Humana Names Nwando Olayiwola, M.D., Chief Health Equity Officer
January 25 2021 - 8:30AM
Business Wire
New position created to identify, track and
address health inequity, as underscored by COVID-19 pandemic
Leading health and well-being company Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM)
has named Nwando Olayiwola, M.D., MPH, FAAFP, to the position of
Senior Vice President and Chief Health Equity Officer.
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Nwando Olayiwola, M.D., MPH, FAAFP
(Photo: Business Wire)
In this newly created role, Dr. Olayiwola will report directly
to Humana Chief Medical and Corporate Affairs Officer William
Shrank, M.D., and will set direction and establish strategy to
promote health equity across all Humana lines of business,
including its care delivery assets. She will lead work to define
enterprise-wide measures of equity, create goals for improvement
and coordinate efforts to achieve them. In addition, Dr. Olayiwola
will further Humana’s focus on cultural sensitivity, ensuring that
it’s fully integrated into the design and development of Humana
clinical programs, products, services and all member interactions
and communications, while working collaboratively with the broader
health care community to advance health equity so health care can
work better for everyone, regardless of background, age or economic
status. Dr. Olayiwola will assume the role effective April 5,
2021.
The move comes as the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the
prevalence and damaging effects of health disparities in the U.S.
health care system, which have been well-documented:
- According to the Boston University COVID Tracking Project,
compared to White Americans, Black, Indigenous, and Hispanic
Americans have been 1.32, 2.03, and 1.69 times more likely to
contract COVID-19, and 1.61, 1.21, and 1.25 times more likely to
die from the disease.
- According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
Black Americans are 23% more likely to die from cardiovascular
disease than White Americans.
- A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association
found that the gap in life expectancy between the richest 1% and
poorest 1% of Americans was 14.6 years for men and 10.1 years for
women.
“Humana’s longstanding commitment to caring for vulnerable
populations, partnering with communities to address health-related
social needs, and employing a holistic, integrated approach to care
for our members offers a unique platform to meaningfully promote
health equity,” said Dr. Shrank. “Dr. Olayiwola is highly regarded
as an innovator and expert in harnessing technology to increase
access to care for underserved and disenfranchised populations, as
well as designing and implementing impactful clinical programs to
address the personal needs and challenges people face in achieving
their best health. We are fortunate to have her join us to expand
and enhance Humana’s work on health equity.”
A longtime advocate for the underserved, Dr. Olayiwola brings
more than 20 years of experience in clinical and academic medicine,
public health and health systems redesign. She joins Humana from
The Ohio State University (OSU) College of Medicine, where she has
served as Chair and Professor in the Department of Family and
Community Medicine, one of the nation’s largest academic family
medicine departments, and Founding Director of the Center for
Primary Care Innovation and Transformation. She also practices
family medicine at OSU’s Outpatient Care East clinic, caring for a
largely medically underserved patient population.
“Unfortunately, we know there are hidden barriers to health care
in our country, and I have always cared deeply about those who – by
no fault of their own – have fallen through the cracks in our
health care system,” said Dr. Olayiwola. “The field of health
equity is growing and maturing, and I’m grateful to have the
opportunity to concentrate my efforts in this important area,
especially for a highly regarded, mission-driven organization like
Humana. I was immediately impressed with the company’s dedication
to population health through its Bold Goal work, as well as its
commitment to ensuring that high-quality health care is equally
available to anyone, no matter what demographic they come from or
their status in life.”
Prior to her time at OSU, Dr. Olayiwola served as the inaugural
Chief Clinical Transformation Officer for RubiconMD, where she
worked to improve access to specialty care for underserved patients
via telehealth technology. Dr. Olayiwola previously served as the
Director of the Center for Excellence in Primary Care at the
University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where she was also
an Associate Professor. While at UCSF, she also provided clinical
care to underserved and refugee patients at the Zuckerberg San
Francisco General Hospital. Before UCSF, she was the Chief Medical
Officer of Community Health Center, Inc., Connecticut’s largest
Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) system.
Dr. Olayiwola was a Commonwealth Fund/Harvard University Fellow
in Minority Health Policy at Harvard Medical School and received
her master’s degree in public health with a concentration in health
policy from the Harvard School of Public Health. She obtained her
undergraduate degree in Human Nutrition/Pre-Medicine at The Ohio
State University, Summa Cum Laude and With Distinction, and her
medical degree from the Ohio State University/Cleveland Clinic
Foundation. She completed her residency in Family Medicine at
Columbia University/New York Presbyterian, where she was also a
Chief Resident.
Dr. Olayiwola has published extensively in peer-reviewed medical
journals and is the recipient of numerous awards, including the
Martin Luther King, Jr. Leadership Award from UCSF, the Woman of
the Year Award from the American Telemedicine Association, the
Alumni Achievement Award from the OSU College of Medicine and the
Public Health Innovator Award from the Harvard School of Public
Health. Her October 2020 Tedx Talk is considered a clarion call
toward health equity.
About Humana
Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) is committed to helping our millions of
medical and specialty members achieve their best health. Our
successful history in care delivery and health plan administration
is helping us create a new kind of integrated care with the power
to improve health and well-being and lower costs. Our efforts are
leading to a better quality of life for people with Medicare,
families, individuals, military service personnel, and communities
at large.
To accomplish that, we support physicians and other health care
professionals as they work to deliver the right care in the right
place for their patients, our members. Our range of clinical
capabilities, resources and tools – such as in-home care,
behavioral health, pharmacy services, data analytics and wellness
solutions – combine to produce a simplified experience that makes
health care easier to navigate and more effective.
More information regarding Humana is available to investors via
the Investor Relations page of the company’s web site at
www.humana.com, including copies of:
- Annual reports to stockholders
- Securities and Exchange Commission filings
- Most recent investor conference presentations
- Quarterly earnings news releases and conference calls
- Calendar of events
- Corporate Governance information
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005176/en/
Mark Mathis Humana Corporate Communications
mmathis@humana.com
Amy Smith Humana Investor Relations amysmith@humana.com
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