LEADERSHIP
;BETTER HEALTHCARE THROUGH DIVERSITY;
Donnie
Perkins
Chief Diversity
Officer of University
Hospitals, on
Managing Healthcare
Reform and an
Increasingly
Diverse Population
BY JOY BUCHANAN
166 DiversityInc
“My life has
been about
helping to make
a difference for
those that are
underrepresented
and underserved
and helping
them to
achieve equal
outcomes.”
DONNIE PERKINS
Cleveland’s University Hospitals, No. 5 in The DiversityInc Top 5 Hospital Systems, has strong commitment from CEO Thomas Zenty III, a diversity council in place to set an agenda for diver-
sity management, and a history of commitment
to providing culturally competent medical
care. But there are significant challenges facing
the system, including nationwide healthcare
reform, recruiting and advancing talent from
traditionally underrepresented groups and,
most importantly, eliminating health dispari-
ties, says Donnie Perkins, vice president for
diversity and inclusion.
Perkins sees those challenges as
opportunities. “We’re trying to identify
best practices around a number of areas
including health disparities, access and
cultural competency to ensure that we
provide the best level of patient care
that we can,” he says. Taking over the
