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Kara Odom Walker MD | |
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![]() Walker at TANF Awards of Excellence in 2018 | |
Secretary of Delaware Department of Health and Social Services | |
In office February 6, 2017 –June 2020 | |
Governor | John Carney |
Personal details | |
Alma mater | University of Delaware,BS,1999 Jefferson Medical College,MD,2004 Johns Hopkins School of Public Health,MPH,2003 University of California,Los Angeles,Fielding School of Public Health,MSHS,2009 |
Previous Workplaces | University of California,San Francisco,2010 –2012 Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute,2012 –2017 |
Current Workplace | Nemours Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children |
Kara Odom Walker,MD,MPH,MSHS is a health policy leader and serves as the Chief Population Health Officer at Nemours Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children,where she leads all aspects of population health strategy,research,innovation and implementation. Her scope of responsibility includes the advancement of the overall health and well-being of children,both broadly and among the populations served by Nemours Children's. Dr. Walker is a board-certified,practicing family physician.
Dr. Walker also leads Nemours Delaware Valley primary care network and its Value-Based Services Organization. She collaborates with Nemours operational leaders and shares accountability for managed care initiatives,including medically complex case management,school-based wellness programs and other services for specific populations.
From February 2017 to June 2020,she served as Secretary of the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services. Prior to holding that position,she served as the Deputy Chief Science Officer at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) In 2018,she was elected to the National Academy of Medicine.
Odom Walker attended high school in Bear,Delaware and graduated as valedictorian from Caravel Academy high school. [1] She then attended the University of Delaware where she graduated cum laude with her bachelor's degree in chemical engineering in 1999. [2] She then attended Jefferson Medical College,where she received her Doctor of Medicine in 2004. During that time,she also received a Master of Public Health degree in Health Policy and Management from Johns Hopkins University in 2003.
Odom Walker then moved to California to complete her residency training specializing in family medicine at the University of California,San Francisco. She then became a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Fellow at the University of California,Los Angeles,where she also completed a Masters of Health Services Research in 2009. [1] During her time there,she studied how hospital closures impacted underserved minority populations in Los Angeles. [3]
In 2010,Odom Walker became an Assistant Clinical Professor in Family and Community Medicine at University of California,San Francisco,researching health disparities and working to understand how best to provide high quality,coordinated care with patients' needs in mind. [4] In 2012,Odom Walker became a Program Officer at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and became Deputy Chief Science Officer in 2013. After 5 years of service at PCORI,Odom Walker transitioned to public service.
On February 6,2017,Odom Walker was sworn in as Secretary of the Delaware Department of Health and Services,working under the administration of Governor John Carney. As Secretary,she has worked to develop policies and programs to prioritize patient outcomes in Delaware's healthcare system. [5] In this role,she has overseen Delaware's response to the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic,paying special attention to elderly citizens and vulnerable populations. [6] In March 2020,she also warned that half of Delaware's positive COVID-19 tests were among people aged 18 to 49,urging caution among younger populations that may have thought they had low risk of developing serious symptoms. [7]
In June 2020,Odom Walker stepped down from her post as Delaware Health Secretary to begin a position at the Washington branch of Nemours Children's Health System as Senior Vice President and Chief Health Officer. [8]
The Nemours Foundation is a non-profit organization in Jacksonville,Florida,created through the last will and testament of philanthropist Alfred I. du Pont by his widow Jessie Ball duPont in 1936,and dedicated to improving the health of children. The Foundation operates Nemours Children’s Health,among America’s largest multi-state,multi-hospital health systems dedicated solely to the health and well-being of children. The Nemours Children’s model of health includes pediatric clinical care,research,medical education,policy,prevention and population health.
The Priscilla Chan and MarkZuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG) is a public hospital in San Francisco,California,under the purview of the city's Department of Public Health. It serves as the only Level I trauma center for the 1.5 million residents of San Francisco and northern San Mateo County. It is the largest acute inpatient and rehabilitation hospital for psychiatric patients in the city. Additionally,it is the only acute hospital in San Francisco that provides 24-hour psychiatric emergency services.
Judith A. Salerno,MD,MS is a physician executive and the President of the New York Academy of Medicine.
Lisa A. Cooper is an American internal medicine and public health physician who is the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Equity in Health and Healthcare at Johns Hopkins University,jointly appointed in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine,Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and in the departments of Health,Behavior and Society,Health Policy and Management;Epidemiology;and International Health in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is the James F. Fries Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine,Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity,and Director of the Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute. Cooper is also a Gilman Scholar and a core faculty member in the Welch Center for Prevention,Epidemiology,and Clinical Research. She is internationally recognized for her research on the impact of race,ethnicity and gender on the patient-physician relationship and subsequent health disparities. She is a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). In 2007,she received a MacArthur Fellowship.
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is a United States–based non-profit institute created through the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. It is a government-sponsored organization charged with funding Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) that assists consumers,clinicians,purchasers,and policymakers to make informed decisions intended to improve health care at both the individual and population levels,according to the Institute of Medicine. Medicare considers the Institute's research in determining what sorts of therapies it will cover,although the institute's authorizing legislation set certain limits on uses of the research by federal health agencies.
Patient-centered outcomes are results of health care that can be obtained from a healthcare professional's ability to care for their patients and their patient's families in ways that are meaningful,valuable and helpful to the patient. Patient-centered outcomes focus attention on a patient's beliefs,opinions,and needs in conjunction with a physician's medical expertise and assessment. In the United States,the growth of the healthcare industry has put pressure on providers to see more patients in less time,fill out paperwork in a timely manner,and stay current on the ever-changing medical advancements that occur daily. This increased pressure on healthcare workers has put stress on the provider-patient relationship. The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is a United States Government funded research institute that funds studies that compare healthcare options to find out what options and situations work best for patients of different circumstances. PCORI uses their research to increase the quality of healthcare and push the healthcare system towards a more patient-centered approach. The Beryl Institute,a non-profit institute dedicated to the improvement of patient experience through Evidence-based research,released data that found that over 90% of patients believe patient-centered outcomes to be "extremely important" to their healthcare experience. Individuals that participated in this study by the Beryl Institute claimed that the aspects of healthcare that they see as most influential to their healthcare experience include effective communication,pain management,a clear and well-explained plan of care and a clean and comfortable environment. In addition to this data,women were found to have the largest issues with lack of patient-centered care,reporting higher rates of pain and less empathy than men.
Consuelo H. Wilkins is an American physician,biomedical researcher,and health equity expert. She is Senior Vice President and Senior Associate Dean for Health Equity and Inclusive Excellence at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She is a professor of medicine in the Department of Medicine,Division of Geriatrics at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and has a joint appointment at Meharry Medical College. She additionally serves as one of the principal investigators of the Vanderbilt Clinical and Translational Science Award,Director of the Meharry-Vanderbilt Community Engaged Research Core (CTSA) and as vice president for Health Equity at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Terri H. Finkel is an American pediatric rheumatologist and immunologist who is the Children's Foundation of Memphis Endowed Chair and tenured professor of pediatrics at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Previously,she was the pediatrician-in-chief,chair of pediatrics and chief scientific officer at Nemours Children's Hospital. She is known for her research into autoimmunity,AIDS,juvenile rheumatoid arthritis,lupus,and cancer. Her work has been recognized in more than 200 publications,10 U.S. patents,and 4 licensed technologies. Finkel has been placed in the top one percent of American pediatric rheumatologists by U.S. News &World Report. Her numerous honors include being named among America's Top Doctors by Castle Connolly every year since 2011 and induction into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1996.
Valerie Montgomery Rice is an American obstetrician,gynecologist,and college administrator. She is the president and dean of Morehouse School of Medicine.
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Thea L. James is an American emergency medical physician as well as an Associate Professor,Associate Chief Medical Officer,and Vice President of the Mission at the Boston Medical Center in Boston,Massachusetts.
Nemours Children's Hospital,Florida (NCHFL) is a freestanding,130-bed,pediatric acute care children's hospital located in Lake Nona Medical City in Orlando,Florida. It is affiliated with the University of Central Florida College of Medicine and is a member of the Nemours Children's Health,one of two freestanding hospitals in the system. The hospital,a multi-year recipient of The Leapfrog Award for quality and safety,provides comprehensive pediatric specialties and subspecialties to infants,children,teens,and young adults aged 0–21 throughout Central Florida and beyond. It features a regional pediatric intensive-care unit,neonatal intensive care units,and cardiac intensive care unit,serving both central Florida and the greater Florida regions.
Jacqueline Nwando Olayiwola is an American family physician,public health professional,author,professor,and women's empowerment leader. She is the Senior Vice President and Chief Health Equity Officer of Humana and a chair and Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Prior to her appointment at OSU,she served as the inaugural Chief Clinical Transformation Officer for RubiconMD,an eConsult platform that improves primary care access to specialty care for underserved patients. Olayiwola is dedicated to serving marginalized patient populations and addressing the social determinants through community and technology-based infrastructures of healthcare reform. She has published articles on the use of eConsults and telehealth to provide underserved patients with primary care treatments so that they have a low cost and efficient means of reaching specialized care. Olayiwola has founded numerous non-profits and healthcare start-ups such as GIRLTALK Inc,Inspire Health Solutions LLC,and the Minority Women Professionals are MVPs Program. She has been recognized at the national and international level for her work and efforts to educate,advocate and provide healthcare to those in need. She was named Woman of the Year by the American Telemedicine Association in 2019,and received the Public Health Innovator Award from Harvard School of Public Health in 2019,as well as being named one of America's Top Family Doctors from 2007 to 2008 by the Consumers Research Council of America.
Katrina Alison Armstrong is an American internist. She is the chief executive officer of the Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Armstrong is the first woman to lead Columbia's medical school and medical center. She was the first woman to hold the position of Physician-in-Chief at Massachusetts General Hospital and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2013 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020.
Kimberly Sherell Johnson is an American clinical investigator. She is a Full professor of medicine at Duke University and director of Duke REACH Equity. In March 2020,Johnson's academic work was recognized with the first Richard Payne Outstanding Achievement in Diversity,Equity and Inclusion Award from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
Leigh Ebony Boulware is an American general internist,physician-scientist,and clinical epidemiologist. She is the Dean of Wake Forest School of Medicine and chief science officer and vice chief academic officer of Advocate Health. Boulware formerly served as the Nanaline Duke Distinguished Professor of Medicine and director of the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at the Duke University School of Medicine.
A. Eugene Washington is an American physician,clinical investigator,and administrator. He served as the chancellor for health affairs at Duke University,and the president and chief executive officer of the Duke University Health System,from 2015 to 2023. His research considers gynaecology,health disparities,and public health policy. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 1997 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2014.
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