Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Health Equity Office
William S. Middleton Veterans Memorial Hospital, Department of Veterans Affairs
As the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) and Health Equity Officer for the William S. Middleton Veterans Memorial Hospital (Madison VA) in Madison, Wisconsin and clinics, James Gardner is responsible for organizational development, cultural health assessments, strategic planning, training, and initiative coordination for the healthcare system encompassing 9 facilities and over 2,700 employees. Mr. Gardner also oversees metrics to achieve maximum health equity and reduce health disparities for underserved and historically marginalized Veteran populations in 15 counties in South-Central Wisconsin and 4 counties in Northwestern Illinois.
On June 2023, Mr. Gardner received the VA Secretary’s Coin of Recognition for overseeing Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (I*DEA), health equity data-driven, and cultural transformation initiatives at the local and national level, was featured on the VA-Insider, and has received numerous VA nominations and awards over his career.
Mr. Gardner joined the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2018 after serving as Chief Operations Officer at mapegy GmbH, a data mining and trend visualization company in Berlin, Germany and for an Afro-German social justice non-profit in Berlin prior to that. He graduated with honors in German Studies with a concentration in German and Afro-German history from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. James is an avid traveler, hiker, reader and is a dog-father to an adorable puppy!
Sunday, December 8, 2024
8:00 AM – 9:30 AM