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