Nydia Gonzalez is the Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer for JPS Health Network, Tarrant County’s tax-supported healthcare system that includes an acute care hospital, the county’s only Level 1 Trauma Center and only psychiatric emergency center and more than 60 unique points of care including 20 school-based health centers. JPS Health Network was named a 2016 Top Places to Work in the Dallas – Fort Worth area by the Dallas Morning News.
Ms. Gonzalez’s division, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI), oversees cultural competency education, diversity compliance affirmative action, and business supplier diversity. The role of the ODI is to ensure that equity, diversity and inclusion are considered at the highest levels of institutional governance and established as a core organizational competence.
Changing demographics, the emergence of a knowledge-based economy and increases among the racially, ethnically, culturally and linguistically diverse populations residing in Tarrant County have provided a focus on the benefits of cultural competence at JPS. At the patient level, the presence of culturally competent employees builds trust, provides patient confidence and reduces costs associated with various types of medical errors. At the provider level, advancements in cultural competency can improve quality and accreditation scores. Minimizing racial and ethnic disparities requires not only culturally competent clinicians but also leaders who create an organizational environment in which cultural competence is enabled, cultivated and reinforced.
During the course of her career, Ms. Gonzalez has held diversity leadership positions in academic healthcare with The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, in higher education with Yale University, and in corporate America with Dell Computer Corporation.
Ms. Gonzalez believes a global perspective matters and that the fabric of our lives are given color, shape and texture by those close to us as well as those we meet in passing. They are an important part of the fabric of our lives – creating a global tapestry of friendship.
