Jerome Williams, Jr., MD, is the senior vice president of consumer engagement of Novant Health.
Dr. Williams will present "A Systemwide Strategy on Social Determinants of Health: Focus on Food Insecurity" at Becker's 10th Annual CEO + CFO Roundtable. As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference on Nov. 7-10 in Chicago.
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Becker's Healthcare aims to foster peer-to-peer conversation between healthcare's brightest leaders and thinkers. In that vein, responses to our Speaker Series are published straight from interviewees. Here is what our speakers had to say.
Question: What is the smartest thing you've done in the last year to set your system up for success?
Dr. Jerome Williams, Jr.: The smartest thing I've done was lead the alignment of all of our social determinants of health (SDOH) activities and initiatives at Novant Health through developing a system-wide SDOH council that governs organizational strategy around the determinants. A Novant Health SDOH system infrastructure was developed to help reduce health disparities, achieve health equity, improve financial performance, and drive safety and quality of care.
Q: What are you most excited about right now and what makes you nervous?
JW: I am excited about the broader understanding and recognition across society that we must move further upstream to address the SDOH to improve the health and wellness of the communities we serve. There is no time to be nervous. It can distract you from what is possible.
Q: How are you thinking about growth and investments for the next year or two?
JW: We're planning on developing strategic partnerships with Health and Human Services agencies, non-profits, foundations and for-profit businesses to address the many social determinants of health that lead to poor health outcomes in targeted communities.
Q: How are you building resilient and diverse teams?
JW: I'm making those types of teams by emphasizing the ever-changing and dynamic healthcare landscape. Change-ready leaders will ultimately succeed.