Strategies to Achieve Equity and Excellence

Gita is a passionate population health professional and seasoned healthcare transactional attorney with a successful history of accelerating efforts to tackle health and health care disparities; diversity, equity and inclusion; the social determinants of health and care coordination. A native of Chicago, IL, Gita designs and executes critical strategies to strengthen the US health system and address causes of morbidity, mortality and disease. 

Currently, Gita lends her voice and extensive expertise to US healthcare system executives and senior management as they work to generate novel health equity, diversity and inclusion portfolios. Here are some examples of her ongoing commitments:

• The development of a comprehensive health equity educational module for a national health system with over 250,000 employees to build workforce capacity around cutting edge and emerging concepts in health care. 
• A multi-year health equity roadmap for a health system.
• The launch of a new national Health Equity Center of Excellence—an innovative model she will design to continue to promote a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion in health care.
• A first of its kind national partnership that supports stronger connections between health care organizations and local public health agencies. 
• The rebrand and restructure of a local Institute for Multicultural Health into a national community of practice to address the social determinants of health.
• The design and execution of an "Exploring Unconscious Bias" board retreat workshop.
• A racial equity community of practice and strategic plan for a behavioral health organization.

At the end of 2018, Gita transitioned away from her role as Senior Advisor, Population Health and Equity at the American Hospital Association (AHA), where she reported to the VP of Clinical Affairs and interim President/CEO of the Institute for Diversity and Health Equity. During her 18-month engagement, Gita help to design, develop and execute a successful launch of four new national population health projects, including the AHA’s Hospital Community Cooperative (HCC). HCC is the AHA’s first initiative designed with a goal of increasing overall life expectancy by creating the next generation of innovative hospital-community partnerships. Another program, the Partnership for Public Health, was formed to bridge the divide between healthcare and public health and is funded as part of a 5-year cooperative agreement Gita helped to secure from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). 

Since 2008, Gita has provided insight on evolving population health opportunities to diverse organizations, including the American Heart Association; Healthcare Ready; the City of West Chicago, Wayne County, MI Department of Health; UChicago Medicine, Henry Ford Health System, Sinai Health System, Mary Washington Healthcare and Equity Matters Baltimore. In her role as Senior Director, Programs and Strategy at the National Collaborative for Health Equity in Washington, DC, Gita managed its flagship program, formerly known as Place Matters, and led it to a successful rebranding as the Collaboratives for Health Equity, a national community of practice.

Gita has received public recognition for her service and leadership. In 2019, Gita was selected as one of Diversity MBA's 100 under 50 emerging and executive leaders. In 2017, Gita was inducted into Marquis Who’s Who in America and in 2016 she was inducted into the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health. In 2016, she was a recipient of the Community Leadership Award by the US President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition and received the Circle of Service Award from the American Heart Association. A former member of the University of Illinois Alumni Association’s Board of Directors for the School of Public Health, Gita is a proud recipient of the 2015 UIAA Loyalty Award given to alumni who have shown excellence in leadership and service to their alma mater. In 2011, Gita received the Excellence in Health Equity Award at the Minority Health in the Midwest conference. 

Gita holds a JD from Loyola University Chicago School of Law with a Certificate in Health Law, and a Master of Healthcare Administration from the University of Illinois School of Public Health. In her spare time, Gita enjoys travel, art galleries, Latin jazz and walking groups.