The Carol Emmott Foundation witnessed remarkable momentum in 2024 as we expanded our Fellowship and TEC programs, forged new partnerships, and championed the advancement of Network Fellows. These achievements reflect our unwavering dedication to building equitable leadership opportunities and fostering sustainable change. As we move into 2025, we remain committed to deepening these partnerships, broadening our mentorship reach, and driving forward critical conversations on inclusion. Our vision is clear: cultivate a future where women thrive in every aspect of healthcare leadership. Thank you for supporting our mission. Together, we are creating meaningful impact.
A Year In Review: 2024
The Carol Emmott Foundation community continues to thrive and expand. We welcomed five new organizations into the fold as Sponsoring Organizations: the University of Texas Medical Branch, Indiana University School of Medicine, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, Providence Health Plan, and The Joint Commission. Additionally, the Fellowship Network grew to 136 women, representing over 60 organizations across 30 states and the District of Columbia.
The results are in from our recent longitudinal assessment spanning seven Fellowship cohorts. Sixty-four percent of fellows experienced career advancement in the form of promotions, new professional roles, and board placements that they attribute fully or in part to their participation in the Carol Emmott Fellowship. Also noteworthy, 46 percent of fellows currently hold C-suite, Senior VP, and President positions. We are thrilled with the advancements we are seeing in real time in our community!
The Equity Collaborative now hosts the participation of 17 large healthcare organizations. Their work in 2024 focused on workforce development, the future of DEIB, and organizational structures that create and sustain an inclusive culture. Members learned the requirements to ensure gender and race bias is not incorporated into AI algorithms that support quality of care, talent acquisition, and other HR functions. Guest speaker Dr. Iris Bohnet, author of “What Works: Gender Equality by Design” and gender policy expert, spoke to her research on how selection and recruitment processes can be adjusted to ensure greater gender and racial equity in healthcare leadership. Conversations continued around the bias in systems which contributes to worse outcomes in care for women, particularly Black women, as well as how these can be addressed through education, leadership behavior, and data collection and reporting.
Twelve Collaborative members completed the McKinsey Women in the Workplace survey. Members outperformed the national survey on the DEIB policies and actions they implemented to create a diverse and inclusive culture. Additionally, members promoted more women to leadership on their boards and in the C-suite. As we move forward, we must address promotion and retention of Black women.
The Fellowship Network hosted its 4th annual meeting last February with over 70 attendees from seven cohorts. The program featured keynote speaker Dr. Alisahah Jackson, System Vice President, Population Health Innovation and Policy at CommonSpirit Health, who talked about the ways that social drivers impact health. Additionally, panelists from Women of Impact, including CEF Board member Pamela Sutton-Wallace, President of Yale New Haven Health, participated in the popular “Spill the Tea” afternoon session, sharing real stories of personal and career experiences as women leaders in the field. The Network also held five virtual events and six regional gatherings over the course of the year. We want to give special recognition to the hard work of Network Chair, Meredith Sciarrio (CEF2) and the Network Governing Council for their leadership and support of this engaging community of amazing women leaders.
The Fellowship class of 2024 celebrated the unique identity of being our largest cohort to date, hailing from 18 different health institutions and the Muskogee Creek Nation. Joanne Dias, Fellowship Director, was joined by Dr. Samantha Coleman for their first full year together as co-facilitators. Doug Riddle stepped into a larger oversight role as Foundation curriculum director to ensure the Fellowship program, Fellowship Network, and Equity Collaborative focus areas were aligned to best support the overall mission of the Foundation. Throughout this growth, we continue to see lifelong connections being built among peers and sisters.
The Leadership Council, the volunteer advisory group of more than 50 senior leaders in healthcare from across the nation, continues to attract top healthcare executives. Leadership Council members not only participate as mentors for the Fellowship program, they also provide specialty consultation to the fellows and to one another. There is growing recognition that the strength of the Foundation lies within its membership and the powerful voices that make up its community. The Leadership Council is actively exploring ways to expand that powerful voice to make real difference – not only with the fellows and our organization members, but within the healthcare industry.
We want to give special recognition to our founding sponsor of the Fellowship Network, BDC Advisors, as well as our pro-bono counsel, Foley & Lardner LLP.
Additional thanks to Russell Reynolds and ECG Management Consultants for their generous support in 2024. We are grateful to the following organizations for participating in the Fellow Scholarship Fund $5k Match Campaign: Sutter Health, Penn Medicine, Yale New Haven Health, Vizient, Inc., Johns Hopkins Health System, and University of Chicago Medicine. And finally, a special thank you to CEF4 and CEF7 for raising over $30,000 for the Fellows Funding the Future Campaign! The funds we raise support our ability to provide Fellowship scholarships, innovative programming, research, future pilots, and more.
Thank you for believing in our vision to achieve gender and racial equity in healthcare leadership and governance.