Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Angela Talton, Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer at City of Hope

Transcript

Angela Talton, Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer at City of Hope · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

• 0:00
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  This is Laura Dedo with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
• 0:40
  I'm thrilled today to be joined by a Angela Talton System,
• 0:43
  senior Vice President and Chief Diversity,
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  equity and Inclusion officer at City of Hope. Angela,
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  it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
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  Laura, thank you so much for this invitation.
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  Now, I know we have a lot to talk about.
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  Right now is a really exciting time in healthcare and a lot is being done around
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  diversity, inclusion and, and really health equity too.
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  But before we dive into my questions,
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  can you tell me a little bit more about yourself and your background?
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  Absolutely.
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  And thank you so much for this opportunity to just share a little bit about City
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  of Hope's commitment to D e I. Um,
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  I've been with City of Hope for a little bit over two years now, and,
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  and I joined, um,
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  taking on this role to develop and implement a holistic and
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  integrated vision and strategy for advancing diversity, equity and inclusion.
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  Um, I also focus in on measurable accountability throughout the
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  organization. So my team and I, we collaborate with the administrative,
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  clinical and research teams and we're ensuring d e i is integral to our
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  operations, um, throughout every aspect, be it our recruitment,
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  our leadership development, health equity, community benefit,
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  you name it. Um, I've been in d e I for a little bit over 10 years,
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  most recently serving as the Chief Diversity officer at Nielsen,
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  the market research company. But, um,
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  my path to this work has not followed the traditional path. Um,
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  I, I didn't start in hr. My background is actually operations.
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  I've led very large 2000 plus employee call centers. And,
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  you know, that's an amazing opportunity to learn about people,
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  what motivates them, how to engage them. But I'll tell you,
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  my day-to-day focus was also on strategy.
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  It was on metrics and providing measurable, impactful outcomes.
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  So I always worked to connect the dots of the department's strategic
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  focus to that overarching strategy of the organization.
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  And with City of Hope, you know, that's about curing cancer,
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  but not for a small subset of the population for, for all patients.
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  Absolutely. I really appreciate you talking about that because I know, you know,
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  it,
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  it is such an important space to be in and really making sure that you're able
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  to hit patients and, and meet them where they're at and,
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  and anybody in the community that needs treatment and services,
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  being able to provide that for them. So, you know, what's it like to, uh,
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  kind of work through, um, you know,
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  so many different situations to touch so many different types of people,
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  and how do you make sure you're constantly, uh,
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  filling in the blind spots or, or areas that you know,
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  you may not have realized in the past, um, you know,
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  really needed additional support.
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  Thank you for that. Um, you know, at, at City of Hope,
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  we know that cancer is not one disease, but hundreds,
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  every tumor can be different and affect different populations in unique
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  ways. And that's why genomic research, that ability to, um,
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  detect the unique thumbprint, right?
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  That unique signature and precision medicine,
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  identifying the best treatment options.
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  That's why that's so important at City of Hope.
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  It's actually the cornerstone of what we call our bench to bedside
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  approach to cancer treatment.
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  So connecting that patient d n a to innovations with
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  medicine is the sheer definition of focusing on diversity.
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  It's understanding and embracing differences, right?
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  And then we add that to our focus on ensuring our clinical trials
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  reflect the diversity of the US population and,
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  and people who are disproportionately affected by certain types of
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  tumors. That's connecting the dots to equity and inclusion.
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  So with our D e I strategic focus,
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  connecting that to City of Hope's overarching strategy,
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  we can meet our employees where they are on the d e I learning journey and build
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  awareness while solidifying and understanding of city of hope's vision,
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  mission, and values.
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  Got it. I, I think that's so important and,
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  and definitely something that really makes a difference. Um,
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  and I know a lot of organizations are trying to work through and understand how
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  they can do something as meaningful on a large scale, um, as well.
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  So I, I'm wondering too,
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  if you could tell us about maybe one of the most exciting and impactful
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  initiatives or projects that you're working on right now. Uh,
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  what really stands out to you as being something that, um,
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  is unique to City of Hope in, in really, uh, a proud spot for you?
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  Well, right now,
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  our focus is to deliver a one City of Hope experience.
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  So, as you probably recall, in February of 2022,
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  we completed the acquisition of Cancer Treatment Centers of America,
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  and that's really transforming City of Hope into one of the largest national
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  cancer care organizations. You know, this combined organization, we,
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  we serve about 115,000 patients with
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  11,000 employees in California now are Arizona,
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  Illinois, and Georgia. And, um,
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  so what I'm working on is sharing that d e I strategy, tailoring it of course,
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  to the local nuances of our new locations, and, um,
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  making sure that we are delivering and implementing
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  that strategy. Our, um,
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  our mission is to infuse d e I into the DNA
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  of City of Hope. So with this larger footprint,
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  we're really working on relating d e I to those
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  local programs, initiatives, partnerships,
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  so that we are inclusive of our staff, the patients,
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  their families and caregivers, of course, faculty, students, residents,
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  as well as the community at large, and,
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  and really building a strategy that is, uh,
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  that is sustainable.
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  Absolutely. I, I love that. And I think it's so important to, like,
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  as you mentioned, just have that, um, front of mind and,
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  and building that right type of strategy that is, is going to, um,
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  make a difference. Now, I, I know there's a lot of challenges out there,
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  whether it's, um,
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  just in general economic challenges in the healthcare space too.
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  What do you see as some of the biggest issues that you're following right now in
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  healthcare, um, whether they're, you know,
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  roadblocks or drivers of change in any way, shape or form?
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  I'd just love to hear about some of the things that you really have your eye on
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  today.
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  So, um, I'd say it's probably this, uh,
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  this gap in the US between this current era
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  of cancer innovation and the people who need and can
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  actually access those breakthroughs.
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  It seems like our industry just needs to close that gap by
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  advancing equity for all patients,
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  not just those who are seeking care at our own centers or
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  with our own medicine. And City of Hope leads a coalition,
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  it's called Cancer Care is Different,
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  and this group is advocating for systemic change
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  to increase underserved populations access to specialized cancer
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  care. Laura, um,
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  the coalition actually championed the California Cancer Care
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  Equity Act, which was passed into law last year.
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  And its goal is to ensure that all Californians, uh,
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  including those on Medi-Cal,
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  have the right to request treatment at an NCI designated cancer center
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  where they can enroll in clinical trials and receive some of this, uh,
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  leading edge treatment. And, and, you know, just to share a few stats, you know,
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  despite having the highest rates of Medi-Cal enrollment, um,
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  with African Americans at 44.3%,
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  and Hispanics at 44.9%,
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  30 of the 30% of them say that the quality of care
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  that's accessible to them in their area is a barrier to
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  seeking treatment. And you, you know,
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  patients insured by Medi-Cal,
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  the ones that are diagnosed with breast, colon, lung, and rectal cancers,
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  they're more likely to be diagnosed at an advanced stage
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  of the disease and have less favorable five year survival rates.
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  So, you know, this level of advocacy is really important at City of Hope.
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  Absolutely. That's such a great point,
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  and thank you so much for sharing the data to back up. Uh,
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  it is just fascinating and, um, I'm glad that you mentioned research and, uh,
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  innovation too, because I know that it is really an important place where, um,
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  a lot of these efforts towards, you know,
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  bridging the gap in health equity and health disparities, um, really make,
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  make a lot of work and make a lot of headway. Um,
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  before we wrap up our conversation,
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  I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about the most I important thing
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  that healthcare executives can do now to make sure that they're setting
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  themselves up for success in the future,
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  especially with that health equity and diversity equity inclusion lens.
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  I think that's something that so many organizations are really trying to focus
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  on in the next year, and I would love from your perspective, some of the, um,
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  you know,
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  really important key things that leaders should do with an eye on the future.
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  Thank you, Laura. Um, I am gonna have to give you three things though,
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  but I will prioritize them. Um, thing one is, uh, leading by example.
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  And you know, what I'd say is my ceo, Robert Stone,
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  he demonstrates this quality so incredibly well. Um,
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  you know, he speaks to the importance of diversity
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  in terms of our staff as well.
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  40% of patients are more likely to
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  follow the treatment of a clinical team that
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  represents their diverse community. So,
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  so representation also is important,
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  and hiring from a diverse slate of candidates is something that we really
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  try to focus on. And I'm pleased that recently at our senior most ranks,
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  we've hired Phil o' as our system president,
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  Joanne Za Hague is our chief business officer, and Dr.
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  John Carton as our new director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center,
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  and our chief Scientific officer, priority two,
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  I think should be sustainability, really building initiatives to last,
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  not just for a headline, and, you know,
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  really focusing in on that health equity piece as, as you mentioned. So,
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  you know, I I think it's not just about, you know,
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  that old adage about giving you food or teaching you to fish.
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  I think it's important, like supporting HBCUs and msi,
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  it's important to fo to support them financially. Yes.
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  But also with scholarships and fellowships and internships that are going
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  to lead to employment. I think that's important.
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  And then three is infusing d ei into every part of the day-to-day operations.
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  So it can't just be a focus during a crisis or civil
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  unrest. It's,
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  it's imperative that d e I strategies are holistic and,
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  um, that there's this conscious focus on inclusion from hiring to
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  clinical trial participation.
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  It is important to respect and reflect differences.
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  That's so critical and definitely something that I know, you know,
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  is important to bake into your culture, as you mentioned. And, you know,
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  when you think about, um,
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  making sure that people are thinking through how, um,
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  important it is to keep diversity, equity,
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  and inclusion in mind in every action that they're taking,
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  in policy that they're making, you know, where do you start with that?
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  How do you really begin an organization that maybe has never even had a D E I
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  policy in the past, or let alone a department? Where do you begin to,
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  to try to infuse that within the whole, uh, team and everybody, um,
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  in the decisions they're making on a daily basis?
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  Thank you. I, I'll tell you, part of our implementation roadmap,
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  um,
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  it includes a focus on building awareness.
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  And we do that with interactive scenario based training that we actually
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  have co-created with our vendor, the Kaleidoscope Group.
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  And this training is designed to not only expand knowledge
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  about things like conscious inclusion and other d e I tenants,
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  but it's to demonstrate what actions and behaviors are
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  needed to create a more consciously inclusive city of hope.
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  And so, you know,
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  as we practice these consciously inclusive actions and behaviors,
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  what we're seeing is a cultural transformation,
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  and it's an impact that can be measured.
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  Right now we're measuring it one way as with our employee engagement survey,
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  and we're seeing year over year improvement across the entire system.
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  Um,
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  and especially with questions related to relationship with my manager or with my
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  coworkers or that patient experience. And, um, also from a patient perspective,
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  one of the things that we focus in on is increasing the diversity of our
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  clinical trials.
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  And we make this a point to ensure that we talk about
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  it throughout the organization,
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  that we want our trials to be representative of the US
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  population. And, you know, just last year, our demographics,
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  particularly for the Hispanic Latinx populations, um,
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  not only on par but exceeds the national average at
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  27.8%, and with black African Americans, it's, uh, it's,
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  uh, 6%. So, you know, the,
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  these are areas that are critically important to us to demonstrate
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  and to communicate about with our staff and to make sure
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  that that commitment to d e I is something that we, uh, that we,
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  that we celebrate at City of Hope.
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  Absolutely. I love that. Angela,
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  thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today.
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  This has been a really fun and informative discussion,
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  and I look forward to connecting with you again soon.
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  Thank you, Laura. I really appreciate this opportunity.