ACHE-SETC Mini-Conference: The Value Proposition of Diversity in Healthcare

Moderator

Brad Thein
Director, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Houston Methodist

Brad Thien is currently the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion(DEI) at Houston Methodist Hospital.  In this role he and his team coordinate the system’s DEI Learning Programs, DEI related communications, Employee Resource Groups, the systems DEI Summer Scholar’s program as well as other system DEI programs.  He currently chairs the system DEI Leadership Council which is made up of leaders from across the system.

Brad has spent his career focused on people in the workplace and has worked in a variety of industries  Previous positions include Director of Training and Performance Management for QuVa Pharma, Sr Organizational Development Specialist at Memorial Hermann, Sr Manager of Leadership and Development for LyondellBasell and Sr Manager of Talent Management and Organizational Effectiveness for Dresser-Rand.  He has worked at Washington University in St. Louis where he was responsible for student leadership development.  He spent most of his career with Continental and United Airlines where he was Director of Learning for the combined airline.

He holds several certifications including being a Certified Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Professional, Master Certified Trainer for DDI, as well as certifications in a variety of human performance and talent related assessment tools.  He received his Bachelor of Science in Human Resource Management from Northwest Missouri State University and a Master of Education in Higher Education Administration from the University of Georgia.  His a native of St. Louis Missouri but has lived in seven states and has visited all 50 states.

Panelist

Erica Gonzalez Hattery
Director of Care Integration in Population Health at Harris Health System

Erica Gonzalez Hattery is a physician from Bogota, Colombia with more than a decade of experience in clinical research and research administration related to diabetes and diabetes programs. She currently serves as Director of Care Integration in Population Health with Harris Health System.   Previous to this, Dr. Hattery was co-investigator and manager at Baylor College of Medicine for various nationwide clinical trials including GRADE and the first Center for Atypical Diabetes. Through her leadership and collaborative efforts, BCM has become one of the top clinical research institutions for Diabetes research. She has been instrumental in guaranteeing the inclusion of minorities and Hispanic populations in research studies. As a member of the Recruitment and Retention Committee for the GRADE study, she has been integrated into the decision-making process and trial coordination at a national level.

Hattery has orchestrated securing government funding of $8M to $25M for research studies. She also serves the patient population in Harris Health in Houston by providing care and educating them about their health risks, disease prevention and how to manage chronic conditions such as diabetes to avoid complications. In the last 8 years she has seen the impact that opportune and timely care has in the Hispanic population and wants to continue those efforts in population health. Because of her commitment to the community she pursued a master’s in healthcare administration to become an agent of change and strengthen the Latino participation in the healthcare community.

Hattery envisions a collaborative network of Latino and multi-cultural leaders who will work together to create change and to promote diversity and inclusion at the local and national level.

Hattery is the President Elect of the National Association of Latino Healthcare Executives (NALHE) Texas Gulf-Coast Chapter. She received her Master’s in Healthcare Administration from Texas Woman’s University in Houston, a Doctor of Medicine from the University El Bosque in Bogota, Colombia, and a Bachelors in biochemistry from the University of California Riverside.

Panelist

Paula McHam
Retired Account Executive and Community Involvement Lead at Cigna Insurance

Paula McHam retired from Cigna in December, 2021 after 33 years holding various management positions in operations and client services. For the last 11 years of her tenure at Cigna she served as Account Executive and Community Involvement Lead working with the City of Houston, a Cigna client. In this role, she was the primary liaison with the City for its medical benefits administration as well as health and wellness engagement programs offered by Cigna.  She also represented Cigna in community activities such as Cigna Sunday Streets (now Cigna in the Park).

Prior to joining Cigna, McHam held various management positions with Diabetes Treatment Centers of America, Medical Networks, Twelve Oaks Hospital, LifeMark Corporation, and the Montgomery County Medical Center where she was the first hospital Social Worker.

McHam received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Social Rehabilitation from Sam Houston State University and a Master of Science in Health Care Administration from Texas Women’s University. She served on the Board of Directors of Recipe for Success, a foundation addressing childhood obesity through healthy eating and nutrition, the Board of Directors of the Fire Fighters Foundation of Houston, the Mayor’s Go Healthy Houston Task Force, the March of Dimes Steering Committee for African-American Outreach and as a President of the Gulf Coast Council affiliated with the Texas Diversity Council.

McHam was named to the Cigna Gold Circle four times and received the 2015 Troy Vincent Award for Client Service and the 2020 Client Manager Award. She was also a proud recipient of a 2012 Diversity Champions Award and the 2014 Trailblazer Award from the Texas Diversity Council, named as one of the Top 30 Influential Women of Houston 2017 and the Go Healthy Houston 2018 Champion of the Year. In recognition of her contributions to the City of Houston, the Honorable Sylvester Turner, Mayor of the City of Houston, proclaimed November 17, 2021 as Paula McHam Day in the City of Houston.

McHam enjoys her retirement teaching English as a second language to adult learners as part of a community ministry, maintaining a Little Free Library sponsored by her book club, Jazzercising and playing Mahjong.

Panelist

Angel Gradney
Title: Market Chief Executive Officer at Kindred Hospital Clear Lake

Angel Gradney is the Market Chief Executive Officer for Kindred Hospital Clear Lake.  Angel’s primary role is to develop collaborative strategies to support a competitive position and overall growth in the Market.  Angel had a critical role during the start of the COVID epidemic opening the first Long Term Acute Care hospital’s COVID unit to support the healthcare community at large. Angel has a proven healthcare executive track record with over 30 years’ experience. She spent many years as a nursing leader and moved into a Healthcare Executive role, where she has spent the last 18 years, all while at Kindred.  Prior to joining Kindred Healthcare, Angel held nursing leadership positions in Acute Care Hospitals as well as Market Leadership positions in Home Care and Hospice agencies. Angel’s vision and personal mission is to partner with Healthcare Organizations to meet our community needs. Angel earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Prairie View A&M University, and her Master’s in Healthcare Administration from Capella University.

Moderator

Ranna Parekh, MD, MPH 
Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer at MD Anderson

Ranna Parekh, MD, MPH joined the University of Texas MD Anderson on May 31, 2022 as the Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer. She is a child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist who has over 14 years of experience leading diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Previous, Dr. Parekh was at the American College of Cardiology for almost three years as the inaugural Chief Diversity and Inclusion Office and at the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for almost five years as a Deputy Medical Director and the Director of the Division of Diversity and Health Equity. In this latter role, she was also Director of the American Psychiatric Association/ American Psychiatric Association Foundation’s (APA/APAF) 8 fellowship programs and 5 medical student grants including the Minority Fellowship Program.

Dr. Parekh is a child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist. Prior to joining the APA, she practiced full time for almost twenty years at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and McLean Hospital/ Harvard Medical School and was the inaugural Director of the MGH Department of Psychiatry’s Center for Diversity.

Dr. Parekh is co-author of the e-book  Overcoming Prejudice in the Workplace (Harvard Health Publishers, 2012). She is also editor of the Massachusetts General Hospital Textbook on Diversity and Cultural Sensitivity (Springer Publishers, 2013) and co-editor of Cultural Sensitivity in Child and Adolescent Mental Health (MGH Academy Press, 2016), Stigma and Prejudice: Touchstones in Understanding Diversity ( Springer Publishers, 2016), and Cultural Psychiatry with Children, Adolescents and Families (American Psychiatric Press, 2021).

Dr. Parekh has led trainings and lectured locally, nationally and internationally on topics including diversity, health care disparities, microaggressions, cultural psychiatry, mediation, collaborative negotiations, child and adolescent psychiatry, addictions and psychopharmacology.  She has lived, studied, and worked around the world including Japan, France, Poland, New Zealand and Australia.

Dr. Parekh is a graduate of the Harvard School of Public Health (MPH), the adult psychiatry and child fellowship residency trainings programs at Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, and also holds degrees from Wayne State University (MD, BSc in Biology, BA in Chemistry and co-major in Black Studies).  Currently, Dr. Parekh holds/has held academic appointments at the Massachusetts General Hospital, George Washington University Medical School and Morehouse School of Medicine.

Panelist

Jennifer Small
Executive Vice President of Ambulatory Care Services (ACS) at Harris Health System

Dr. Small serves as the Executive Vice President of Ambulatory Care Services (ACS) at Harris Health System where she provides administrative oversight and strategic direction of its integrated network of outpatient services that includes health centers, specialty clinics, mobile health units and its award-winning Health Care for the Homeless Program. Additionally, Dr. Small oversees Harris Health’s patient nurse hotline, Referral Center, Virtual Care and Patient Appointment Center.

Dr. Small has held various leadership roles within ACS since 2009, serving as both the administrative director and vice president of primary care and specialty services. Throughout her time at Harris Health, she has focused on expanding access to care to vulnerable communities, including leading the expansion of specialty services within our community-based health centers and the integration of telemedicine services within the ACS platform.

She served as the administrative director of both primary care and specialty services within Ambulatory Care Services.  In addition, she also served as director of one of Harris Health’s community health centers, which provided a myriad of services ranging from primary care to specialty care.  Dr. Small began her career as an audiologist in academic medical centers that primarily serve the underserved, including Harris Health System’s Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital and UTMB-Galveston, within the outpatient and inpatient settings.  After serving as a clinician for several years, she transitioned to healthcare administration in ambulatory care services within integrated academic health systems, with a focus on initiatives to improve efficiencies and access to care for vulnerable patient populations.

Dr. Small graduated from Willowridge High School in Fort Bend ISD before graduating from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Communication Sciences and Disorders.  She then earned a Doctor of Audiology at the University of Florida-Gainesville and a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of Houston-Bauer College of Business. She is a member of several professional and community organizations and serves on the boards of National Association of Health Services Executives-Houston, the YMCA of Greater Houston-Weekley, and CollegeCommunityCareer. She also devotes much of her time mentoring students to mid-management leaders as they navigate their career path.

Panelist

Jai Collier
DEI Practitioner

Jai Collier, JD | SPHR | CDE® spent 14 years as a litigation attorney and has been coaching in the world of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for over 20 years. She is a full-time DEI practitioner, speaker, and author. She currently serves as the Director of DEI for Houston’s largest credit union and principle at ICCS a DEI firm that supports expert consultants and organizations seeking to expand and enhance their DEI strategy. She has led statewide collaborative projects across multiple organizations and received the State Bar of Texas Innovators award, the Houston 40 under 40 Influential Lawyers award, and the HHS Game-Changer award for designing and implementing DEI programming for Houston’s award-winning safety net hospital system. She is also a wife, mother of three, and a proud UT Law graduate. Hook ’em!

Panelist

TaShauna McCray
Chief Nursing Officer at HCA Houston Healthcare West

McCray is the Chief Nursing Officer at HCA Houston Healthcare West in Houston, Texas.   In this role, Dr. McCray oversees the clinical, operational, strategic, and financial performance for the hospital’s nursing service line.  Prior to joining HCA Houston Healthcare West TaShauna served as the Chief Nursing Officer at Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center. Dr. McCray has had a rich and varied leadership career including Charge Nurse, Nursing Supervisor, Nurse Manager, and Director of Nursing positions in such departments as Medical-Surgical, Telemetry, Critical Care, Cardiac Catheterization Lab, Education, Neurology, and Staffing Services. Dr. McCray has devoted her professional career to developing authentic leaders to transform care delivery for improve patient outcomes.  As a catalyst of change, Dr. McCray also has expertise in performance improvement and physician relationship development.

McCray received a Bachelor of Science in nursing from University of Arkansas-Monticello and Master’s degree in nursing from University of Texas Medical Branch-Galveston. Dr. McCray graduated from Texas Tech University-Lubbock in May of 2015 with her Doctorate of Nursing Practice with an emphasis on executive leadership. Dr. McCray received her MBA from Prairie View A&M University in August of 2018. Her professional affiliations include: American Organization of Nurse Executives, American College of Healthcare Executives, Texas Nurses Association, American Nurses Association, Beta Gamma Sigma and Sigma Theta Tau International. Mrs. McCray is actively involved in her community. She currently serves as a board member for Today’s Youth and Golden Experiences. She also volunteers to serve the homeless through community partnerships such as Impact Houston Homeless Ministry. Dr. McCray also enjoys mentoring graduate students and developing healthcare leaders.