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Ochsner Announces Appointment of Deborah Grimes as Chief Diversity Officer

Ochsner Announces Appointment of Deborah Grimes as Chief Diversity Officer

Today, Ochsner announced the appointment of Deborah Grimes, RN, JD, MSHQS, to Chief Diversity Officer (CDO), effective March 2, 2020. In her role, Grimes will be critical in leading workforce and employee strategy for Ochsner.

In her leadership role, Grimes will support the ongoing development of policies and practices that promote focused attention to diversity and inclusion matters including recruitment, retention, workforce planning and career development. Grimes will also work within and across the communities we serve to emphasize the need to reduce disparate health outcomes and improve healthcare equity for all Ochsner patients.

Ochsner has several programs aimed at providing support, education and resources to employees and community members. These include Ochsner Resource Groups such as Women Empowering Women (WoW), African Americans Building & Leading Equality (ABLE) and PRIDE, which celebrate differences and inclusion across our organization. Ochsner also offers workforce training programs to help unemployed and underemployed find meaningful careers in healthcare.

Grimes joins Ochsner from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Health System where she served as that organization’s first CDO since 2017. She brings a wealth of expertise, knowledge and experience in diversity and inclusion, quality, and compliance from her more than 33-year career at UAB. Grimes began her career as a nurse and later earned her law degree, serving as a risk management healthcare attorney. She also has held several executive leadership positions at UAB Hospital, including Director of Joint Commission/Quality Resources, Vice President of Quality/Regulatory Affairs and Chief Compliance Officer before being appointed to her current role.

Grimes is a member and leader of several professional groups, including Black Nurses Association, Society of Human Resources, Birmingham Society of Human Resources, Healthcare Compliance Association and the National Association Society of Healthcare Executives. Earlier this year, she was named as one of the 2019 Most Influential Women in Corporate America by Savoy Magazine.

To learn more about Ochsner, please visit www.ochsner.org/info. If you are interested in an interview with Deborah Grimes, please email pr@ochsner.org.

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About Ochsner Health System

Ochsner Health System is Louisiana’s largest non-profit, academic, healthcare system. Driven by a mission to Serve, Heal, Lead, Educate and Innovate, coordinated clinical and hospital patient care is provided across the region by Ochsner's 40 owned, managed and affiliated hospitals and specialty hospitals, and more than 100 health centers and urgent care centers. Ochsner is the #1 ranked hospital in Louisiana by U.S. News & World Report and is recognized as a “Best Hospital” across two specialty categories caring for patients from all 50 states and more than 70 countries worldwide each year. Ochsner Hospital for Children is the only facility in Louisiana to be recognized as a top 50 children’s hospital by U.S. News & World Report for three consecutive years. Ochsner employs nearly 25,000 employees and over 4,500 employed and affiliated physicians in over 90 medical specialties and subspecialties and conducts more than 700 clinical research studies. Ochsner Health System is proud to be a tobacco-free environment. For more information, please visit ochsner.org and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.