ABOUT US

WHO WE ARE

The Healthcare Career Pathways Program drives Washington Permanente Medical Groups strategy to increase healthcare leaders from historically under-represented minoritized communities in WA. HCCP is a proud founding organizational member of the BIPOC Healthcare Careers Ecosystem which has the mission: “to connect and cultivate value in healthcare leadership programs that support Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities through partnerships and advocacy.”

PURPOSE

The Healthcare Career Pathways Program drives Washington Permanente Medical Groups strategy to increase healthcare leaders from historically under-represented minoritized communities. Our work focuses on encouraging and supporting URM individuals to enter leadership careers in healthcare delivery, education, research and public health.

Ali M. Thomas, MD

Director

Dr. Thomas' personal mission is to change the complexion of health care leadership. He is an Internal Medicine Hospitalist practicing in Tacoma, and the Medical Director for Healthcare Career Pathways. He attended historically-black Morehouse College, where he was inspired to become a physician-activist, and studied Traditional Chinese Medicine in Shanghai and Beijing. His medical training spanned from the University of Michigan, Rush & Cook County Hospitals in Chicago, and Legacy Health Systems in Portland, Oregon. After residency, he joined Group Health (now Kaiser Permanente of Washington) because of its unique potential to address racial/ethnic health inequities.He took a one-year educational leave to complete the Mongan/Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Minority Health Policy at Harvard University, focusing on hospital community benefit policies and practices. Currently, he's building programs to support Black, Brown and Indigenous students to become healthcare leaders through virtual shadowing and mentorship. He's also organizing with other Washington leaders of color to develop a BIPOC-led, convening non-profit organization called The BIPOC Health Careers Ecosystem, dedicated to developing Black, Brown and Indigenous healthcare leaders. He has two brilliant, beautiful and bold children, Marzieh and Adib, enjoys studying Black history and practicing Chinese, and is a member of the Baha'i Faith.

Eze Oluo

Program Manager

For more than 12 years, Eze has dedicated his life and work to growing people, helping organizations and communities find culturally sustainable ways to create and engage opportunities. He has been privileged to contribute his experience and skills to governments at regional and national levels, local and international nonprofit agencies, and community-based organizations. Eze's leadership style is a combination of the ethical, transformational, and authentic styles. When not active at work, he spends his time in experimental cooking, wandering in nature, playing soccer, kayaking, telling stories, and in loud and deep felt laughter. Personal motto: before you act, think twice, understand the situation and perceive the impact of your action.

Cindy Lee

Senior Strategy Consultant

Cindy graduated with a BS in Public Health - Global Health from the University of Washington in the class of 2022. Born and raised in Federal Way, WA, she incorporates her personal life experiences as a BIPOC identifying woman and first- generation college graduate into her interests of working in health policies and institutions that shape health. Cindy has a particular love for serving minoritized groups. Cindy recognizes the intersectionality of race, gender, and population health and adopt a perspective to actively consider these factors that influence wellbeing.

Ariana M. Mixon

Strategy Consultant

Ariana grew up mostly in Renton, Washington, one of the most diverse cities in the country. Her interest in medicine started from a young age in a conversation about medical racism experienced by her African American community. She graduated from UW Seattle in 2020 with a B.S. in Public Health-Global Health. Post-graduation she participated in the Shoreline Community College Post Baccalaureate program, Virtual Rounds College, iHuman, and became an emergency department scribe through ScribeAmerica. As a strategy consultant, she is grateful for the opportunity to get to know and build programs for students like her who are pursuing healthcare related careers. In her free time, she enjoys learning and practicing instruments such as the bass and languages such as Japanese and Korean. She plans on becoming a physician who practices patient- centered care, improves healthcare access, councils the youth and advocates for marginalized groups within her community.

Eldana A. Bedru

Strategy Consultant

Eldana is a recent graduate from UW Seattle who graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and a minor in Global Health. She conducts tuberculosis research at Seattle Children’s in the Global Infectious Disease Department. She is co-founder of the Kaiser Permanente iHuman HCCP Program and is also involved in a non-profit that aims to spread research across varying topics such as disparities in healthcare. Eldana spends time at the healthcare clinic as she is an aspiring physician. She enjoys traveling, and spending time with friends and family.

Jordi C. Scherrer

Strategy Consultant

Jordi Despaigne is a Strategy Consultant on the Healthcare Career Pathways team. He has worked on Virtual Rounds, iHUMAN, and is an alumni of previous VR and Public Health programs. He has recently graduated from Seattle Pacific University and is continuing to work on future programming for HCCP. Since his freshman year of college, he has wanted to be a psychiatrist for a variety of age groups and demographics due to the fact that talking with people about their experiences, both in the long and short, is something very valuable for him. As of now, he is still working on gaining clinical hours, experience, and other pre-medical requirements for his current track. Apart from work and medicine; he enjoys scenic road trips and trying out all the local foods along the way.

Julie H. Dinh

Strategy Consultant

Julie is a Class of 2022 graduate at the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Arts in Education, Communities, & Organizations with a concentration in Global Health. Her next step toward her goal is to work with the KP HCCP team for the next year and apply to the UW MPH Program by 2024. She is passionate to become a Public Health leader with research practice that she wants to enhance her abilities and knowledge about health equity. Julie has been involving with the Kaiser Permanente HCCP community for 7 months and has already enjoy working with URM pre-med students and providers at Virtual Rounds! As her takeaway, she will gain her extended spectrum on healthcare equity that helps her understand more about the current healthcare infrastructure and apply to build a better foundation for Public Health.

STRATEGY CONSULTANT ALUMNI

2023

Nikki Torres

Strategy Consultant 2020 - 2023

2022

Osman Salahuddin

Strategy Consultant, 2020-2021

2021

Richard Dumo

Strategy Consultant, 2020

SUMMER INTERNS

In collaboration with Fort Lewis College (FLC) in Durango, Colorado and the BIPOC Health Careers Ecosystem, HCCP hosts one student every summer to develop and co-manage a student program.

2022

Anna K McCabe

Strategy Consultant Summer Intern

Anna is currently in her Junior year of college obtaining a B.S. in Biochemistry at Fort Lewis College (FLC) in Durango, Colorado. I'm very thankful to be a part of such an opportunity, especially coming from my own interest in pursuing a physician career and through my own personal background of being Diné/Navajo.

Summer 2022 Project:

My work as a strategy consultant, in the summer of 22’, has been centered around hosting a program for high school students. Specifically, students whose ethnicities are often underrepresented in healthcare leadership roles. One of the main goals of our program was to spark interest and to highlight physician based careers for our students.

2021

Darrien Smiley

Strategy Consultant Summer Intern

Darrien Smiley is a tribal member of the Navajo Nation and is on the path to medicine. He graduated from Fort Lewis College, Durango, CO, in the spring of 2021 with a Bachelor’s in Science, Cell, and Molecular Biology. Currently, he works as a Health Technician in the laboratory of the Indian Health Service (IHS) hospital in New Mexico that delivers healthcare to the Navajo People. He is committed to making a difference while striving for medical school. As a future provider and leader, his ambition is to practice internal medicine and change the systems that hinder health care delivery for his people. He likes to play his guitar, be outdoors, and mountain bike in his free time.

Summer 2021 Project:

The iHuman Experience program was started in the summer of 2021 by him with the help of his colleagues during his internship with Kaiser Permanente, Renton, WA.

HCCP Medical Director

Washington Permanente Medical Group approved the role of a HCCP Medical Director as a community-facing role to improve long-term workforce diversity. The HCCP Medical Director reports to the Medical Director for the Office of Medical Education, is integrated within Kaiser Permanente’s overall EID Strategy, and builds sustainable strategies across the state.

The HCCP Medical Director currently serves on the Board of Directors of the BIPOC Health Careers Ecosystem and also as a member of the following bodies:

WPMG Equity Governance Collaborative, which advises the WPMG Board of Directors on matters related to its Anti-Racism Strategic Plan
WPMG Equity Care Council, supporting Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Medical Director Dr. Kristin Conn
WPGM Permanente Accountable Leaders for Washington state
KPWA workforce development workgroup along with other leaders from WPMG and the Health Plan
Permanente’s National Economic Opportunity Community of Practice
Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine EID Community of Practice
University of Washington School of Medicine Admissions Committee
HCCP Clinical Council, appointed by the Medical Director for purposes of ongoing consultation with outstanding WPMG equity leaders

HCCP Medical Director continues to practice clinically 50% of the time.