Leadership for Health Equity Professional Development Program

Camille Burnett, PhD, MPA, RN, Vice President, Health Equity, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), has extensive professional health care experience within the US and Canada in the areas of public health, health equity, research and administration, academia, and as an independent consultant. Her experience includes clinical practice and provincial public health administrator leadership positions in Canada, as well as academic administrator leadership positions in the US.

Prior to joining IHI, Dr. Burnett served as Associate Vice President, Education and Health Equity, at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), where she had appointments as a tenured Professor at VCU School of Nursing, Associate Executive Director of the Institute for Inclusion, Inquiry, and Innovation, and is an affiliate with VCU Institute for Women’s Health, School of Medicine. Previously Dr. Burnett was at the University of Kentucky, where she was Assistant Dean for Equity, Outreach and Social Justice, Associate Professor in the College of Nursing, the Cralle-Day Endowed Professor in the Center for Research on Violence Against Women, and Co-Director for Integrated Special Populations in the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences. While at the University of Virginia, Dr. Burnett’s roles included Academic Director for Community Engagement and Partnerships, Associate Professor in the School of Nursing, and co-founder of the University of Virginia Equity Center.

Dr. Burnett has served on numerous boards with appointments locally, nationally, and internationally. Her program of research amplifies structural inequities that influence disparate outcomes to identify solutions that drive structural justice to redress inequity. She is a registered nurse, a certified Global Nurse Consultant, a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, and a member of both the American Nursing Association and the American Public Health Association.

Taj Mustapha, MD, is a Hospitalist in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics and the University of Minnesota Medical School, and the Chief of Equity Strategy for M Health Fairview. The Equity Strategy Office at M Health Fairview oversees the health system work in Health Equity, Healthcare Equity, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and works across functional teams in Human Resources, Community Advancement, Optimal Care, Quality and Safety, Customer Experience and Research and Education. In her role as Chief Equity Strategy Officer, Taj Mustapha, MD, is responsible for the vision, leadership, and strategic planning of equity efforts systemwide. Dr. Mustapha is also the Assistant Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the University of Minnesota Medical School and serves as a member of the M Health Fairview Healing, Opportunity, People, Equity (HOPE) Commission, which is committed to developing an antiracist and inclusive joint clinical enterprise.

Dr. Mustapha received her medical degree from the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine and then completed her internal medicine and pediatric residency training at the University of Minnesota. She spent a year as Chief Resident in the Department of Pediatrics prior to joining the faculty in both the departments of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, as a clinician educator and hospitalist. 

She started her work in health equity prior to embarking on her medical career, and as an echoing green fellow, she established a harm-reduction based street outreach program for unhoused and unstably housed youth and young adults, many of whom suffered a history of abuse and wrestled with IV drug use. The racial disparities in institutional and individual support to these youth, and the inadequacy of current healthcare institutions to address their needs, spurred her to pursue a career in medicine and advancing justice therein.

Katie Boston-Leary, PhD, MBA, MHA, RN, NEA-BC, is the Senior VP of Equity and Engagement at the American Nurses Association overseeing the Nursing Practice and Work Environment Division and Healthy Nurse Healthy Nation. She was also the Co-Lead for Project Firstline, a multi-million-dollar grant collaborative with the CDC for training on Infection Prevention and Control. Katie is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing and the School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University. She is a board member for St. John’s University Health Programs, Hippocratic AI and Ingenovis Health and an editorial advisory board member with Nursing Management, Nursing 2023 and ACHE. Katie serves as staff on the National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing and is also part of the National Academy of Science and Medicine’s National Plan to Address Clinician Well-Being supported by the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy. Katie authored two chapters in The Sage Encyclopedia of Multicultural Counseling, Social Justice, and Advocacy, the first encyclopedia focused on racism and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging. Katie was also featured in the documentary film, Everybody’s Work, produced by SHIFT Nursing film funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
 

Katie also led a National Nurse Staffing Think Tank and Task Force, which published actionable recommendations to address the nurse staffing crisis. She is also a 2023 International Council of Nurses Global Nurse Leadership Institute Scholar. Katie has also testified on panels and roundtables on Capitol Hill on the nurse staffing crisis and regulatory burden on hospitals and nurses. 
 

She was identified in August 2019 Health Leaders Media Journal as “One of Five Chief Nursing Officers Changing Healthcare”. She also won the ICABA TD Bank 2023 Woman of Impact award and the 2024 Spectrum Circle Award for Innovation in Health. She was also inducted as a Distinguished Fellow at the Academy of Diversity Leaders in Nursing with the National Black Nurses Association.

She completed her PhD at Walden University in Health Services, obtained a dual degree MBA and MHA from the University of Maryland Global Campus and her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Bowie State University in Maryland.  She is a board-certified Nurse Executive and obtained a nurse executive leadership certificate from Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. 
 

Several guest experts from the field will also join the preceding core faculty.