine constituted 6% of the physician workforce.[2] It took 50 years to get to 22.8% (2000). But, that trend accelerated and by 2015 just over 1/3 of the total physician workforce (36%) were women. We should anticipate further increases with a new highwater mark being set this past year (2018) with 50.7% of new entrants being women! While these changes are good, they are not good enough. We will not even come close to reaching 50% of the physicians – let alone the other health professionals – serving as leaders in healthcare unless the pathway to leadership changes. In fact, if we accept the current trends, it is likely that we will not reach 50% of women in healthcare leadership roles until the start of the 22nd century. Hmmm? Perhaps we could do better? But, there is no perhaps about it!! We must do better.

The Carol Emmott Foundation is committed to educating and promoting women in healthcare for leadership roles through its various programs and initiatives. And, while expanding leadership capacities, providing increased visibility, and mentoring are important, the Foundation has determined that we must enlist the support of the entire industry if we are to be successful in changing the diversity of healthcare leadership. We are intent on bending the curve by enlisting healthcare systems, insurers and others to establish the Equity Collaborative – an initiative to drive better outcomes, share creative approaches and establish definitive metrics for improving the presence of women as leaders in the healthcare community.

By working together, the Collaborative will define the impediments that are preventing the integration of women into leadership roles across the industry. We want to ask critical questions like:

How can the existing leaders change the dynamics and improve the presence of women in leadership roles?
What has research shown to be the important differences in the approaches of women and men toward leadership? How do these differences impact their ascension to leadership roles in healthcare?
How do novel ideas and critical thinking rather than simply agreement with higher ranking individuals affect the ascendance of women into new and evolving leadership roles?
What types of support are needed to foster the growth of women in healthcare leadership roles?
What is the role of professional associations in changing the dynamics of healthcare to be more inclusive of women leaders?
What are the expectations for the ancillary changes in healthcare delivery we can anticipate and develop through the involvement of women leaders?

Most importantly, we want to establish clear metrics for the C-suite in terms of leadership involvement and presence at all levels of healthcare organizations. By garnering institutional support from leading healthcare organizations, we believe that the existing trends will be accelerated. Will you join us? The Equity Collaborative is not only a clear commitment of the Carol Emmott Foundation but also a tribute to a leader who contributed immensely to the development and inclusion of women as leaders in healthcare. We look forward to your active participation and guidance.

[1] Oliver Wyman, “Women in Healthcare Leadership, 2019”, https://www.oliverwyman.com/our-expertise/insights/2019/jan/women-in-healthcare-leadership.html

[2] StaffCare/AMN Healthcare, “Women in Medicine: A Review of Changing Physician Demographics, Female Physicians by Specialty, State and Related Data”, https://www.amnhealthcare.com/uploadedFiles/MainSite/Content/Staffing_Recruitment/Staffcare-WP-Women%20in%20Med.pdf

Female Leadership and Inspiring

Association Sponsor of Modern Healthcare’s Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference

The Carol Emmott Fellowship is pleased to be an Association Sponsor of Modern Healthcare’s 2019 Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference.

The Carol Emmott Fellowship is pleased to be an Association Sponsor of Modern Healthcare’s 2019 Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference. This conference provides unparalleled access to the industry’s top women executives who are addressing issues related to gender inequity. Whether through networking or interactive question and answer sessions, these women will provide the concrete steps needed to move your career forward. Together we can further the professional and personal development of women in healthcare.

Key conference highlights include:

· Building a roadmap for your career trajectory

· Best practices in leadership strategies from inspiring healthcare executives

· Creating and maintaining gender diversity on your team, in your department and on boards

The Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference will take place July 31-August 1, 2019 in Chicago.

For more information and to register, please visit: www.modernhealthcare.com/womenleaders

Making an Impact in Health Leadership

18 women leaders selected for class of 2019

The 14-month program expands the leadership capacity of the fellows, who are chosen for their ability to deliver results within their organizations and potential to advance to senior executive roles in health.

The Carol Emmott Fellowship selected 18 women from 16 health organizations nationwide for its class of 2019. They will be part of a unique program for accomplished professionals who have demonstrated potential to ascend to senior executive and board-level roles.

The fellowship is customized for each cohort and expands the connections and experiences that top leadership candidates require to have the most influence in improving health for all. Fellows are nominated by their sponsoring organization and compete for acceptance into the program with a proposed impact project that transcends their current role to advance an area of health. They continue to work for their organizations during the fellowship, which provides them with more opportunities to increase their visibility in their health communities while building a network of relationships with other top leaders as they implement their impact projects.

The program fills a crucial unmet need in overcoming gender disparity by accelerating the leadership capacity and impact of women leaders in health. Women are significantly underrepresented in senior executive and board-level positions in health. This inequity deprives the fields of health and medicine of the full range of talents, skills, and perspectives that gender parity affords.

“Investing in women leaders will transform healthcare,” said Christine Malcolm, executive director of the Carol Emmott Fellowship. “The fellowship’s mission is shared by the men and women who hold executive positions today, see the gaps created by gender disparity, and are committed to serving as our advisors, mentors, and partners.”

The class of 2019 reflects a broad range of disciplines from palliative medicine to finance. Learn more about the fellows by reading their biographies.

When fellows complete the program, they join the Carol Emmott Fellowship alumnae network. Watch videos of the class of 2017 and class of 2018, and learn how they have made a difference through their impact projects, which include reducing infant mortality, expanding access to mental health services, addressing the opioid crisis, and more.

“Women begin the Carol Emmott Fellowship program with the talent and ideas needed to transform healthcare practice,” said Mary Pittman, DrPH, Carol Emmott Fellowship Board member and CEO and president of the Public Health Institute. “And they emerge with the networks, concrete experience, and support that make those ideas a reality. We’ve seen remarkable change as a result.”

Carol Emmott Fellowship Class of 2019 and Sponsoring Organizations

Cecilia Aviles, RN, BSN, MBA
Area Operations Executive
Sutter Health, Palo Alto Medical Foundation
Sponsor: Sutter Health

Joanne Berrios, CPA, M.Acc.
Chief Financial Officer
GuideWell Health
Sponsor: BDC Advisors

Sandra Culbertson, MD
Chair, Women’s Health
Geisinger Health System
Sponsor: Geisinger Health System

Sheila Dugan, MD
Professor and Interim Section Director of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Department of Neurosurgery, Rush University Medical Center
Sponsor: Rush University Medical Center

Angie Everett, LCSW, CCM, LNHA
Service Line Administrator, Post Acute and Rehabilitation Services
North Mississippi Medical Center
Sponsor: BDC Advisors

Wendy Fielding, MBA
Vice President, Financial Planning
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health
Sponsor: Dartmouth-Hitchcock

Melissa Gerdes, MD, FAAFP, CHCQM
Executive Medical Director Clinical Effectiveness and Integration
John Muir Health
Sponsor: John Muir Health

Linda Gifford, MBA, FACHE
Vice President Detroit Ambulatory Operations
Henry Ford Health System
Sponsor: Henry Ford Health System

Tamera Howell, MD
Physician; Obstetrics and Gynecology Section Co‐Chief
Carilion Clinic New River Valley Medical Center
Sponsor: Carilion Clinic

Cynthia Lee, MPA
System Vice President, Strategy and Business Development
Sutter Health
Sponsor: Sutter Health

Catherine Liao, MSPH
Assistant Vice President of Government Relations
Duke University Health System
Sponsor: Duke University Health System

Kelly Motadel, MD, MPH
Chief Medical Officer
Vista Community Clinic
Sponsor: Vista Community Clinic

Ije-Enu Nwosu, MBA
Executive Director, Impact Spending – Buy to Pay
Kaiser Permanente
Sponsor: Kaiser Permanente

Nina O’Connor, MD, FAAHPM
Chief of Hospice and Palliative Care
University of Pennsylvania Health System
Sponsor: University of Pennsylvania Health System

Mary Oseid, MHCDS
Vice President, Regional and System Integration
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health
Sponsor: Dartmouth-Hitchcock

Amy Ross, MHA
Vice President, Office of Strategic Planning
University of Chicago Medicine
Sponsor: University of Chicago Medicine

Pamela Scagliarini, MBA
Chief Operating Officer, Bridgeport Hospital
Senior Vice President, Yale New Haven Health System
Sponsor: Yale New Haven Health System

Tammy Simon, RN, MSN
Administrator for the Institute for Quality, Innovation and Patient Safety
Marshfield Clinic Health System
Sponsor: Marshfield Clinic Health System

Women Leaders in Health Making a Difference

In this video, members of the Carol Emmott Fellowship’s class of 2018 talk about how the program is shaping their careers, expanding their professional networks, and how their impact projects are making a difference.

Fellowship Always Evolving

The Carol Emmott Fellowship supports outstanding health leaders as they stretch outside of their usual roles to expand their influence and national visibility. Fellows venture beyond their job descriptions, beyond their institutions, and beyond their existing networks while expanding their leadership capabilities as they move through the 14-month program.

With each class, the fellowship finds new and exciting ways to customize its offerings in response to the unique needs and skill sets of each class.

The educational framework that supports this singular fellowship is multifaceted. Fellows are paired with hand-selected senior mentors and participate in monthly webinars, which are led by experts in their field. Four times a year, they gather for in-person convergence conferences, providing them with opportunities to connect and coach each other, as well interact with some of the top-level health executives in the nation. Each fellow also completes an impact project that demonstrates leadership beyond the boundaries of their current role.

The learning extends beyond these experiential program components.This year the fellowship developed a 12-week optional Strategy Practicum to allow more exposure to high level strategic thinking and methods.

“We heard from sponsoring organizations that some of our fellows are great operational leaders but need additional strategic insight to move to the next level,” said Christine Malcolm, executive director. “We offered the practicum to stretch the fellows who elected to participate to work one-on-one with an expert with over two decades of strategy experience, and to engage with their senior leadership in a series of important strategic conversations.”

Personal strategy advisors, many of whom are either their health system’s chief strategy officer or are senior strategy partners in consulting firms, volunteered to coach our fellows through the practicum. Each fellow is in a unique context. Some organizations’ strategies are accepted and spread across their health system – others are in development. Each fellow works with her institution’s chief executive officer, chief financial officer, and chief strategy officer and others to both more fully understand their strategy and develop a subsidiary strategic plan fully aligned with that of their organization.

“One of our fellows was planning to develop a strategy for the medical group she leads and has now been asked to lead the development of a strategy for all medical groups in that region of the health system,” Malcolm said. “Many of the fellows who are participating believe that their leaders now view them differently.”

The fellowship also created a more formalized way for fellows to problem-solve and share insights together. The MindShare exercise is a newly implemented curriculum element developed in conjunction with fellows from the inaugural class. They saw the need for more devoted self-coaching exercises that address real time issues. MindShare leverages key elements of dominant management methodologies in a facilitated process that allows fellows to use each other as expert advisors. They bring challenges to the group that then shares insights from their experiences and brainstorms new solutions.

“In creating a learning community, we’re crossing all kinds of lines. We encourage the fellows to educate each other, because they bring so much experience and such varied perspectives,” said Doug Riddle, the fellowship’s curriculum director and a senior fellow at the Center for Creative Leadership. “It’s an ecosystem of learning. Theirs is an important voice.”

The fellowship continually tailors specific pieces of its program for each cohort, evolving to support the acceleration and impact these women leaders have in their institutions and broader health communities.

18 women leaders selected for class of 2018

Carol Emmott Fellows are chosen for their potential to make an impact and advance to senior executive roles in health.

Carol Emmott Fellows are chosen for their potential to advance to senior executive roles and make an impact in health

The Carol Emmott Fellowship selected 18 women from 15 health organizations nationwide for its class of 2018. They will be part of a one-of-a-kind program for accomplished professionals who have demonstrated potential to ascend to senior executive and board-level roles.

The fellowship is tailored to expand the connections and experiences that top leadership candidates require to have the most influence in improving health for all. Fellows are nominated by their sponsoring organization and compete for acceptance into the program with a proposed impact project that transcends their current role to advance an area of health. They continue to work for their organizations during the fellowship, which provides them with more opportunities to build networking relationships with other top leaders as well as exercise high-level skills as they implement their impact projects.

The program fills a crucial unmet need in overcoming gender disparity by accelerating the leadership capacity and impact of women leaders in health. Women are underrepresented in senior executive and board-level positions in health because of systemic barriers that influence decision making.

“We will all benefit when men and women from diverse backgrounds, disciplines, and perspectives lead together,” said Christine Malcolm, executive director of the Carol Emmott Fellowship. “The fellowship’s mission is shared by the men and women who hold executive positions today, see the gaps created by gender disparity, and are committed to serving as our advisors, mentors, and supporters.”

The newly selected class represents an expansion of the program, growing from 15 to 18 fellows and from 12 sponsoring organizations to 15. The class of 2018 also reflects a broader range of disciplines from emergency medicine and surgery to healthcare information technology and finance. Learn more about the fellows by reading their biographies and read more about the fellowship, an independent program based at the Public Health Institute, a California nonprofit, by visiting this page.

When fellows complete the program, they join the Carol Emmott Fellowship alumnae network. Watch this video to learn more about the class of 2017 and how they are making a difference through their impact projects, which cover areas as broad as the opioid crisis, care disparities, and suicide prevention.

“Healthcare faces daunting challenges and the Carol Emmott Fellowship provides opportunities for these talented leaders to advance medicine and healthcare delivery,” said Mary Pittman, DrPH, Carol Emmott Fellowship Board member and CEO and president of the Public Health Institute. “The vision of the fellowship program is to engage leaders who aspire to lead healthcare in new and more collaborative ways.”

Class of 2018 Fellows

Margaret Damiano, MBA, Associate Dean for Administration and Finance; University of California, San Francisco at Zuckerberg San Francisco General
Sponsor: Blue Shield of California Foundation

Karen T. Harris, RN, MSN, WHNP-BC, Chief Nurse and Operations Executive; Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital
Sponsor: Henry Ford Health System

Philynn Hepschmidt, M.Ed., Associate Executive Director, EHR Transformation; Penn Medicine
Sponsor: University of Pennsylvania Health System

Marissa Kiefer, MHSA, Vice President, Maternity and Newborn Health & Statewide Partnerships; Riley Children’s Health
Sponsor: BDC Advisors on behalf of Riley Children’s Health

Monica Kogan, MD, Attending Physician, Director Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery Division, Residency Director, Assistant Professor; Rush University Medical Center
Sponsor: Rush University Medical Center

Michelle Lopes, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, Senior Vice President Patient Care Services/Chief Nursing Officer; John Muir Health, Walnut Creek Medical Center
Sponsor: John Muir Health

Elizabeth M. Mahler, MD, Vice President, Patient Health Management; Sutter Health
Sponsor: Sutter Health

Jessica Melton, MHA, Vice President, Medical Surgical and Critical Care Services; Duke University Hospital
Sponsor: Duke University Health System

Teresa Mock, MD, MBA, Senior Vice President; Mercy Medical Center North Iowa/Trinity
Sponsor: Trinity Health

Maria Padin, MD, FACOG, Chief Medical Officer; Dartmouth-Hitchcock
Sponsor: Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health System

Shaun Raleigh, MBA, RMA, Executive Director; Affinia Health Network/Mercy Health
Sponsor: Trinity Health

Meredith Sciarrio, MBA, Director, Strategy & Integration, Community Partnerships Division; Providence St. Joseph Health
Sponsor: Providence St. Joseph Health

Melody States, RN, CNOR, CASC,Chief Operating Officer, Sutter Surgery Center Division; Sutter Health
Sponsor: Sutter Health

Julie Stoss, JD,Vice President, Government Relations; Kaiser Permanente
Sponsor: Kaiser Permanente

Lisa Stump, MS, RPh, FASHP, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer; Yale New Haven Health and Yale School of Medicine
Sponsor: Yale New Haven Health System

Andrea Wary, M.Ed., BSN, RN, Associate Vice President, Department of Emergency Medicine, Geisinger Health System
Sponsor: Geisinger Health System

Haimanot (Monnie) Wasse, MD, MPH, Professor of Medicine, Vice Chair of Patient Quality & Safety, Director, Interventional Nephrology; Rush University Medical Center
Sponsor: Rush University Medical Center

Teri Wilczek, MS, CFRE, Chief Philanthropy Officer; Marshfield Clinic Health System Foundation
Sponsor: Marshfield Clinic Health System

In Their Words: Professional Development

Carol Emmott Fellows share their insights on the glass ceiling, isolation vs. integration in addressing gender equity, helping rural minority populations, motivating front-line managers and providing support functions with a fresh perspective.

It’s not the ceiling, It’s the floor

Author: Carol Emmott Fellow Thomasine Gorry, MD, MGA, University of Pennsylvania

We have newly designed office space at work. The conference rooms are now elegant glass enclosures with subtle glass doors at their center. One day I sat in a meeting and watched a female colleague approach the doors at full speed, coffee in one hand, papers in the other. She was running late but had arrived at the right room. She was where she was meant to be. I glanced back at the table, preparing to present my work, when I heard the loud thud. I looked up just in time to see the woman collide into the glass door. Papers flew into the air and coffee fell to the floor. She looked stunned, as did everyone in the conference room. We looked down politely as though it never happened. The woman laughed nervously, made the appropriate expression of self-deprecation (from behind the glass) and then retreated. We proceeded with the meeting. No one noticed or acknowledged that she did not return.

That is how most women understand the glass ceiling: as a witness to others’ mishaps. Most women in medicine know the ceiling exists but never get high enough to swing at it. A few women at the top collide into an invisible barrier and go no further. The majority of women simply find themselves on uneven footing, as though always standing in mud. For most women (though not all), it is not the ceiling that holds them back; it’s the floor that sinks beneath them.

Why do women work so hard just to stay above the surface? Why aren’t women positioned on a crisp dance floor on which to show off their talents and from which to advance to the next level? How is it that women often churn without advancing?

It is the cumulative effect of reticent negotiations. Women are reluctant negotiators for a variety of reasons: First, we are uncomfortable asking for our worth − even elevating it (as negotiation requires). This best strategy for men is unseemly for women. Second, we rightly fear retribution for asking for or receiving a pay increase. Women seeking raises may face resentment. One pay increase may halt career progression and even end professional relationships. “Who does she think she is?” The fear of advocating for themselves is not completely unfounded so the pay gap in medicine endures. The opportunity cost of each failed (or avoided) negotiation accumulates over a woman’s career at great expense. The floor slips beneath them.
Women often assume (or are expected to assume) supportive roles even if they are not in support positions. Even in medicine, female physicians, are more likely to generate referrals than to be the sub-specialist who thrives on them. If women work hard to prevent bad outcomes and care for the team, that work is not quantified and, therefore, not rewarded. High performance at supportive roles is simply not recognized. In the healthcare and most industries, everyone rewards the high scorer. No one counts the assists. The floor gives in again.
Women inhibit themselves in the belief that they are protecting their children. That is, women fear that every professional step up is a personal step away from our children. This may indeed be true. (The floor slips again.) Our world still orients around the same rigid lines: Are you full time or part time? Do you stay at home or do you work? When women are seen as standing on one side of a given line, they are necessarily absent from the other side. If they perceive that their children sit on the opposite side of that line, women stand down. The cost is too high. The workplace must evolve so that these rigid lines become false choices. Lines should be replaced with creative work design that rewards the contributions of talented, strong, women with fair pay, equal promotion, and earnest dedication to family. The overall culture must shift so that children of talented, strong, professional women are also entitled to their mother’s gifts. Can we find a solution that makes these both true? Can we change the workplace structure for women, not the structure of women’s lives?
Finally, and most importantly, the unconscious is hard at work in healthcare. Everyone − men, women, minorities − have some pre-existing identity in our minds. This is commonly referred to as “implicit bias.” Within this bias, women are not seen as strong leaders. The result: women must first work to undo that assumption and then work to execute the basic tasks of leadership. Worse, women may even carry an implicit bias against themselves. “I’m just not that person.” (Again, the floor sinks when it should rise.) The responsibility to change the implicit, “I just don’t see her that way,” bias should not fall on the individual. Organizations should actively seek to place women in leadership positions and begin the slow process of normalizing women as leaders. Eventually, organizational work will erode the bias that individual women now work to undo.

How do we keep women from churning in place? It requires a willingness to disrupt culture from the bottom up. We must normalize the identity of women as leaders, make it possible to succeed as a professional and as a mother − neither one at the expense of the other − and allow women to take the calculated risk of professional negotiations. Women themselves must believe (without fear) that they are entitled to their own best shot. Make the floor beneath women an unyielding foundation and they will advance under their own power.

Then we’ll discuss the ceiling…

Thomasine Gorry, MD, MGA, is Vice Chair for Quality at Scheie Eye Institute; Associate Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology and Cataract Surgery at Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania; Medical Chair for Quality in Clinical Operations for Clinical Practices at the University of Pennsylvania.

Integration vs. isolation: Walking the fine line to gender equity

Author: Carol Emmott Fellow Barbara Fonte Ronda, MHSA, University of Miami Health System

The healthcare landscape has been undergoing a period of unprecedented transformation and the evolution has confronted the status quo. Change can be perceived positively or negatively but in either instance, transformation is generally accompanied by opportunity. It appears that with each swing of the pendulum, the newly dressed landscape offers a broad and inspirational bouquet of prospects that tests an individual’s commitment to the health administration and delivery renaissance through the reinvention of roles and positioning.

For the female executive, embracing opportunistic change often represents a notable challenge. Studies show that men will raise their hand to a new job before a woman. Once in leadership roles, men will secure much healthier employment terms and salaries, when comparing apples to apples. These and other causes have led to a significant disparity between the numbers of women who enter the health services administration career path to those that ascend into a senior leadership capacity. Those very disparities have contributed to the rampant gender and wage equity issues that plague the health industry today.

Women are rising in response to this widespread crisis. We are learning of these differences and are focused on finding solutions. The past decade has brought increased awareness to women’s issues and a number of platforms have emerged as a result. Women must accept their role and responsibility in leading change if progress is to be made in our lifetimes. Additionally, the disparity crisis has given way to formidable “for women by women” advocacy groups such as the MomUp Campaign, Women in Health Care Leadership Project, and The American Medical Women’s Association; all of which fervently challenge equity issues.

Evidently, we the afflicted, are rightfully answering a call to action. However, success in the form of significant change is slow to come. There is an inherent flaw in the “for women by women” philosophy. Action must be measured and mindful. The homogeny of such groups can lead to a one-sided viewpoint. A one-dimensional perspective may lack a competitive perspective, and the narrow gate of entry only allows for like-minded philosophical beliefs and attitudes to squeeze through. This platforming also walls out differing ideology which promulgates stagnation. Creative solutions to the gender and wage gap will require an integrated approach. The solution cannot exclude our male counterparts.

Aren’t we seeking integration and equality? Then I submit that it is unrealistic to bridge the gap without engaging the “other side.” Let’s work together, men and women of all race and ethnic backgrounds, to create integrated groups reflective of the communities we serve and to create the change we wish to see.

Barbara Ronda, M.H.S.A., associate vice president and chief administrative officer for UHealth – the University of Miami Health System. She serves as a Board Member for The Health Foundation of South Florida and was recently recognized as a 2017 Public School Alumni Achievement Award Honoree.

The time is now: Addressing health inequities in rural minority populations

Author: Carol Emmott Fellow Marva Williams-Lowe, PharmD, M.H.A., Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health System

In 1966 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech to the Medical Committee for Human Rights and said “of all the forms of inequality, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and inhumane.” In 2017 inequality in healthcare still exists and the consequences are striking.

***

Health inequities or disparities in urban communities are well known and in some cases more resources may be available to address them than in a rural community. In rural previously homogenous communities these issues are even more significant as the minority community begins to grow but the healthcare systems have not changed or are not moving fast enough to keep pace with diversity.

Ethnic disparities in healthcare cost the U.S. billions of dollars. African Americans, Hispanics, and Native American Indians experience higher rates of chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension than other populations. In many cases, these increased costs and reduced quality of life and mortality are preventable with wellness programs or disease state management that takes into account the specific population needs.

A May 2017 data summary from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows African Americans ages 18-49 are twice as likely to die from heart disease than whites and African Americans ages 35-64 years are 50 percent more likely to have high blood pressure than whites. The data shows that African Americans are dying younger from[1] diseases like cancer, diabetes and heart disease than whites.

The US spends trillions of dollars on healthcare each year yet not everyone can afford to access healthcare when they need it and some populations are more challenged than others in accessing care. If you are able to seek care when you need it, you may or may not be able to afford your medications. If given the choice between paying rent, buying food, or getting medication for a chronic illness, some patients will choose not to fill their prescriptions. If the prescriptions are filled, in some cases they will not take them consistently if they believe they can save money in the short term. Drug prices and the impact on patients when they cannot afford medications is a significant issue for our country and contributes to the long term increasing health costs and poor health outcomes. This adds an additional complexity to the rural locations, poverty, race, and issues that contribute to an unequal distribution of preventative care, disease management, and access to overall healthcare.

Our neighborhoods and communities affect how we live, our daily lives, and our well-being. In rural communities where the minority populations are growing and they are underrepresented in healthcare professional and provider positions, gaps are likely to exist. In these communities, healthcare providers are often not aware of the challenges that these minorities face to access healthcare or the challenges they face when they meet a provider who is not aware of their economic, environmental, social, or cultural challenges.

Consider the story of Janice, an African American who visited a healthcare provider in a rural community. Janice rarely accesses the healthcare system and when she does, her experiences have not given her confidence that the providers recognize the importance of her difference as a minority. On her last healthcare visit, the provider was not familiar with a rash that she had on her skin which she describes as commonly seen in the African American population. When Janice previously saw a provider in a city well populated with minorities, the provider was familiar with her skin condition, was able to assist and Janice had a positive outcome.

Roberta is an African American who was seen for the first time by a gynecologist in a rural community. After the visit, Roberta reviewed her chart and noticed that the provider incorrectly documented her as Caucasian. Roberta wondered if this was a default setting in the electronic medical record since she lives in a community that was primarily white but is now experiencing a growing population of minorities. Roberta wants her provider to “see” her and recognize her difference, as she knows that race can play an important role in how some disease are diagnosed and treated.

While these are not major examples of issues with healthcare interactions in a rural community they do provide an inside view of why minorities may be hesitant to visit a provider, may not be confident that they will be understood or that their differences will be recognized. Ethnic and racial differences have a significant impact on health outcome. The challenges faced by minorities in seeking care can negatively affect their ability to lead healthy lifestyles.

To begin to address these issues we need to create equal opportunities for health at the community level as it affects the overall health status and costs for our nation. Community engagement and partnership with key stakeholders will be a necessary element to create and sustain change. Understanding specific populations, individual culture, and barriers are necessary components to establish healthy communities to reduce and one day eliminate inequities in health.

The journey to health equity in the rural locations will require community partnership with healthcare organizations and the development of programs and policies to address access to services for minority populations. Community discussions, assessments, and the development of cultural competencies will be key elements for this journey in rural populations. It will require the creation of equal opportunities for all races and populations to access and participate in healthcare and to experience no gaps in health outcomes. It will be a worthwhile journey to a worthwhile goal.

Marva Williams-Lowe, PharmD, M.H.A., is the regional pharmacy director for the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health System. She has responsibility for hospital pharmacy practice and operations including purchasing and inventory management, budget, personnel, medication-related policies and procedures and regulatory compliance.

[1] (2017, May 2). National Center from Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. African American Health. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/aahealth/index.html

Sparking inspiration in front-line leaders

Author: Carol Emmott Fellow Chantel Johnson, PhD, RN, Palo Alto Medical Foundation—Sutter Health

As an operation leader in ambulatory healthcare, my days are filled with “fire-fighting”— staffing the clinics, managing physician schedules, moving improvement work forward, etc. Little time is spent on individual leadership development. Let me be more honest − no part of my day is usually spent thinking about leadership. Yet, it is absolutely essential for all of us to carve out time to further develop ourselves as leaders.

Over the years, I have benefited from various forms of leadership development. Whether from structured classes, coaching, or making tough mistakes, these experiences have shaped me as a leader. This year my organization sponsored me to be an inaugural member of the Carol Emmott Fellowship (CEF). While sitting amongst the other fellows in our first session, I was struck by the deep learning that I was experiencing. The rich discussions with my colleagues gave me new perspectives on leadership and stretched my thinking.

I went back to work after the first CEF convergence session inspired! I wanted the leaders under me to be similarly stimulated. I searched within my company for existing leadership offerings. Yes, the fundamentals of management were covered well in new manager orientation classes. How to hire the best, how to use project management skills, how to give presentations were covered nicely by existing programs. On the other hand, I didn’t see anything like the content I was exposed to at CEF. I abandoned the idea and felt disappointed for my managers.

A lightbulb went on for me a few weeks later while I was having a 1-1 with one of my managers. I brought up issues of gender in leadership from what I learned in CEF. I asked her what she has noticed about women leaders in our organization. I explored her observations on how women leaders behave, how others behave around them. Interestingly, she hadn’t really thought about it before. We talked well past our meeting time. When I was leaving she said that she’d love to have another leadership discussion in our next 1-1.

This was the lightbulb moment. I can bring my managers together and have inspired discussions. What had held me back was thinking that I needed to be some type of leadership guru. I thought I needed a degree in leadership or to be an expert on the topics. I am none of those things. I am not a leadership development expert or professional coach. However, I have learned some things over my years in leadership. I am an expert in my own life and experience and that’s enough.

I decided to host a lunch with my managers to talk about gender and leadership. Gender is a hot topic that most people avoid, either intentionally or because they think gender doesn’t matter anymore. I invited my managers to this one-hour Leadership Lunch and Learn session. I sent out a couple of quick homework items before the session. I asked them to read a short article and watch a TED Talk video to prime their thinking.

During the session, I gave a 20-minute overview on the gender, women in leadership, and why the topic was important. We spent the rest of the time in discussion. I prepared several conversation starters based on the homework and my overview. I asked them about how gender differences show up in their leadership teams. I shared my own struggles with being a woman leader with the assumptions and double standards sometimes put on us. My team came alive with such a dynamic discussion!

One of my managers shared strategies she uses to command more of a leadership presence in meetings. She does small things like standing up straight and avoiding inflections in her voice. Another manager jumped in and said she has been struggling with the same issue and wants to try those ideas. They weren’t just talking to me. They were talking to each other. They were inspiring each other!

For the second offering, I chose the topics of power and influence. I talked about different forms of power and why influence is such an important leadership quality. In preparation for the session, I reached out to our executive team. I gathered their tips for how to: 1) gain influence and 2) how they have effectively used power or seen others misuse it. My executives appreciated the chance to have their ideas shared with the front-line leaders. My managers loved these tips. They started guessing which senior leader had given each tip, as a way of connecting to them and matching their impression of them with their words. I have the third Leadership Lunch and Learn scheduled to talk about our personal leadership philosophies.

The feedback about my sessions have been overwhelmingly positive. My managers have extended these meeting invitations to their colleagues and supervisors so they can benefit from the content. My managers shared that they feel valued because I have taken time to offer the sessions. They said they can tell I really care about them and want to support their growth.

Even more inspiring is that I have noticed my managers are putting their learning into action. I notice subtle changes in how they present themselves in group, utilizing strategies that increase their presence. Another example great example of the impact of this type of learning was seen when a manager was recruiting for a supervisor. She was surprised that one of her star employees hadn’t applied for the position. From our Lunch and Learn session, my manager understood that frequently women do not apply for promotions when their qualifications are not a perfect match for the position. She used that information to directly reach out to her star employee and have a discussion with her, ultimately encouraging her to apply. These are just a few examples of the ripples from the Lunch and Learn sessions.

I have learned so much in this process! I learned to give myself permission to own my expertise and share it with others. I learned that I don’t have to wait for someone else to give me “permission” to mentor and coach people. I don’t have to be a world-renowned expert on a topic to still provide meaningful information and spark enlightened conversation. My team learn more from each other than they do from me. My role is to help facilitate and guide, prime the pump with some reading and ideas. I also learned that I don’t have to make it complicated. No, the Lunch and Learns are not a comprehensive leadership development course. Grassroots leadership development can be small and still create a huge difference.

I suggest other leaders to give this a try. Ask your team to join you for lunch. Pick a leadership topic and dive in.

Chantel Johnson is the Pediatric Service Line Director at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation in the San Francisco Bay Area, overseeing operations at all pediatric primary care across 24 clinics. Additionally, she is the committee chair in the Association of California Nurse Leaders.

Saving a life through health IT

Author: Carol Emmott Fellow Jeri Koester, BBA, PMP, Marshfield Clinic Information Services, Inc.

I recently watched Jimmy Kimmel share a personal story about his new son on live television. His son, Billy Kimmel, was born with an undetected heart defect that required immediate surgery. Because of the great healthcare his son received, Billy lives to see his future. While my heart ached as I listened to Jimmy’s emotional message, I was overcome with appreciation for all the work medical professionals do within healthcare.

I think of the compassion and care that clinicians provide every day for patient-centered care – within our own healthcare system and beyond. These prestigious professionals have humanity as their foundation. This also represents my passion within healthcare IT leadership and what drives me to support top-notch patient care.

I witness the daily operations of my colleagues who are responsible for providing IT solutions and services to our healthcare system. These vary from electronic health record (EHR) adoption, medication dispensing solution, enterprise data strategies, cyber security and much more. But above all, we create, implement, and improve technology that may help save patient lives.

The solution we create flags a medication that could cause an allergic reaction for a patient. This may save a life.

A reminder system that notifies patients of needed preventive screenings or tests for disease development instead of waiting until the symptoms appear. This may save a life.

A risk model that shows patients most at risk of a heart attack based on algorithms allows clinicians to intervene and engage with the patient before a life-threatening situation occurs. This may save a life.

A completely redundant infrastructure with zero unexpected downtime so a patient waiting for a discussion with their clinician regarding a cancer diagnosis does not have to hear, “We need to reschedule your appointment because our system is down.” This may save a life.

Healthcare IT leadership has never been more important. Technology is no longer just a tool, ut a part of the strategic initiative in moving organizations forward in the ever-evolving healthcare field. In conversations regarding EHR, interoperability, blockchain, cloud-based applications, and more, care and compassion need to remain at the center. We need to advocate for the safety of our patients when introducing technology.

This can be accomplished in many ways. We can start by talking about it openly. Our organization is moving forward with strategic initiatives that includes implementing hospital systems, re-platforming legacy applications and supporting shared services efficiencies. In one of our recent meetings, the project manager highlighted our project purpose and objectives to the number of applications we need to retire. This alone sounds arduous; however, shifting the intent of the meeting to how this is important to our patients restored vision and determination. The engagement from employees on the project increased significantly when our conversation focused implementing a system safely for our patients.

Additionally, our operational services can benefit from this shift in thinking as well. We are in the process of implementing lean techniques to how we work. When discussing the value stream, we place the patient in the center of our “True north” and have established measures to track success as it relates to our customers and patients. This concept creates a meaning as to why our decisions are important because we can help save lives.

Within our organization, we are expected to deliver solutions for provider efficiency and patient safety. In doing so, we share the same mission and vision of our health system, which is to enrich patient lives. And at the center of our days are patients who need care and compassion. We work to safely implement systems and ensure important data is present when it’s needed most. Healthcare IT leaders should openly discuss the effect technology has on patient care, to support the humanity of healthcare.

As healthcare leaders are continuously asked to control costs and deliver more, I have found that focusing on the very thing that keeps our hearts warm is a way to move mountains. And as the amazing providers and staff worked their miracle to save Billy Kimmel, we were all there. Ensuring the programs ran, the information was available, and doing what we can to help save lives.

Jeri Koester is vice president of IT business management at Marshfield Clinic Information Services, Inc. and has been instrumental in leading Marshfield Clinic’s transition of the IT department into a for-profit subsidiary of the health system.

In Their Words: Video

The Carol Emmott Fellowship’s class of 2016/17 share their experiences and insights on professional development in this video.

Progress Report: Q&A with the Executive Director

Christine Malcolm, executive director of the Carol Emmott Fellowship, provides an update on the program’s progress in its first year and shares future plans.

Christine Malcolm provides an update on the fellowship’s achievements and what’s next

Christine Malcolm serves as executive director and ex officio board member of the Carol Emmott Fellowship, following a nationally recognized career as a senior executive with Kaiser Permanente and several leading academic health systems. Most recently she was managing director in consulting for Navigant. In mid-2016, she moved to contract status with Navigant, so she could support the fellowship, while continuing to serve clients part time through Salt Creek Advisors LLC. During her career, she has repeatedly led transformational change for some of the premier health plans, healthcare systems, academic medical centers, specialty providers, medical schools, and children’s hospitals in the U.S. She recently served on an independent review panel named by the U.S. Senate to review the Department of Defense Health Agency, and is honored to be currently serving as a senior advisor to the Veterans Health Administration in its modernization.

In this interview, Christine provides an update on the Carol Emmott Fellowship and future plans for the program.

What are some of the fellowship’s most significant achievements so far?

We successfully launched a program that meets the needs of the most promising women health leaders − who are already highly educated and experienced. We designed this program after we had reviewed the progress made since the Equal Rights Amendment was extended to women, and found it to be uneven, and in some cases stalled out. This is despite the fact that many fellowships in healthcare are at least 50 percent female. There is data that indicate that women’s careers hit what has been colloquialized as the “glass ceiling” (or “steel door”) once they move beyond middle management. Carol Emmott initially identified the desire to create a fellowship that could create an inflection point for women who have demonstrated that they are both committed and brilliant. Fortunately, we were quickly supported by 12 visionary health systems, who are seeking to create a better world.

We have recruited some of the most in-demand leaders to participate and share their expertise as faculty, mentors, champions, and executive sponsors. We have been gratified to see a high level of support from these health leaders who have generously given of their time and insights. They see the need to address gender disparity as much as we do. They also know that to thrive their organizations depend upon a pipeline of exceptional senior leadership candidates. By being part of our program, they too benefit from the rich professional network that the fellowship is nurturing.

Just as important was attracting high-caliber fellows representing the full spectrum of health challenges. We feel we exceeded expectations with our first class of fellows. Attracting the best and brightest to our program is central to providing participants with strategic networking connections they can turn to for support as their careers progress. These women are already leading transformation, and will create a better, and fairer, environment for all.

What are you planning for the future?

We are working to find innovative ways to support our fellows, as they continue to work across the United States. A key decision we made early on was to not ask fellows to leave their institutions for two years, as do many other fellowships. So, connecting our fellows between our quarterly convergence conferences is essential and deserving of more than conference calls and webinar presentations.

We have planned an education exchange that marries the first-class mentoring and idea-sharing that is the cornerstone of the fellowship with today’s technology. This technology infrastructure will be important as we seek to expand the program and provide ongoing support and connection for our alumnae.

We also want to directly address the gender bias that is inherent in health organizations in multiple ways. We plan to develop a training on inherent bias that fellows can take back to their organizations and implement. This not only will help address the problem, but provides fellows with a strategic leadership opportunity.

Our fellows have identified the need to assist other women, especially women of color, in their home communities and organizations. We are interested in supporting growth of the program and meeting this need by connecting with, and developing, additional leadership development opportunities. We want to make these opportunities less time and resource intensive by supporting their efforts through some of the same technologies we will be employing to connect our fellows. In this way, we are creating lower-cost options that could serve more women.

We are actively seeking partners who are committed to seeing the same changes. There are many others who know that until we all have the opportunity to bring forward our whole-hearted efforts to transform our field, we will not succeed. There are nongovernmental organizations, associations, health systems, universities, and corporations that we are interested in partnering with to create the breadth and depth of change we seek. This year, we will be exploring further how to create even broader impact through partnership.

Finally, we are exploring generating original research on the impact of gender disparity in health leadership. Those who work in the health field, and at the highest levels of medicine, see the problem vividly. They see the blind spots and gaps in perspective that have real consequences because today’s leadership does not fully reflect the workforce in health. Many outside of health, however, don’t understand the full extent of the problem and how it hampers innovation. We want to initiate research that helps illuminate the issue and helps accelerate solutions.

How will the fellowship support this growth?

We are attracting a high level of support from individuals and sponsoring organizations who grasp what’s at stake if we don’t address gender disparity in health leadership in our lifetime. But we need to expand on this base.

We know that our supporters also want to be engaged in our mission and be fully part of what we’re building. To fully recognize and say thanks to donors who give us $1,000 or more, we have formed the Catalyst Circle of sustaining support.

The group is named the Catalyst Circle because research shows we must intervene to make a difference in our lifetime. At the current pace, it will take more than a century for women to “catch up” given the current rate of change, and far longer for women of color. We know our supporters agree that’s not acceptable and we will work together to close this gap in our lifetime.

Announcing Inaugural Class of the Carol Emmott Fellowship for Women Leaders in Health

Fifteen dynamic and innovative women from across the US have been selected to the inaugural class of the Carol Emmott Fellowship (CEF), a cutting-edge program based at the Public Health Institute which accelerates the leadership capacity and impact of women leaders in health.

Transformative leadership development program seeks to be a game changer

The newly launched Fellowship is one of only a few mid-career initiatives seeking to fill a critical vacuum in establishing the next generation of women leaders who will further transform health.

“These women are uniquely qualified to address the social determinants of health and bridge the disparities in leadership and throughout healthcare,” observed Joanne Conroy, chief executive officer of Lahey Hospital and Medical Center, a Founding Sponsor.

“They are accomplished professionals already demonstrating outstanding leadership abilities and results,” said Christine Malcolm, director of the Fellowship. “They are of diverse backgrounds and health disciplines, and are well positioned to have significant impact across the spectrum of health services.”

The Fellows were nominated by 12 prestigious Founding Sponsors – organizations committed to working with the Fellowship to shape a growing network of remarkable women in the top ranks of leadership, with the tremendous influence that confers.

The 14-month intensive program pairs Fellows with hand-selected mentors who are nationally recognized senior health leaders. Each Fellow will plan and direct an impact project in her health community and “pay it forward” with the subsequent class of Fellows, thus developing a pipeline and rich, lifelong network of collaborators and influencers.

“While the need for smart, savvy, caring leaders in this turbulent era of healthcare has never been more important, women leaders continue to be significantly underrepresented in STEM, the C-suite and the Boardroom,” noted Carilion Clinic’s President and CEO Nancy Howell Agee, a Founding Sponsor of the program.

Though women dominate the lower and mid-level healthcare workforce and comprise half the enrollment in US medical schools, their numbers remain scarce not only in the CEO and Boardroom ranks but in academic deanships. Pay disparities continue at all levels, most notably for physicians. Women of color face added barriers. When coupled with the fact that women make the overwhelming majority of family health decisions, it is imperative to close the gap – for benefit of the consumer, the organization, and the nation’s GDP.

Studies show that leadership and mentoring help women reach more senior positions and can close gaps in pay as well. “The Carol Emmott Fellowship creates a strong network of colleagues and mentors so women can further hone leadership skills and capabilities—and then these women can mentor the next generation,” stressed Mary Pittman, DrPh, chief executive officer and president of the Public Health Institute and member of the CEF governing board. “This represents a huge shift in how we build opportunity, and ultimately see more women’s voices reflected in healthcare decisions and policies.”

The Fellowship reflects the life work of Carol B. Emmott (1946-2015), who throughout her 40-year career in health policy and executive search was instrumental in and dedicated to the rise of women to the upper echelons of the health sector.

Each of the Founding Sponsors is providing a remarkable opportunity for these women leaders in their health community and beyond. Short biographies for each Fellow are available at CarolEmmottFellowship.org /Fellows.

FELLOWS AND SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS

Cynthia Boyd, MD, associate professor of medicine, vice president, chief compliance officer, Rush University Medical Center, assistant dean of admissions & recruitment, Rush Medical College, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL
Gina L. Calder, MPH, vice president of ambulatory services, Bridgeport Hospital, Yale New Haven Health System, New Haven, CT
Carolyn Carpenter, MHA, FACHE, chief operating officer, Duke University Hospital, Duke University Health System, Durham, NC
Tracey W. Criss, MD, interim co-chair, department of psychiatry, assistant dean for clinical science years 3 and 4, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, Carilion Clinic, Roanoke, VA
Girlynda Gonzales, MSN, RN, CCRN, NEA-BC, executive director of adult inpatient services, Walnut Creek Campus, John Muir Health, Bay Area, CA
Thomasine Gorry, MD, MGA, associate professor of clinical ophthalmology & cataract surgery, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Health System, Philadelphia, PA
Richa Gupta, MBBS, MHSA, chief quality officer, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL
Tonya Hongsermeier, MD, MBA, vice president & chief medical information officer, Lahey Hospital and Medical Center, Burlington, MA
Chantel Johnson, RN, PhD, NE-BC, director of pediatrics, Palo Alto Medical Foundation, Mountain View, CA
Jeri Koester, vice president of operations, MCIS, Inc. Marshfield Clinic Health System, Inc., Marshfield, WI
Martha Lauderdale, MPA, director, Sutter improvement system, interim vice president ancillary operations, Palo Alto Medical Foundation, Mountain View, CA
Barbara Ronda, MHSA, associate vice president & chief administrative officer, University of Miami Health System/BDC Advisors, Miami, FL
Carey Unger, MHA, associate vice president, neurosciences & behavioral health, Duke University Health System, Durham, NC
Donna Wellington, MBA, BSN, vice president operations, Henry Ford Hospital, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI
Marva Williams-Lowe, PharmD, MHA, regional director of pharmacy, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health System, Hanover, NH

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The Carol Emmott Fellowship for Women Leaders in Health is designed to further outstanding mid-career women leaders by developing the networks and leadership capabilities required to create constructive change in the health field. It is an independent program based at the Public Health Institute, a California nonprofit. To learn more about the Carol Emmott Fellowship, please visit us at CarolEmmottFellowship.org.

Case For Change

Articles and resources about gender parity and the case for change.

Recruiting veteran healthcare leader Anne McCune to serve as CEO supports the Foundation’s ambitious growth plans for promoting gender equity in health organizations nationwide

Fellows selected for Class of 2020 represent diverse skills and backgrounds but share a proven ability to effect change

Carol Emmott Fellows are chosen for their potential to advance to senior executive roles and make an impact in health

Class of 2018 Fellows

It’s not the ceiling, It’s the floor

Author: Carol Emmott Fellow Thomasine Gorry, MD, MGA, University of Pennsylvania

Integration vs. isolation: Walking the fine line to gender equity

Author: Carol Emmott Fellow Barbara Fonte Ronda, MHSA, University of Miami Health System

The time is now: Addressing health inequities in rural minority populations

Author: Carol Emmott Fellow Marva Williams-Lowe, PharmD, M.H.A., Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health System

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Sparking inspiration in front-line leaders

Author: Carol Emmott Fellow Chantel Johnson, PhD, RN, Palo Alto Medical Foundation—Sutter Health

Saving a life through health IT

Author: Carol Emmott Fellow Jeri Koester, BBA, PMP, Marshfield Clinic Information Services, Inc.

Christine Malcolm provides an update on the fellowship’s achievements and what’s next

What are some of the fellowship’s most significant achievements so far?

What are you planning for the future?

How will the fellowship support this growth?

Transformative leadership development program seeks to be a game changer

FELLOWS AND SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS

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Articles and resources about gender parity and the case for change.

“What Programming’s Past Reveals About Today’s Gender-Pay Gap” by Rhaina Cohen, The Atlantic

“Columbus: Why healthcare giant is focusing on female leadership” by Carrie Ghose, Columbus Business First, Bizwomen

“America’s healthcare industry still afflicted with gender equality issues in leadership” by Dr. Halee Fischer-Wright, Modern Healthcare

“Gender gap in medical schools: Female doctors make $20K less than male doctors” by Ariana Eunjung Cha, Washington Post

“Even Doctors Can’t Cure the Pay Gap” by Jessica Bartlett, Boston Business Journal

“Do Women Everywhere Suck at their Jobs?” by Katy Waldman, Slate

“It’s Not Getting Any Easier For Women To Become CEOs” by Emily Peck, The Huffington Post

“Is this the reason there aren’t more female leaders?” by Emma Luxton, World Economic Forum

“The weird thing that happens when you put more women in the boardroom” by Danielle Paquette, The Washington Post

“By the numbers: Getting 100 women in Fortune 500 C-Suites by 2025” by Betsey Guzior, Bizwomen- The Business Journal

“Women hold 20% of board seats at S&P 500 companies” by Emily Rappleye, Becker’s Hospital Review

“How GE and UN Women Plan to Put More Women in Top Global Health Jobs” by Terri Bresenham , Lakshmi Puri, Fortune

“John Gerzema, ‘The Athena Doctrine’ Author, Says Leaders Should Embrace ‘Feminine Traits And Value’” The Huffington Post

The Global Gender Gap Report 2015, World Economic Forum

“Integrating Work and Life” by Julie Coffman, Pricilla Schenck, and Melissa Artebane, a Bain Brief

“Another Study Shows Little Progress Getting Women on Boards” by Rachel Feintzeig, Wall Street Journal