From senior vice president to Carilion Clinic’s newly created position of chief of diversity, equity and inclusion
In February, Carilion Clinic appointed Nathaniel L. Bishop, a senior vice president, to the newly created position of Chief of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Headquartered in Roanoke, Carilion Clinic is one of Virginia’s largest health care systems, employing more than 13,000 people in a network of nine hospitals and 225 physician-practice sites. Annually, nearly one million patients receive care from Carilion across Central and Southwest Virginia and southern West Virginia. By creating an Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and staffing it with a senior level executive such as Bishop, Carilion has demonstrated they are serious about continuing their commitment to identify and address the social and economic factors that influence our region’s health. That focus, at their most senior management level, catapults Carilion ahead of their health system peers.
For Bishop, a native of Christiansburg and a long-time leader in health care administration, becoming the chief officer of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is the culmination of decades of work in various roles as well as training in diverse academic disciplines. Bishop holds an undergraduate degree in sociology of law enforcement from Radford University, a master’s degree in education from Virginia Tech and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Wesley Theological Seminary. Prior to joining Carilion in 1997, Bishop started his career in health care managing continuing-care retirement communities. He became president of Jefferson College of Health Sciences in 2010 and continued in that role, overseeing its integration into Radford University in 2019, before returning to senior management at Carilion. Our socially distanced interview was conducted over Zoom in April.
Q: You are an executive at Carilion, where did you begin your professional career?
A: My father was a pastor and managed an insurance office. Before I entered college, I thought I would become a pastor or maybe a counselor or schoolteacher. But while attending Radford (University) I got hired, at age 20, to work for the Christiansburg Police Department. I became the town’s first African American police officer. That was in 1975.
Q: What was that like and how did that job inform your work today?
A: It was like throwing a rabbit into a briar patch, he laughs. I worked for the Christiansburg Police for 14 years and became an investigator. During my tenure, I connected with the mission of the police department and valued the role police play as community leaders. Work became my laboratory for learning people skills and how to communicate across the perceived divides of race, class, ethnicity, gender and managerial levels. I learned how to recognize nuances of need or resistance and how to respond. As a PK (pastor’s kid), the value of serving others was instilled in me early. From this perspective, my time in law enforcement was my initial call to leadership.
Q: Can you share more about your perspective on what it means to be a leader?
A: Each profession in which I have served has been a ministry in the sense that I see all of life as a call to service – public service. Without pushing my faith on anyone, work is an opportunity for me to live out the gospel. I’ve been fortunate to have had wonderful mentors and to work with great teams. We trust one another. We share openly. This enables us to make tough decisions that align with our organization’s values and mission. For me, collaboration and connection are central to leadership.
Q: How has Carilion employed those qualities when addressing issues of diversity, equity or inclusion?
A: In numerous ways. Two examples readily come to mind. The most recent was during dissemination of the COVID-19 vaccine. In the beginning, rollout involved instructing people to go to a website to sign-up. We immediately recognized that BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) and other populations (e.g., over 65) lacked access. So, we changed our approach and partnered with places of worship and other established community organizations to identify effective and creative ways to expand access, increase turn out – especially among the underrepresented – and get people the assistance needed to receive the vaccine. A past example is from 2014, when I spearheaded a diversity taskforce. From that we created a Carilion Clinic Inclusion Council, which involved people from both the nursing and medical schools. . . I enjoy mentoring young people. Helping prepare clinicians to serve and care for a diverse population is essential to inclusion initiatives in health care.
The challenges facing Carilion and Bishop’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are numerous. One takeaway from our nation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic (thus far) has been amplification of the unevenness of outcomes and access to care experienced by people of color. In March, APM Research Lab reported in “The Color of Coronavirus: COVID-19 Deaths by Race and Ethnicity in the U.S,” that “Pacific Islander, Latino, Indigenous and Black Americans all have a COVID-19 death rate of double or more that of White and Asian Americans, who experience the lowest age-adjusted rates.” Yet, disparities in outcomes or access to care are not limited to BIPOC. In January 2020, PEW Charitable Trust reported in an article titled, “Rural America’s Health Crisis Seizes States’ Attention,” that: “By most measures, the health of those living in rural areas is significantly worse than elsewhere.” Locally, Carilion found in their 2018 Roanoke Valley Community Health Assessment, that “metropolitan urban areas – like medically underserved sections of Roanoke City (Northwest and Southeast) – show distinct health disparities when compared to the Roanoke Valley metropolitan service area.”
The diversity of medical staff, faculty and students remains an ongoing concern. Though trends regarding gender diversity have improved nationally since 2003, JAMA Network, an open access medical journal, concluded in a September 2019 study, which examined trends in racial/ethnic representation among U.S. medical students that “Black, Hispanic, and AIAN (American Indian or Alaska Native) students remain underrepresented compared to the age-adjusted U.S. population.”
While discussing the underrepresentation in medicine of African American males, Dr. Bishop talked about the need to expose students of color to the range of career opportunities available to them early. “Start when they’re young,” he said. “Establish role models.” On occasions, he hosts students from Apple Ridge Farm at his office. “I invite them to sit in my chair and picture themselves as leaders in medicine.” Bishop’s sister, Judy Diggs, was the Director of Equity, Diversity and Tiered Interventions for Montgomery County Public Schools. A 40-year veteran educator, until a few months ago, Diggs was the only school administrator to exclusively focus on equity in Southwest Virginia. She shared how her brother came to professionally address issues of equity and inclusion.
“Our mother was a huge influence,” Diggs said. “She was always helping others. She went from being a stay-at-home mom to a working mother of 10 children after our father died,” she said. “Mom shaped us to not just be observers of other people’s needs, but helpers in addressing their needs.” A fitting coda to understanding part of Nathaniel L. Bishop’s origin story. Diggs shared the following fun story about what it was like growing up with your brother.
“N.L. and our brother Jack are older than me. Growing up, they were always doing boy things. And though I had my Barbie dolls and such to play with, I wanted to do what they were doing. Needless to say, they were not keen on me joining their activities,” she laughed. “From them, I learned to advocate for myself early, and I suggest that N.L. learned to appreciate including female leaders in his activities.” A fitting postscript indeed.
Tags: Diversity, Equity
Share On Facebook
Tweet It
