Dr. Christina Harris named Cedars-Sinai's VP and chief health equity officer

Dr. Christina Harris is new chief health equity officer for Cedars-Sinai.

Photo: Courtesy of Cedars-Sinai

After a nationwide search, Dr. Christina Harris has been named Cedars-Sinai's VP and chief health equity officer.

Harris will lead institution-wide health equity strategies in clinical care, research, advocacy and education. Partnering with leaders across the organization, she will spearhead efforts to address health disparities and social determinants of health while enhancing community partnerships to improve health conditions for children and families, Cedars Sinai said. She also will serve as a key advisor to the president's Executive Advisory Council.

Most recently, Harris worked as associate program director in the UCLA Internal Medicine Residency Program and as associate vice chair of equity, diversity and inclusion for the UCLA Department of Medicine, a position for which she advocated and created.

Within the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Harris developed infrastructure to expand workforce diversity, facilitating inclusion and identifying opportunities to expand care for patients with Medi-Cal. She co-chaired the UCLA School of Medicine's COVID-19 Health Equity Research and Advisory Task Force and is a member of the Dean's Office Advisory Committee for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and the UCLA Health System Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board.

Harris's goal at Cedars-Sinai is to guide ongoing efforts to promote health equity, address health disparities and foster wellness across the organization and the communities served by the health system. Harris, a primary care physician at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center, treats a historically marginalized patient population and works closely with departmental leadership to instill health equity awareness and education initiatives among physicians and others.

Harris succeeds Linda Burnes Bolton, RN, senior vice president and Cedars-Sinai's first chief health equity officer, who is retiring after more than 50 years with Cedars-Sinai. 

Harris graduated from Harvard Medical School and completed her internship and residency in internal medicine at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. She began her career as an internist at a Federally Qualified Health Center in New York City, which serves one of the largest public housing communities in the country.

"Dr. Harris is the ideal leader to build on the exceptional foundation laid by Dr. Burnes Bolton," said Thomas M. Priselac, Cedars-Sinai president and CEO.  "Dr. Harris combines a profound personal and professional commitment to health equity with deep experience leading clinical, educational and equity initiatives in academic medicine."

Twitter: @SusanJMorse
Email the writer: susan.morse@himssmedia.com