Health Disparities, Diversity, and Inclusion: Context, Controversies, and Solutions

Despite the many Public Health successes over the last century, health disparity continues to exist in in American society. This introductory text addresses this topic head on, exploring steps that must be taken to prepare for the rapidly changing demographics in American society, including immigration reform (emerging majorities), and evidenced based information substantiating the fact that diversity matters in terms of the provision of health care. Diversity is examined in terms of patient satisfaction and quality outcomes with an emphasis on racial, ethnic, gender, and linguistic diversity. The book highlights steps that key stakeholders, including federal, state, and private health care and public health entities, should take to ensure that representatives from emerging majority groups are involved with and serve as leaders in terms of the provision of health care at every level. The discussion of diversity is contrasted with the concept of cultural competency and how both go hand in hand in terms of the ultimate goal of closing the health status gap in the United States.

Dr. Patti Rose acquired her Master’s Degree (MPH) from Yale University, followed by her Doctorate (E.D.) from Teachers College, Columbia University. She has served as a Faculty member (from Adjunct Professor, Instructor, to the Associate Professor Level) at the University of Miami, Florida International University, Springfield College, Worcester State College, Nova Southeastern University,' Barry University and Florida Atlantic University. She is the President and Founder (her current role) of her own firm, Rose Consulting. She has also served as President and CEO of Plainfield Health Center in Plainfield, NJ and as Vice President of Behavioral Health Services at The Jessie Trice Center for Community Health, one of the largest community health centers in the nation, in Miami, Florida. In the summer of 2013, she served as a Visiting Professor for Chinese college students at Jiaotong University in Shanghai, China, for six weeks, and through the JNC Program she was a faculty member during the summers of 2014, 2015 and 2016 for five weeks in Guangzhou, China at Jinan University. During the summer of 2017, also through JNC, she served as a Visiting Professor and Faculty Representative at Feng Chia University in Taichung, Taiwan and taught during the summer of 2018, at Jinan University in Shenzhen and at Chengdu Polytechnic University in 2019 through the JNC Program. 'She also served as an Educational Consultant and Liaison for the latter experience (in Chengdu) as she was instrumental in the development of the global academic experience there which included a partnership between the JNC Program and Essex County College in New Jersey. Dr. Rose has studied and has language skills in both Spanish and Mandarin based on her travels and intense study and speaking practice in both languages.Dr. Patti Rose acquired her Master’s Degree from Yale University, followed by her Doctorate (Ed.D) from Teachers College, Columbia University. She has served as a Faculty member (from Adjunct Professor, Instructor, to the Associate Professor Level) at the University of Miami, Florida Atlantic University, Florida International University, Springfield College, Worcester State College, Nova Southeastern University, and Barry University. In recent years, courses that she has developed and taught include Black Women in Medicine and Healing; Psychosocial Health and Healing and Women (online course); Race and Healthcare in America; Culture, Race, and Diversity Issues in the United States; Mass Incarceration and the Impact on the Black Community; and Black Women in Medicine and Healing. In the summer of 2013, she taught Chinese college students as a Visiting Professor at Jiaotong University in Shanghai, China for 6 weeks, and during the summers of 2014, 2015, and 2016 for 5 weeks in Guangzhou, China at Jinan University. She also taught at Feng Chia University in Taichung, Taiwan in 2017, at Jinan University in Shenzhen, China in 2018, and at Chengdu Polytechnic University in Chengdu, China in 2019. She taught at Chengdu Polytechnic University in Chengdu, China again during the summer of 2020. She also served as the Educational Consultant and Liaison for the Essex County College of New Jersey and the JNC International Summer School Program of China Partnership.Dr. Rose has given keynote addresses, conference presentations, and workshops for many national colleges and universities and other venues, including the Louisiana State University (LSU) School of Veterinary Medicine; Yale University; Teachers College, Columbia University; LeMoyne College; Ross University; Des Moines University Medical School; Miami Dade College; the American Public Health Association; the National Association of Healthcare Executives; The National Association of Black Veterinarians; and beyond. Her international presentations have included conferences in Nairobi, Kenya; Barcelona, Spain; Paris, France; Aruba; St. Thomas; and Puerto Rico (a United States territory). Her administrative roles include serving as Director and Founder of her own firm, Rose Consulting, her current role, and prior service as President and CEO of Plainfield Health Center in Plainfield, New Jersey, and as Vice President of Behavioral Health Services at The Jessie Trice Center for Community Health, one of the largest community health centers in the nation, in Miami, Florida.She is the author of several books, including Cultural Competency for Health Administration and Public Health, published in 2011, Cultural Competency for the Health Professions, published in 2013, and Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: Context, Controversies and Solutions, Second Edition, published in 2020, all by the same publisher, Jones & Bartlett Learning. She also has many published articles, including a piece in the Harvard Journal of Minority Public Health, which focused on teenage pregnancy in the Black community. Her work also included serving as administrator and sole writer for her blog, Natural Is Cool Enough (N.I.C.E.), which has a national and international following, a Huffington Post blogger, and being the co-creator and co-host of a podcast, The Ivy Roses, with her daughter, Dr. Courtney Rose and the developer of her website, AuthorDrRose.com. She developed a DVD, Cultural Competency: A Public Health Imperative, through her consultation for a project directed by the Alumni Office of the Yale University School of Public Health, where she also received the Public Health Service Award (2004) for her commitment to community health service.Dr. Rose has language skills in both Spanish and Mandarin based on her travels and intense study and speaking practice in both languages. Dr. Rose’s passion is to travel the globe to understand the world and to share her knowledge of various cultures, history, health education and health promotion, health equity, social injustice (including health disparities), globalism, and diversity through her writing, teaching, and speaking engagements. Her current research is focused on health disparities and health equity, and remedies to achieve the latter, particularly in the United States, from a social justice vantage point, utilizing a cultural lens, and through comparative analysis, from a national and global perspective. Her cultural travel, work, and research have included journeys to Puerto Rico, Mexico, Fiji, Turkey, Africa (South Africa, Kenya, Senegal, Ghana, Morocco, Tanzania, Egypt, Zanzibar, and the Cape Verde Islands), Sri Lanka, Dubai, Australia, New Zealand, Europe (Spain, Italy, Ireland, France, Portugal, Iceland, the United Kingdom, Greece, Croatia and the Netherlands), the Caribbean (Jamaica, Tortola, St. Lucia, St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Maarten and St. Bartholomew), Latin and Central America (Cuba, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, the Dominican Republic, and Guatemala), and Asia (Japan, China, Vietnam, Singapore, Bali, South Korea, India, The Maldives, and Thailand).Her professional affiliations have included the American College of Healthcare Executives, the American Public Health Association, the Black Executive Forum, and the National Association of Health Services Executives. She was appointed by the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, to serve in the capacity of Examiner on the 2004 Board of Examiners of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. She was recently selected as a Yale Alumni Association At-Large-Delegate and served as the President of the South Florida Chapter of the Yale Black Alumni Association and a frequent Yale Alumni Schools Committee college applicant evaluative interviewer. Dr. Rose has been married for 39 years and is the mother of two.