Photo caption: Rosalyn Carpenter, CommonSpirit Chief Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Community Impact Officer receiving 2022 Top Diversity Organization Award by Fawn Lopez, Publisher Emeritus of Modern Healthcare
Rosalyn Carpenter is the Chief Diversity Equity Inclusion & Community Impact Officer for CommonSpirit Health, the merged entity of Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) and Dignity Health, which encompasses 800+ care locations, approximately 150,000 employees, and $29.2 billion in revenues. Delivering clinical excellence through hospitals and care centers covering 21 states, CommonSpirit Health is accessible to nearly one in four U.S. residents.
Rosalyn Carpenter joined Catholic Health Initiatives in 2011 and served as Chief Diversity Officer. She previously held diversity leadership roles with HCA Healthcare, HealthTrust Purchasing Group, is a former CEO of the Urban League of Middle Tennessee, and previously served as the Executive Director of the Metro Human Relations Commission for Nashville & Davidson County.
Carpenter serves on various national advisory boards and committees, including the Tennessee State University Dr. Levi Watkins Jr. Institute, Meharry Medical College Health Policy Center National Advisory Board, the Catholic Health Association’s Special Committee to the Board on Diversity & Health Equity, Black Director Health Equity Agenda (BDHEA), DEI Committee of Music City Baseball , and the Journal of Healthcare Science & Humanities at Tuskegee University.
Carpenter holds a bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Administration and Planning from Tennessee State University, a planning certificate from Meharry Medical College and an MBA from Tennessee State University, Nashville.
Inspired by faith and driven by purpose, Carpenter’s leadership continues to bring light to dark spaces of inequality and allows for DEI best practices to be acknowledged and celebrated. The work that Carpenter has led in support of supplier diversity has ensured access to significant business opportunities for ethnic minorities and women for over two decades.
Carpenter, along with CommonSpirit’s Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging Vice President level leaders continue to drive KPI’s, facilitate Courageous Conversations and further CommonSpirit’s culture of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. Carpenter is most proud of the distinction of having health equity metrics reported to the CommonSpirit Board and being designated as one of twelve Strategy priorities.
Carpenter speaks with excitement about the power of education and getting proximate with the community by sharing information important to Black and Brown communities to impact their quality of life and increase early disease detection. Carpenter is currently partnering with CommonSpirit’s Physician Enterprise to eliminate variation in care and address race-based algorithms. Focused on addressing chronic kidney disease, Carpenter is working with a national team, Dignity Health Arizona Central & West Valley Market, and Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center to launch a campaign to educate the community on an updated calculation of the eGFR (Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate) that is more accurate and equitable across all patient populations, especially for African Americans. An earlier diagnosis of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) allows patients to be referred to a nephrologist, receive medication to slow kidney disease, and be put on transplant lists all of which improves outcomes and quality of life. Carpenter believes that getting the word out to communities of faith and civic organizations will benefit the total community – thus implementing DEI through a health equity lens.
An experienced champion, having built CommonSpirit Health’s Office of Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging in the Office of the CEO, Carpenter leveraged her accountabilities to lead a cross functional team of leaders to develop a health equity roadmap that resulted in 5 priority areas and 24 initiatives that are being developed, scaled, and implemented to advance health equity, build data insights needed drive decision-making to promote health equity, standardize equitable whole person care, partner more effectively for impact, and champion racial justice. Carpenter has been instrumental in leading, collaborating, and supporting enterprise efforts that are considered groundbreaking and seen as leading the nation in health equity.
CommonSpirit Health’s organizational commitment to advancing health equity includes:
More in Common Alliance
More in Common Alliance, a historic partnership between Morehouse School of Medicine and CommonSpirit Health, is aimed at addressing the underlying causes of health inequities, including the lack of representation among care providers. Together, we are spearheading a 10-year, $100-million initiative to expand undergraduate and graduate medical education and train the next generation of culturally competent health clinicians and researchers.
Commitment to Reach Net-Zero by 2040
In an effort to address climate change, an underlying cause of health inequities, CommonSpirit Health has an industry-leading commitment to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 with an interim target to cut operational emissions in half by 2030. As one of the nation’s largest, most diverse and leading health systems, CommonSpirit’s pledge will impact the climate crisis by delivering more sustainable, resilient, and climate-smart health care across its 21-state footprint.
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science Partnership
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU), one of the nation’s four historically Black medical schools, and CommonSpirit Health, are working on responding to the national nursing shortage through a new partnership that is growing and diversifying the nursing workforce. The partnership is expanding access to quality education and training by adding faculty and resources that help CDU, one of the nation’s leading educators of Black and other underrepresented minority nurses, grow its enrollment.
Lloyd H. Dean Institute for HumanKindness & Health Justice
Launched a $50 million fundraising campaign to support the Institute which is focused on research into how kindness in health settings can improve outcomes, building healthier communities, focusing on the most vulnerable; improving diversity of the healthcare workforce, and accelerating research to eliminate disparities in health outcomes.
Photo Caption: Rosalyn Carpenter, CommonSpirit Chief Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Community Impact Officer receiving
2022 Top Diversity Organization Award by Fawn Lopez, Publisher Emeritus of Modern Healthcare
