COVID-19: A Public Health Crisis – Health Disparities

This event is being presented to you by the ACHE of North Texas Diversity & Inclusion Committee.

Thanks to the University of North Texas Health Science Center for hosting this event on their webinar platform.

Preamble by: Stephan Davis, DNP, MHSA, FACHE
MHA Director/Assistant Professor, Dept of Health Behavior and Health Systems
University of North Texas Health Science Center

Moderator: Tracy Brown
President
Intentional Inclusion Incorporated

Panelists will include:

Jim Allard, DNP, RN, NEA-BC
VP Nursing and Chief Nursing Officer
Medical City Children’s Hospital / Medical City Women’s Hospital – Dallas

Tiffany Capeles, FACHE
System Director, Health Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
CHRISTUS Health

Ajith Pai, PharmD, FACHE
President
Texas Health/Harris Methodist Hospital Cleburne

Carlos Ramirez, MD, MBA, FACHE, CHCQM
VP and Regional Medical Officer, Emergency Medicine Physician
SCP Health

Speakers Bios:

Dr. Jim Allard is the Chief Nursing Officer at Medical City Children’s Hospital and Medical City Women’s Hospital – Dallas. Jim’s clinical and leadership tenure has span 22 years in nursing. As a frontline clinician he worked in pediatric critical care with a focus on pediatric congenital heart. As a driven nurse leader since 2008, Jim’s interests include civility, shared governance, evidence based practice, MAGNET and Just Culture principles. Jim’s current responsibilities include strategic development and oversight of nursing services, inclusive of all Women’s and Children’s areas.

Prior to his most recent role, Jim has served in various leadership roles in HCA Houston Healthcare Clear Lake, The Woman’s Hospital of Texas, Medical City Children’s, Children’s Health Dallas, Memorial Hermann Children’s Hospital and Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Jim earned a Doctorate of Nurse Practice at Texas Christian University, and Masters in Nursing Administration from the University of Texas Arlington. He holds a certification from ANCC as a Nurse Executive Advanced and is a member of ANA, TNA, TONE, AONE and ACHE. He has served on the TONE Membership Committee, Texas Team Practice Committee and was appointed to the TNA Policy Council where he has chaired the Maternal Mortality Task Force and most recently serves as the Workplace Advocacy and Practice Committee Chair. Community service includes serving on the ANA Professional Issues Panel as a Steering Committee member, updating the fatigue position statement. Jim has been an ACHE member for 3 years and joined the LGBTQ Forum in late 2019, and most recently the Diversity and Inclusion Committee. Jim’s personal leadership vision is “To develop the leader in every nurse.”

Tracy Brown is a nationally recognized expert and author whose clients rely on her advice about leadership development, diversity strategy and employee engagement. Her company, intentional inclusion inc, has provided training to more than 400,000 people and she has been recognized twice for Innovation in Diversity by the Celebrate Diversity Awards sponsored by Ernst & Young.

Tracy is an accomplished speaker and author of 12 books who is known for her ability to engage people in sensitive conversations. Her interactive presentation style is engaging and encourages participants to take personal responsibility for making change in their lives and in their organizations. She has produced or hosted six different internet radio programs since 2006 and has been featured in Texas Business Monthly, Dallas CEO, HR Magazine, Money Magazine and many other publications.

In addition to her business experience, Tracy has served as a board or advisory council member for more than a dozen professional associations or nonprofit organizations. She co-founded Dallas Dinner Table (Healing Race Relations One Dinner at a Time) and co-designed The Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership curriculum sponsored by Southern Methodist University and The Center for Nonprofit Management. Tracy completed serving 3 consecutive years as the Chair of the governing body for Centers for Spiritual Living worldwide.

Tiffany Capeles is the System Director for Health Equity, Diversity & Inclusion at CHRISTUS Health. CHRISTUS Health is an international Catholic, non-profit health system comprised of 60 hospitals, long-term care facilities, 175 clinics and outpatient centers, and many other health ministries and ventures. In in her role, Capeles leads system efforts to improve patient health outcomes, and sets the strategy for diversity and inclusion within the organization.

Prior to joining CHRISTUS, Capeles was the Program Director at Children’s Health in Dallas, Texas. In this capacity, she led multiple community workgroups to address childhood asthma exacerbation rates, consisting of nearly 60 members. The community collaborative resulted in partnerships with the city in issuing citations to property managers for health violations, revisions to the housing code, training of compliance code enforcement officers on health-related issues, and community education. The Environmental Protection Agency and the National Center for Healthy Housing hailed the program for its innovation and impact; and later the American Hospital Association conferred the 2017 NOVA Award.

Prior to Children’s Health, Capeles served in multiple roles at Adventist HealthCare. There she implemented the Qualified Bilingual Staff Program that became a state hospital association endorsed standard; developed online cultural competency training modules; race, ethnicity, and language data collection trainings; conducted 360° Organizational Cultural Competency assessments; and secured continuation of a state accreditation for the certified nursing assistant program.

Her work has led to CHRISTUS receiving the 2016 Equity Care Award from the American Hospital Association, as well as the 2017 National Diversity Council Excellence Award for Healthcare Diversity, at the Dallas Chapter. In 2019, she earned Fellow status, from the distinguished American College of HealthCare Executives, and was recognized as a Tomorrow’s Leader by the Catholic Health Association. A recent publication of her work can be found in the Journal of Healthcare Management’s September/October 2019 issue titled, “What Happens When an Organization Tackles Unconscious Bias and Promotes Diversity of Thought?”

She is an active member and Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, and currently serves additional roles with the National Association of Health Service Executives, and the National Association of Latino Health Executives. Capeles earned her Master of Business Administration in Finance from Hood College in Maryland, and her Bachelor of Science in Health Care Administration from Kent State University in Ohio. She resides in the suburbs of Dallas, TX with her husband, and two daughters.

Stephan Davis, DNP, MHSA, FACHE, serves as MHA director and assistant professor at the University of North Texas Health Science Center, School of Public Health. He is a fellow and national faculty member of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) and serves as the national Chair of the ACHE LGBTQ Forum committee. He is co-chair of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion committee at the School of Public Health and serves as the alumni co-chair of the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Action Solutions (IDEAS) council at Yale University, School of Nursing. Dr. Davis’ prior work related to diversity and inclusion resulted in organizations achieving leadership designation in healthcare equality with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). He has provided talks and seminars across the nation on healthcare leadership and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. His graduate education includes a doctorate of nursing practice in healthcare leadership, systems, and policy from Yale and a master’s degree in health systems administration from Georgetown. In addition to fellowship with ACHE, he holds several board certifications in healthcare finance, quality, education, and nurse executive leadership. He is also a Myers-Briggs Certified Practitioner and a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach.

Ajith Pai, PharmD, FACHE, is President of Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Cleburne. In the role of president, Ajith oversees day to day operations, works to advance physician engagement and promote effective employee, governance and community relations. Together with Texas Health Cleburne’s chief nursing officer and chief medical officer, he is responsible for ensuring the achievement of the hospital’s goals for patient safety, clinical and non-clinical quality, operational performance and patient, physician and employee satisfaction.

He began his career with Texas Health Resources, at Texas Health HEB in 1999 as a certified pharmacy technician. In 2011, he became the director of Pharmacy at Texas Health Kaufman where he oversaw the day to day operations and championed safe, quality-driven patient care through the implementation of best practices and improved clinical monitoring. His leadership continued as he served as the professional and support services officer working closely with the Texas Health Kaufman triad to meet system and entity objectives. Under Ajith’s leadership, the hospital achieved the highest performing Consumer Focus metrics in 2017, in the hospital’s ambulatory patient experience scores.

Ajith received his Doctorate of Pharmacy (PharmD) from Texas Tech School of Pharmacy and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Texas at Dallas. Additionally, he is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE).

Ajith enjoys spending time and traveling with his wife of 11 years, Myriam, and their three-year-old daughter, Elyse. He’s also an avid runner and has participated in more than 15 marathons throughout the country and remains involved in the community through memberships on various committees. Ajith is a member of the Texas Health Huguley Community Board, Texas Health Surgery Center Cleburne Board of Managers, City of Cleburne Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Cleburne Tuesday Forum, Cleburne Rotary, ACHE Asian Healthcare Leaders Forum, Texas Hospital Association Leader Fellowship, Leadership North Texas and ACHE North Texas.

Dr. Carlos Ramirez brings an array of experience to his role with SCP Health. As Vice President and Regional Medical Officer, he is responsible for the Emergency Medicine practices at multiple facilities including UHS, HCA and Driscoll Health System, among others.

In this role, he ensures consistent patient care and management practices in Emergency Medicine that ensure the highest quality and dependable performance while maintaining a financial viability of those practices.

He formerly served as the Chief Medical Officer for a Health Plan and prior to that, he served as a Regional Medical Director of a large group of physician practice in Texas.

He holds an MBA/MHA from Baylor University and advanced training in Business Analytics from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. As a diplomat of the American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review Physician, he has served as a Physician Advisor for UR at several facilities. He is also a Board certified in Family an Emergency Medicine and he is a fellow of the ACHE.

He continues to enjoy the practice of Emergency Medicine and works at several of the STHS facilities.