Ronald Copeland | Health Care Org. Exemplars in Community Engagement as a Strategy in Building Trust

Ronald L. Copeland, MD, FACS, is senior vice president of National Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity strategy and policy and chief equity, inclusion and diversity officer for Kaiser Permanente. He leads Kaiser Permanente’s efforts to ensure that our strategic vision for equity, inclusion, and diversity is successfully implemented to drive strategic business and mission outcomes and results in all Kaiser Permanente members achieving health and health care outcomes that are high quality, equitable, and increasingly more affordable. A recently retired board-certified general surgeon, Dr. Copeland joined Kaiser Permanente in 1988 after a six-year honorable tour of duty in the United States Air Force Medical Corps. Dr. Copeland served as president and executive medical director of the Ohio Permanente Medical Group prior to assuming his current role in 2012. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and medical degree from University of Cincinnati Medical College, and completed his residency in general surgery at State University of New York Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse. He also attended the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School. In the fall of 2016, Dr. Copeland was appointed to the board of Kaiser Permanente’s School of Medicine. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons; a board member of the National Organization on Disability and the Center for Healthcare Innovation; and an advisory board member for the Centre for Global Inclusion. In January 2016, Becker’s Hospital Review recognized Dr. Copeland as one of “15 hospital and health systems chief diversity officers to know.”