The MetroHealth System, Cleveland’s safety-net health system, is improving access to care by reaching out into the community in new, creative ways to ensure that everyone in the region, but particularly the underserved, receive life-saving screenings and follow-up treatment for dozens of diseases and health conditions. MetroHealth is doing that while simultaneously stretching outside the traditional hospital walls to address the social barriers to health care in an effort to reverse centuries of inequity by reducing health care disparities, keeping people out of the hospital and working to zero out the death gap.
The public health system’s goal is to make sure that every single person – no matter what they look like or where they come from, no matter who they love or how much money they make – has a voice, a seat at the table and access to high-quality health care that allows them to live their very best lives.
These efforts have grown out of the devastating personal experiences of Dr. Airica Steed, the first woman, first nurse and first person of color to serve as MetroHealth’s president and CEO.
This session will highlight MetroHealth’s community outreach and engagement efforts including its Institute for H.O.P.E. – Health, Opportunity, Partnership and Empowerment – which provides upstream disease-preventing services such as trauma support, nutritious food and low-cost internet service, as well as Multicultural Health Fairs offering free screenings and whole person care to communities in need. In addition, it operates school clinics that deliver health care and other services to students, their families, teachers, and other school staff.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe creative solutions to advancing health equity and eradicating health care disparities;
- Recognize the importance of community partnerships and community engagement in achieving these goals;
- Understand lessons learned from real-world experiences and identify strategies to create similar programs.
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Airica Steed, Ed.D, MBA, RN, CSSMBB, FACHE
Chief Executive Officer & PresidentThe MetroHealth System
Cleveland, OHDr. Airica Steed serves as the first woman, first Black person and first nurse to be appointed as the Chief Executive Officer and President for The MetroHealth System in Cleveland, Ohio, comprised of $1.7B net revenue, five acute and specialty-care hospitals, 8,000 employees and providers, over 40 ambulatory care locations and one of the most highly regarded academic public health systems across the country. She is renowned for spearheading large scale transformations encompassing greater than $300M in combined financial improvements, top decile quality/safety performance outcomes and healthy profitable growth, as well as making monumental groundbreaking advancements in health equity and eradicating health care disparities. As a proud fourth generation nurse, she is fighting passionately to zero out the death gap, to make sure that every person has an equal chance at living a long and healthy life and to simultaneously lift up the wealth in underserved communities. Dr. Steed is a vastly accomplished and award-winning transformational health care executive with over 20 years of exceptional leadership experience and a proven track record of driving results, including recognition as: • Modern Healthcare’s “Top Women Leaders,” “Top 25 Minority Leaders in Healthcare,” “Top 25 Healthcare Innovators” and "Up & Comer" • Diversity MBA magazine’s "Top 100 Executive Leaders Under 50" • Becker's Hospital Review’s “Women Hospital Presidents and CEO’s to Know,” "Top 130 Female Healthcare Leaders to Know," “Black Healthcare Leaders to Know” and "Rising Star" Dr. Steed is recognized as a strategic and visionary change leader, transformational architect and international expert in Lean Six Sigma, Malcolm Baldrige framework and “Big 4” management consulting across academic medical centers, community and specialty hospitals, safety net organizations, ambulatory clinics and networks, multi-site clinically integrated health care systems and Federally Qualified Health Centers. She is an avid speaker on the national and international level, a published author and a board member and faculty member spanning several organizations. She received her Doctorate of Education in Ethical Leadership (Ed.D) with distinction, Masters of Business Administration (MBA), Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and numerous certifications, including Master Black Belt and International Trainer in Lean Six Sigma and is pursuing a second Masters in Global Development from Harvard University.
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Alan Nevel
SVP, Chief Equity and Community Impact OfficerThe MetroHealth System
Cleveland, OHAlan K. Nevel is Senior Vice President, Chief Equity and Community Impact Officer for The MetroHealth System. In this uniquely integrated leadership role, Alan is charged with creating and driving a community-focused, patient-centric strategy that promotes health equity and the eradication of healthcare disparities by developing collaborative relationships with community/neighborhood development partners, education, business, social services and faith-based organizations, government and healthcare professionals. Alan is also responsible for creating an overarching vision of equity, inclusion, and diversity (EID) for MetroHealth —both at the programmatic and administrative level by working across departments, programs, and initiatives to eliminate systemic disparities and inequities that impact, patients, employees and the community. Alan joined MetroHealth in 2018 as SVP, Chief Diversity and Human Resources Officer after having served as VP, Global Diversity and Inclusion for Thermo Fisher Scientific, a $40 billion global life science solutions, specialty diagnostics and laboratory equipment company with over 100,000 employees in 60 countries. Prior to joining Thermo Fisher, Alan served in Diversity and Inclusion, HR Strategy Delivery, Talent Development, and Organizational Change Management roles at specialty fashion retailers, L Brands and Victoria’s Secret. Alan began his professional career in R&D and manufacturing at the Sherwin Williams Company before moving on to a successful management consulting career with Accenture. A highly sought-after speaker and educator, Alan is a graduate of the Wickliffe City Schools, Cleveland State University (B.A.) and Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management (MBA). Alan is passionate about giving back to his community and serving the underserved. He is a proud member of the Cleveland (OH) Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., Ethisphere’s Equity & Social Justice Initiative Advisory Council and currently serves as a Board Director for The Cleveland State University Foundation, Urban League of Greater Cleveland, Recovery Resources, New Bridge Cleveland, Creating Healthier Communities and the National Society of High School Scholars Foundation. To illustrate his steadfast commitment to education, Alan established the Alan K. Nevel and Family Scholarship Endowment for underrepresented minority students attending his alma mater, Cleveland State University.
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Cristina Gonzalez, MD, MEd
Professor of MedicineAlbert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center
Bronx, NYCristina M. Gonzalez, M.D., M.Ed., an alumna of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, completed her internal medicine residency at New York Presbyterian Hospital- Weill Cornell Medical Center, and her medical education research fellowship at University of Cincinnati, earning a Master’s Degree in Medical Education. Upon completion of that fellowship she was selected as a Scholar in the Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This prestigious four-year award launched her research program designing, implementing, and evaluating interventions aimed at implicit bias recognition and management in clinical encounters. She was subsequently selected as a Scholar in the Macy Faculty Scholars Program of the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation to continue advancing her work. Dr. Gonzalez is an internationally renowned expert in the development of skills-based curricular interventions in implicit bias recognition and management (IBRM) for physicians across the continuum of training and practice. In 2019 she transitioned from foundation funding and was awarded NIH funding from the National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities. This grant provides five years of funding to design and validate novel metrics facilitating future evaluation of interventions focused on IBRM with robust, clinically relevant outcome metrics. In 2022 she was selected as a Scholar in the National Academy of Medicine’s Scholars in Diagnostic Excellence program. This funding mechanism will enable her to continue her work in IBRM through the lens of equity in diagnosis. She recently joined New York University Grossman School of Medicine as a Professor of Medicine and Population Health and an Associate Director for the Institute for Excellence in Health Equity.
