Chief Health Equity Officer
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is in search of a dynamic leader with a proven track record in promoting health equity, diversity, and inclusion across the state of North Carolina. This individual will serve in a senior leadership position developing and applying innovative solutions to social determinants to health and serves as a key spokesperson for NCDHHS with a wide range of audiences including, but not limited to, media, policymaking bodies, provider organizations, and community stakeholders. The position engages experts and stakeholders in the field of health equity to develop and maintain a forward-thinking, change positive culture of continuous improvement.
Join DHHS and share your passion and skills at a forward-thinking department that daily impacts the lives of all the citizens of the State of North Carolina.
The Chief Health Equity Officer leads the overarching strategy and operational goals to promote health equity, diversity, and inclusion across all of the agency’s health and human services. As a member of the executive leadership team, the Chief Health Equity Officer is responsible for developing, implementing, facilitating, and embedding health equity strategic initiatives into every aspect of our programs, services, actions, outcomes, and internal employee culture. This role leads the efforts in addressing key social determinants of health and implementing innovative solutions. Duties include:
- Defining department-wide measures of health equity, create goals for improvement and coordinate efforts to achieve them. The core leadership responsibility of this position is reduction in health inequities and a measurable improvement in health outcomes for North Carolinians.
- Serving as the lead health equity spokesperson for NCDHHS, including with media, policymaking bodies, provider organizations, community stakeholders, and in local and state forums.
- Collaborating with the Office of the Secretary, other senior leadership and staff across NCDHHS, the Human Resources team and engage with other Cabinet agencies and the Governor’s staff as appropriate.
- Provides a framework for guiding the implementation of our department-wide equity strategy that ensures that health equity, diversity, and inclusion become a part of practice, processes, actions, and outcomes through the department.
- In consultation with division leadership, defines and ensures that appropriate metrics and dashboards are in place to measure performance and progress internally and externally towards health equity.
- Examines NCDHHS policies, procedures, and practices with an equity framework and identifies what needs to evolve, be changed, or initiated.
- Translates equity best practices into programs, initiatives, and partnerships that reduce health disparities and inequities.
- Collaborates with DHHS divisions to ensure that health equity is the core element in the DHHS strategy and data collection design and process.
- Handles equity related press inquiries and provides media interviews, when directed.
- Supports NCDHHS division-level DEI Councils and workgroups and ensures work is integrated into overall equity strategy and practice.
- Provides oversight of the Office of Health Equity, Office of Rural Health, and Division of Diversity and Inclusion.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities / Competencies
- Demonstrate experience in areas of leadership such as strategic planning, policy development and; program, project, and resource management.
- Demonstrate competency in translating data and analytics to drive decisions and establish measurable impact of established programs and policies.
- Demonstrate extensive knowledge of multiple dimensions of diversity, including but not limited to formations of identity and experiences of difference along the axes of race, gender identity, religion, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability, age, national origin, color, veteran status, and/or neurodiversity.
Minimum Education and Experience Requirements
Master's degree in a discipline relative to the program, business, or public administration from an appropriately accredited institution and seven years of managerial or supervisory experience in a closely related programmatic area;
-OR-
Bachelor’s degree as indicated above from an appropriately accredited institution and nine years of experience in a closely related program, eight of which must be managerial or supervisory experience in a closely related programmatic area;
-OR-
An equivalent combination of education and experience.
Management Preferences
Experience related to the development, education/training, administration, or institutional promotion of health equity, diversity, and inclusion, including one year of supervisory program experience. Masters, Ph.D., or Board-Certified MD or DO level strongly preferred. Work history should include experience with research, education/training, development and analysis of data, and extensive oral and written communication.