Hospitals in pursuit of excellence

Diversity Leadership

A commitment to diversity came first. That was followed by specific action projects to increase diversity in management and leadership and increase cultural proficiency in health care.  In early 2006, an ad-hoc committee at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, reviewed the organization’s work on diversity leadership and outlined seven major challenges and corresponding recommendations. In response, senior leaders created the Diversity Leadership Council, with members from across the organization, to follow up recommendations. The DLC’s initial areas of focus included hiring and developing more women and underrepresented minorities for leadership roles, establishing performance measurement strategies to hold senior executives and managers accountable for advancing diversity goals, and expanding education and training on diversity issues. All staff and faculty are required to participate in online diversity training, and the executive leadership council must have formal diversity training and attend at least two Rush diversity events annually. Women now fill about  44 percent of new or vacated senior executive positions and underrepresented minorities fill 22 percent of those positions, an increase from 34 percent and 2 percent, respectively, for those job positions in 2006.

For more information, contact Terry Peterson, DLC chair, at Terry_Peterson@rush.edu.