Bridging Identity & Inclusivity to Create Health Equity

A CHA Equity Webinar Series

The Reverend Kerri N. Allen is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), a Reformed and womanist theologian and ethicist, and the director of mission and spiritual care for Advocate Aurora Healthcare for the Greater Milwaukee Market.

Her theology and ethics expertise focuses on structural inequities and implicit bias in health care and her proficiency has been tapped throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to inform ethical frameworks for scarce resources and health equity in a pandemic. Prior to responding to a call into ministry, the Rev. Allen had a first career as a political appointee at multiple levels of government, including serving as a legislative assistant in the United States Senate with an expertise in health care policy.

Tiffany Capeles is the system director for health equity, diversity and inclusion at CHRISTUS Health, an international Catholic, non-profit health system comprised of 60 hospitals, long-term care facilities, 175 clinics and outpatient centers, and many other health ministries and ventures. In this capacity, she leads system efforts to improve patients' health outcomes, and sets the strategy for diversity and inclusion within the organization.

Prior to joining CHRISTUS, Ms. Capeles was the Program Director at Children's Health in Dallas, Texas. In this capacity, she led multiple community workgroups to address childhood asthma exacerbation rates, consisting of nearly 60 members. The community collaborative resulted in partnerships with the city in issuing citations to property managers for health violations, revisions to the housing code, training of compliance code enforcement officers on health-related issues, and community education. The program hailed by both the Environmental Protection Agency, and later the American Hospital Association though the 2017 NOVA Award.

Prior to Children's Health, Ms. Capeles served in multiple roles at Adventist Health Care, where she implemented the Qualified Bilingual Staff Program that became a state hospital association endorsed standard; developed online cultural competency training modules; race, ethnicity, and language data collection trainings; conducted 360° Organizational Cultural Competency assessments; and secured continuation of a state accreditation for the certified nursing assistant program.

Her work has led to CHRISTUS receiving the 2016 Equity Care Award from the American Hospital Association, as well as the 2017 National Diversity Council Excellence Award for Healthcare Diversity, at the Dallas Chapter. In 2019, she earned Fellow status, from the distinguished American College of HealthCare Executives, and was recognized as a 2019 Tomorrow’s Leader by the Catholic Health Association, and a 2020 Modern Healthcare Emerging Leader.

Publication of her work can be found in the Journal of Healthcare Management’s September/October 2019 issue titled, "What Happens When an Organization Tackles Unconscious Bias and Promotes Diversity of Thought?"

She is an active member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, the National Association of Health Service Executives, and the National Association of Latino Health Executives. Ms. Capeles earned her master of business administration in finance from Hood College in Maryland, and her bachelor of science in health care administration from Kent State University in Ohio.

Dennis Gonzales, Ph.D., is senior director of mission innovation and integration at the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA). Based in CHA’s St. Louis office, Dr. Gonzales oversees the design and production of numerous CHA programs, meetings and member convenings in addition to the development of formation and mission resources for use across the Catholic health ministry.

Most recently, he served as the regional vice president for mission integration at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Health System and The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio. Initially joining CHRISTUS Health in 2008 as a quality and performance improvement facilitator, he soon moved to director of the organizational development department, and then vice president for mission and spirituality at CHRISTUS St. Vincent Health System in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Dr. Gonzales is a graduate of the prestigious CHRISTUS Leadership & Ethics Academy, which recognizes and prepares promising leaders for the future of the Catholic health ministry.

Prior to joining CHRISTUS Health, he served as associate dean for academics at a small, private university where courses in health care administration, computer technology, business and general education were offered. He has also served as a regional director and senior consultant for a multi-site medical case management company based in Southern California. A former De La Salle Christian Brother, he was a high school instructor of ethics, theology, church history, Christian and Hebrew Scriptures, government and economics.

At CHA he authors bi-monthly columns for CHA’s journal, Health Progress, and is responsible for oversite of CHA’s Mission Leader Advisory Committee, as well as a variety of task forces, seminars and forums sponsored by CHA.

He holds a doctoral degree in organizational development from the University of New Mexico; a master’s degree, earned Magna Cum Laude, from San Diego State University’s Department of Educational Technology, with an emphasis in organizational development; and a bachelor’s degree in political science and education, earned Magna Cum Laude, from Loyola University in New Orleans, with a minor in Spanish. Dr. Gonzales is certified in Conflict Management and Workplace Mediation and is fluent in Spanish.

Imam Yusuf Hasan, BCC is the first board certified Muslim chaplain in the Association of Professional Chaplains. He works with HealthCare Chaplaincy Network at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Caring for the Human Spirit, New York, for not only patient in pediatrics, but Muslim patients from the world over, as well as adults of other faiths and those of no faith tradition.

For over 40 years, Imam Hasan has been a member of Masjid Malcolm Shabazz in Harlem, New York. He is a published author and co-author of ground breaking articles and chapters in books such as "Disaster Spiritual Care: Practical Clergy Responses to Community, Regional and National Tragedy"(2011), "On the Ground After 9/11: Mental Health Responses and Practical Knowledge Gained" (2005) and "A Time for Listening and Caring of the Chronically Ill and Dying" (2006), among others.

He has appeared in Newsweek Magazine (God and Health), Spectrum News in Focus, NBC Positivity Black, NBC Nightly News, Channel 11 Ten O’clock News, PBS's Religion and Ethics News Weekly, numerous radio stations and newspapers including NY Daily News, NY Amsterdam News, Beacon News, among others.

Imam Hasan has presented at numerous conferences on including HealthCare Chaplaincy Network National Conference “Caring for the Human Spirit,” Association of Professional Chaplain National Conferences.

He is included in Who’s Who in America by The Marquis Who's Who Publication Board, Chairman of African American Day Parade, Inc., member of the National American Red Cross Spiritual Care Response Team, Juneteenth Committee of Masjid Malcolm Shabazz, recipient of the Distinguished Worldwide Humanitarian Award and former Chairman of Diversity Task Force of the Association of Professional Chaplains.

He attended Adelphi University School of Nursing and is a certified dietary manager.

Mina Kini is system director, diversity and inclusion, for SSM Health. In her role, she leads the work in crafting a culture of valuing diversity and creating inclusion and belonging. In this newly-created system level role at the SSM Health, Ms. Kini is responsible for advancing the diversity and inclusion efforts by designing, integrating and implementing programs and initiatives of the Diversity and Inclusion strategy in SSM Health’s four regions and ministries in Missouri, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Southern Illinois.

Ms. Kini has worked in various sectors of higher education, community building, human service organizations, and social science research. In her most recent position as senior director in Texas Health’s Population Health, Innovation and Education Center at Texas Health Resources, Dallas/Ft. Worth, she was instrumental in shaping the cultural competence strategy, design and operations for patient and community centric health and wellbeing.

She currently serves as a Commissioner of the national Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI). In addition, she is active and has served on multiple boards and coalitions in North Texas.

In her new community of St Louis, she serves on the International Institute of St Louis community advisory board, is a Mosaic Ambassador with the St Louis Mosaic Project and is involved in an advisory capacity with the Workforce Solutions board in Madison, WI.

With over 25 years of professional experience in international and US settings, Ms. Kini holds two masters degrees – one in social work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, India, and the other in organizational development and strategy from Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas. In addition, she is a Fellow of the American Hospital Association's, Cultural Competence Leadership Program and has completed the Disparities Leadership Fellowship, a year-long executive education program of the Massachusetts General Hospital’s Disparities Solutions Center.

Ms. Kini is multilingual and fluent in English, Hindi, Marathi and Konkani, the languages of India.

Leroy V. JR LaPlante, Esq., JD, is director of tribal relations at Avera Health, Sioux Falls, S.D., where he serves as primary contact for area tribal governments and the Indian Health Services. He is a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

Mr. LaPlante was formerly the State of South Dakota's first Secretary of Tribal Relations, an Assistant United States Attorney, a tribal court judge, an Equal Justice Works/Americorps Legal Fellow, and a Bush Foundation Native Nation Rebuilder.

He is a 2009 graduate of the University of South Dakota School of Law, with an undergraduate degree in sociology from Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tenn.

John O. “Jack” Mudd, JD, JSD, is a consultant for leadership formation at Providence Health & Services, where he had previously served as the system senior vice president of mission leadership.

Mr. Mudd served for 10 years as a trustee, five years as chair, of the board of Ascension Health in St. Louis. He is a member and past chair of the board of the Ministry Leadership Center, a consortium of six Catholic health systems that provides mission formation programs for senior executives. Before the creation of Providence Health & Services in 2006, Mr. Mudd was senior vice president of Providence Services, Spokane, Wash., and had earlier served as the founding chair of the board of that system. He has more than 25 years of board experience in Catholic health care at the local and system levels.

Prior to joining Providence, he was a lawyer in private practice where his work included extensive service as a mediator and arbitrator. He was also dean and professor of law at the University of Montana School of Law and was appointed to commissions that examined higher education issues at the state and national levels.

He received his bachelor and master of arts degrees in philosophy from the Catholic University of America, a juris doctorate from the University of Montana and his master of laws and doctor of science of law degrees from Columbia University.

Riikka Salonen, MA, is the system director for diversity, equity, and inclusion at PeaceHealth, a health system that owns and operates 10 hospitals and numerous clinics in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington. Since 2019, she has led PeaceHealth’s strategic planning and implementation of all inclusion, diversity, equity and access (IDEA)-related programs. A bi-national native of Finland, Ms. Salonen brings 25 years of experience as a strategic leader for IDEA. 

Ms. Salonen spent more than 10 years at Oregon Health and Science University, the only academic medical center in Oregon. She led the efforts that increased people of color, immigrants and refugees, women, people with disabilities, veterans and LGBTQ community members in OHSU’s workforce. As a member of the Columbia-Willamette Workforce Collaborative, she co-designed a program investing over $14 million for the education of healthcare professionals of color, resulting in 2,100 graduates and 6,800 people placed in healthcare occupations. She also spearheaded diversity and inclusion strategic planning for the OHSU Clinical Enterprise 2009-2016. 

Prior to joining OHSU, she served as an intercultural program specialist and a faculty of intercultural communication at The Scholar Ship. She has also served as associate director of assessment and research at the Intercultural Communication Institute, which. She provided services for clients using Intercultural Development Inventory tool and the participants of Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication.  

Ms. Salonen has offered consulting services in more than 25 countries since 1994, most recently through her company Global Inclusion Consulting, LLC. She has facilitated workshops related to culturally-responsive antiracist leadership, neuroscience-driven transformative learning, diversity and inclusion strategic planning, diversity talent acquisition and artificial intelligence, universal design and employment of people with disabilities, assessment and development of intercultural sensitivity, cultural competence and equity in health care, multicultural customer service and bias in service encounters and various topics of intercultural communication.  

She received her graduate degree in intercultural relations, organizational and speech communications from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. 

John (Jack) Shea is a consultant with decades of experience in providing theological and formation services to parishes and faith-based organizations. He has published more than 20 books of theology and spirituality, three works of fiction and three books of poetry.  

Dr. Shea has served as the executive director of program design and implementation for the Ministry Leadership Center; the Advocate Healthcare senior scholar in residence at the Park Ridge Center for the Study of Health, Faith and Ethics; research professor at the Institute of Pastoral Studies at Loyola University of Chicago; and professor of systematic theology and director of the doctor of ministry program at the University of St. Mary of the Lake.

He also lectures nationally and internationally on storytelling in world religions, faith-based health care, contemporary spirituality and the spirit and work movement. 

Lisa A. Smith is vice president, advocacy and public policy for the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA), the national leadership organization of the Catholic health ministry representing the largest not-for-profit provider of health care services in the nation. She oversees CHA's advocacy agenda and public policy initiatives; directs membership advocacy activities; and leads the organization's legislative efforts with Congress, the White House and administrative agencies. She also serves as CHA's spokesperson for legislative, regulatory and public policy issues.

Previously, Ms. Smith served as senior director of government relations for CHA from 2005-2018. She worked to secure votes for successful passage of the historic Affordable Care Act (ACA), led CHA's efforts to prevent Congress from repealing the ACA and restructuring Medicaid as a block grant program, and spearheaded the ministry's engagement in the long-awaited 10-year reauthorization of the Children's Health Insurance Program.

Prior to joining CHA, Ms. Smith served at Catholic Charities USA, the nation's largest social service provider network, as the organization's primary legislative advocate and policy analyst on health care, Medicaid, immigration and child welfare issues. She shaped and advanced through Congress the enactment of the state Children's Health Insurance Program and worked for protections of legal immigrants' access to safety net programs. She also founded the Children's Health Matters program, a collaboration of Catholic health systems and Catholic Charities agencies, which enrolled over a half-million pregnant women and children into state Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Programs and advocated for streamlined application and enrollment processes.

While pursuing graduate studies at The George Washington University, Ms. Smith was a research associate with the university's Intergovernmental Health Policy Project, now part of the National Conference of State Legislatures, where she tracked and analyzed trends in state health policy. She began her health policy career on the health and welfare staff of the United States Senate Finance Committee under Senator Lloyd Bentsen where she served as a research associate supporting the committee's Medicare and Medicaid legislative priorities.

Ms. Smith earned a bachelor of science degree in economics from the University of Maryland and a master of public administration degree from The George Washington University in Washington D.C.

Dr. Tink Tinker is professor emeritus at the School of Theology, Denver, Co. A member of the faculty since 1985, Dr. Tinker teaches courses in American Indian cultures, history, and religious traditions; cross-cultural and third-world theologies; and justice and peace studies and is a frequent speaker on these topics both in the U.S. and internationally.

His publications include American Indian Liberation: A Theology of Sovereignty (2008); Spirit and Resistance: Political Theology and American Indian Liberation (2004); and Missionary Conquest: The Gospel and Native American Genocide (1993). He co-authored A Native American Theology (2001); and he is co-editor of Native Voices: American Indian Identity and Resistance (2003), and Fortress Press; Peoples Bible (2008).

Dr. Tinker has volunteered in the Indian community as (non–stipendiary) director of Four Winds American Indian Survival Project in Denver for two decades. In that capacity he functions in the urban Indian community as a traditional American Indian spiritual leader. He is past president of the Native American Theological Association and a member of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians.

Firmly committed to the ecumenical movement, he has been active in volunteer capacities with several denominations at the national level, the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches. He currently serves as an “Honorary Advisor” to IMADR, the International Movement against all Forms of Discrimination and Racism; and he also serves locally on the Leadership Council of the American Indian Movement of Colorado.

On campus, Dr. Tinker works closely both with students of color and with Lutheran students

Dr. Tinker holds a master of divinity from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, Calif., and a doctorate from Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley.