Institute for Diversity and Health Equity (IFDHE)

The Institute for Diversity and Health Equity (IFDHE), part of the American Hospital Association (AHA), works closely with health services organizations to advance health equity for all and to expand leadership opportunities for ethnic minorities in health management. We have long believed that promoting diversity within health care leadership and tackling health disparities is critical to ensuring the highest quality of care for everyone.

Jul 12, 2023
During the AHA Leadership Summit July 16-18 in Seattle, Meritus Health in Hagerstown, Md., Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J., and Rapid City Hospital (Monument Health) in Rapid City, S.D., will receive 2023 Carolyn Boone Lewis Equity of Care Awards for their outstanding…
Jun 16, 2023
In a blog about the third year of Juneteenth’s acknowledgement as a national holiday, Joy A. Lewis, AHA’s senior vice president for health equity strategies and executive director of the AHA Institute for Diversity and Health Equity, discusses the importance of the holiday becoming established as a…
May 17, 2023
Technology was the topic for the May 17 plenary session discussion between Ivor Horn, M.D., director of health equity and social determinants of health at Google, and Joy A. Lewis, AHA senior vice president for health equity strategies and executive director of IFDHE.
Apr 20, 2023
The Health Equity Roadmap, launched in March 2022 by the AHA's Institute for Diversity and Health Equity, has now crossed the 1,000-member mark in engaged participants.
Mar 27, 2023
In the first of two new blogs in the Institute for Diversity and Health Equity’s monthly series highlighting Black women health care leaders, Dana Weston Graves, president of Sentara Princess Anne Hospital, discusses the importance of advocacy and being the person she needed in her life when she…
Mar 13, 2023
AHA's Institute for Diversity and Health Equity on March 6 held its latest Health Equity Innovation Summit for AHA’s Region 7 (with members from Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana). The event brought together C-suite hospital leaders, community members and patient advocates to explore regional…
Feb 1, 2023
The Accelerating Health Equity Conference brings together professionals focused on improving community and population health and building partnerships, as well as those striving to advance diversity and inclusion within hospital management and executive levels. They will focus on how to address…
Jan 13, 2023
In a guest blog for the Institute for Diversity and Health Equity, Lisa Mallory, CEO of the National Association of Health Services Executives, reflects on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the shared task to seek and implement solutions to what Dr. King called “the most shocking and…
Dec 14, 2022
In the latest blog post from AHA’s Institute for Diversity and Health Equity, Joy Lewis, AHA’s senior vice president for health equity strategies, reflects on IFDHE’s bold initiatives this year and previews 2023’s forthcoming projects.
Nov 22, 2022
Hospitals, health systems and other health care organizations can sign up to host one or more interns for the Institute for Diversity and Health Equity’s 2023 Summer Enrichment Program, which begins the first week of June and runs through mid-August.