Editors’ Note

Dr. Gary Butts is a visionary leader with decades of experience in designing, developing, and managing diversity, equity and inclusion programs and strategies. Butts is Executive Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, as well as Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, for Mount Sinai Health System. He also is the Dean for Diversity Programs, Policy and Community Affairs for the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Additionally, he holds joint appointments as tenured professor of Pediatrics, Medical Education, and Environmental Medicine and Public Health, and has been an integral member of the senior leadership team at the Icahn School of Medicine since 1998. Recently, Butts led the effort to launch the Diversity Innovation Hub, of which he is Director and a co-founder. Since 2004, he has directed the Center for Multicultural and Community Affairs (CMCA), which has been recognized as a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Center of Excellence for Minority Health. Butts has held regional and national leadership positions with the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Associated Medical Schools of New York, the National Medical Association, among other professional organizations. In 2020, Butts chaired the MSHS Task Force to Address Racism across the health system and is a key lead implementing its strategies.

Under his tenure, the medical school and health system have been recognized annually by Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED), the Human Rights Campaign for LGBTQ inclusion and quality care and by DiversityInc for the Top 10 Hospitals and Health Systems for 4 consecutive years, achieving #1 ranking in 2017 and 2018. In addition, MSHS has achieved status as Forbes Top 20 employers for Diversity in the nation in 2018 and 2019 and the Diversity Innovation Hub was awarded the Rock Health Diversity Innovations award in 2020.

He has been recognized for his leadership and service by The Network Journal’s Top Black Doctors in New York Metro Area on several occasions; by the National Association of Minority Medical Educators with the Distinguished Service to Health Award; by the National Medical Association for Outstanding Leadership and Service; by the National Hispanic Health Foundation for Leadership for Improving the Health of Hispanic Communities; and by Our Town Thanks You for his work locally in healthcare. In 2015, he was awarded the Jacobi Medallion, one of the highest honors that Mount Sinai bestows. As a Deputy Commissioner for the New York City Department of Health from 1993 to 1998, he directed city-wide maternal and child health services for planning, clinical services and program development, evaluation, health policy, and national public health research for the largest local health department in the United States. Butts completed his premedical studies at Columbia College before attending Cornell Medical College. He completed his clinical training in pediatrics at The Mount Sinai Hospital and has been part of Mount Sinai since 1980.

Institution Brief

Mount Sinai Health System (mountsinai.org) encompasses the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and eight hospitals, as well as a large and expanding ambulatory care network. The eight hospitals – Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai Brooklyn, The Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Queens, Mount Sinai St. Luke’s, Mount Sinai South Nassau, Mount Sinai West, and New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai – have a vast geographic footprint throughout the New York metropolitan region. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked #14 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report and ranked in the top 20 nationally in eight medical specialties in the 2019-20 Best Hospitals guidebook. The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is also ranked nationally in ophthalmology.

What have been the keys to Mount Sinai Health Systems’ industry leadership and how do you define the Mount Sinai difference?

Mount Sinai Health System (MSHS) is the largest academic healthcare system in NYC. In addition to our recognized leadership in clinical care, research, education, and innovation, we have been consistently acknowledged for our leadership in DEI. This is in large part due to several key and distinguishing features of our DEI organization and work:

• Our DEI structures are smartly organized and health system-wide with a single person as system Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer and medical school Dean for DEI. This allows for a singular focus and uniform DEI strategy and plan for implementation.

• Our DEI work is full-thickness – including all important elements and areas of focus for a health system and medical school DEI.

• Our Office for Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) leadership team brings demonstrable expertise and consistency to the DEI space and has been together as a system team since 2014, building on our school DEI team in place since 1998. Through this we have gained trust and partnership with executive leadership across the health system, which is critical for sharing accountabilities and garnering and sustaining necessary leadership support.

• Shared accountability – executive leaders and others are accountable for important decisions and operations related to DEI priorities.

• Having been effective in the DEI space for decades allows us to be innovative and bold as represented by our Racism and Bias Initiative, Diversity Innovation Hub, Health Equity work, and the Roadmap for Action.

How do you define the role of a Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer and how critical is it for the role to be engaged in business strategy?

The System CDIO is responsible for system-wide DEI oversight and leadership and for guiding integration and implementation of a system-wide DEI strategy. In addition, the CDIO is responsible for managing and ensuring coordination of DEI priorities. These roles require participation as a thought leader and partner with our executive leadership and teams, which allows for critical alignment of DEI priorities with health system priorities, including financial, operational, etc.

Will you provide an overview of Mount Sinai Health Systems’ diversity and inclusion strategy?

The primary driver for our current system-wide DEI strategy is our Mount Sinai Health System Roadmap for Action which includes 11 strategies, over 55 tactics, and a recommended process to advance the work. Most of our MSHS programs and initiatives can be linked to the Roadmap. This initiative has allowed for a singular overarching DEI mission and vision with clearly articulated strategies to anchor our work.

How engrained is diversity and inclusion in Mount Sinai Health Systems’ culture and values?

There is evidence for good penetration of our DEI priorities and efforts across our health system, but having our efforts deeply engrained is a part of a longer journey and requires continued and effective partnership among our leadership and sustained deep engagement across our system employees. Having “Equity” as one of our MSHS core values is an important achievement along this path.

How important is it to have diverse perspectives and experiences at the table when making business decisions?

This is a very important approach for translating our successes in effective recruitment of diverse leadership into tangible benefits for an institution. It also helps better inform and align business and operational decisions more smartly with the interests of our internal and external communities.

Is it critical to have metrics in place to track the impact of Mount Sinai Health Systems’ diversity and inclusion efforts?

Metrics to define progress and impact of our DEI efforts are important, but metrics need to be relevant and go beyond easier to measure outcomes by including qualitative and process measures in addition to quantitative measures. Further, those directly or indirectly impacted by DEI efforts must be part of defining what success looks like in this space. I have regularly noted that we can never claim victory until the most invisible among us agrees that we have addressed their concerns. Our Roadmap for Action uses Collective Impact as a framework and includes Shared Measurement as a process for defining and documenting progress and impact across the 11 strategies, dozens of tactics, and activities to advance this work.

In your role, how valuable has it been to have the commitment and engagement of Mount Sinai Health Systems’ leadership team in the organization’s diversity and inclusion efforts?

Having visible and demonstrable evidence of executive leadership’s authentic commitment and engagement for our DEI strategy and efforts is critical to advancing and sustaining successes in our DEI efforts. This has been a critical and unique contributor to our leadership status in the DEI space.

What can be done to attract more diverse candidates to pursue a career in the industry?

Successfully attracting diverse candidates to pursue careers in the healthcare industry necessitates messaging and engagement that has direct appeal and relevancy. Messaging needs to be intentional, inviting to diverse audiences, and targeted. In addition, having efforts in place to retain, develop and ensure success of diverse talent is as important as recruitment.

Finally, investment in targeted pathway initiatives cannot be overestimated, particularly for groups historically underrepresented in healthcare fields and leadership.