• Leadership Conference on Diversity "For Your Patients... For Your Community"
• June 28 - 29 2006, Chicago, IL
• Westin Chicago River North
• www.DiversityConnection.org

CHICAGO, IL -- HEALTHCARE UPDATE NEWS SERVICE (TM) -- JUNE 21, 2006: AHA Chair-elect Kevin Lofton, president and CEO of Catholic Health Initiatives in Denver has received first National Healthcare Diversity Leader of the Year Award. The Institute for Diversity in Health Management, www.DiversityConnection.org, is sponsoring the Leadership and Educational Conference on Diversity, June 28 - 29, 2006, in Chicago, IL.

The Association of Hispanic Healthcare Executives, www.AHHE.org, and National Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on Health, www.NHCCH.com, last week presented their first National Healthcare Diversity Leader of the Year Award to AHA Chair-elect Kevin Lofton, president and CEO of Catholic Health Initiatives in Denver, for his commitment to increasing the number of Latinos in executive management positions. Lofton, who also served as keynote speaker at the Sixth Annual Diversity Awards Gala June 16 in New York, stressed the need for hospital and health care executives to promote diversity. "Those of us who are health care executives and community leaders must hold boards of directors and C-suite executives accountable for diversifying the governing boards and management teams," said Lofton. He also urged audience members to develop and implement cultural competency processes and to provide internships, mentoring and networking to minority health students. AHHE, along with the AHA, is a founding member of the Institute for Diversity in Health Management.

The Institute for Diversity in Health Management, www.DiversityConnection.org, is sponsoring the Leadership and Educational Conference on Diversity, June 28 - 29, 2006, in Chicago, IL. The IFD Leadership and Educational Conference on Diversity is the premier health services management conference on managing diversity. Experts from the health care field and general business community provide insight on designing a diversity program, recruitment and retention of minorities in health management, succession planning and more. Trustees, senior health care executives, human resource directors, diversity specialists, consultants, and others find valuable resources and tools for effectively managing diversity programs within their organizations.

Emily Friedman Independent Health Policy and Ethics Analyst, Chicago, IL
Fred Hobby President, Institute for Diversity in Health Management, Chicago, IL
John Lumpkin, M.D., M.P.H. Senior Vice President and Director, Health Care Group, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Princeton, NJ
Gary A. Puckrein, Ph.D. Executive Director, National Minority Health Month Foundation, Washington, DC
Richard J. Umbdenstock Chief Operating Officer and President-elect, American Hospital Association
Luke Visconti DiversityInc Co-Founder and Partner, New Brunswick, NJ

• Linda L. Brown, M.S.N., Board Chairperson, Lee Memorial Hospital, Fort Meyers, Florida
• Elita Christiansen, Vice President of Community Health and Cultural Competence, INOVA Health System, Executive Training Program, Falls Church, Virginia
• Rosalyn Cole, Associate Director for Administration, Fargo VA Medical Center/Regional Office Center, Fargo, North Dakota
• Sr. Karin Dufault, S.P., R.N., Ph.D., Chairperson, Board of Trustees, Catholic Health Association of the United States, Portland, Oregon
• Orlando Gonzalez, EMT-P, Executive Director, MedVerse, Greenville, South Carolina
• Mary Medina, M.S.W., J.D., Executive Director, Greater New York Hospital Association, Center for Trustee Initiatives and Recruitment, New York, New York
• James Ng, Corporate Account Manager, SONY, Park Ridge, New Jersey
• Dr. Joan Reede, Dean for Diversity and Community Partnership, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Dave Stauffer, President, DeafTalk
• Ernest Sutton, Immediate Past Chair, American Hospital Association, Committee on Governance, Trustee, Albermarle Hospital, Elizabeth City, North Carolina
• Gayle Tang, Director, National Linguistic and Cultural Programs, Kaiser Permanente, Oakland, California
• Eta Trabing, First Federal Certified Interpreter, Berkana Language Center, Houston, Texas
• Jennifer Tracy, Director of Staffing, ARAMARK Corporation, Kaleidoscope, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Deborah Washington, R.N., Director, Patient Care Services Diversity, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
• Amy Wilson, Principal Investigator, Hospitals, Language and Culture and Associate Project Director, Division of Standards and Survey Methods, Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, Chicago, Illinois

• Diversity in Healthcare - Improving Health Outcomes for Minorities
• Delivering Culturally Competent Healthcare
• Technological Advances in a Diverse Healthcare System
• Day-to-Day Health Care Leaders' Diversity Roles and Challenges
• Diversity in the C-Suite and Boardroom - The New Imperative
• Preparing for the Workforce of the Future
• Data - The Key to Understanding Disparities in Your Community
• Building Language Access: A Safety and Quality Issue
• What Is Diversity's Next Challenge?

The Institute is an affiliate of the American Hospital Association, and is sponsored by the American College of Healthcare Executives, the Association of Hispanic Healthcare Executives, the Catholic Health Association of the U.S. and the National Association of Health Services Executives. The Institute for Diversity collaborates with educators and health services organizations to expand leadership opportunities to ethnic minorities in health services management. The mission of the Institute is to increase the number of ethnic minorities in health services administration and to improve opportunities for professionals already in the health care field. For more information about the Institute, please call (312) 422-2630.