Alan K Nevel
Underscoring its commitment to inclusion, diversity and equity, The MetroHealth System has named two senior leaders – one a nationally known authority on minority health – to direct and expand those important efforts within the system and the wider community.
Alan Nevel, MetroHealth’s Chief Diversity and Human Resources Officer since 2018, will now become its first Chief Equity Officer.
In his new position, Nevel is charged with working throughout the system to eliminate disparities and make equity a central organizing principle of everything MetroHealth does.
“When we focus on equity, we acknowledge that too many people in our community do not start on equal footing or that they face barriers created by decades of systemic racism or neglect,” said MetroHealth President and CEO Akram Boutros, MD, FACHE. “Alan will lead the charge to eliminate those barriers in every corner of the system so that every patient and every employee can reach their full potential.”
Under Nevel’s leadership, MetroHealth last year launched an intensive self-examination to identify and root out unconscious bias not only in individual encounters but in all internal processes and policies. As a result, all MetroHealth employees are on track to receive inclusion, diversity and equity training, and a video series – “Healing Begins With Listening” – has invited employees to have conversations about race and diversity in their own lives after hearing the stories of co-workers. MetroHealth is asking patients to describe how they feel they’ve been treated by the system and will use that feedback to improve care delivery.
"I believe we have a moral obligation to lead," — Alan Nevel, MetroHealth's new Chief Equity Officer
“What we’re faced with now is creating equity for all, and by all, I mean our patients, our employees and the greater community,” said Nevel, a Cleveland native who returned home to work for MetroHealth after a corporate career that included top posts at Limited Brands and Thermo Fisher Scientific. “In whatever we do, we need to be doing it in an equitable fashion.”
Charles Modlin, M.D., MBA
Charles Modlin, MD, who joined MetroHealth earlier this month after nearly three decades at the Cleveland Clinic, will partner with Nevel as MetroHealth’s first Medical Director, Inclusion, Diversity and Equity. Dr. Modlin will also maintain a urology practice.
At the Clinic, where he was Executive Director of Minority Health, Modlin became well-known for the annual Minority Men’s Health Fair he launched in 2003 to offer free health screenings and examinations to men from all racial and ethnic backgrounds.
Modlin’s duties at MetroHealth will include recruiting a more diverse medical staff, building a more inclusive culture and reducing disparities in health outcomes.
“I’ve seen MetroHealth in action and the work that MetroHealth is doing in the community to address health disparities is phenomenal and having great impact in communities throughout Cleveland,” Modlin said.
Dr. Boutros said Dr. Modlin brings to MetroHealth enormous practical experience and important relationships, both of which are essential to reducing health disparities.
“I have long admired Dr. Modlin’s outreach to minority communities and especially to men in those communities,” Dr. Boutros said. “We at MetroHealth are committed to eliminating racial disparities in health outcomes, and Dr. Modlin will help us do that.”
“… too many people in our community do not start on equal footing or they face barriers created by decades of systemic racism or neglect,” — Akram Boutros, MetroHealth president
Dr. Modlin has spent decades tackling health disparities that disproportionately impact and burden minorities and the underserved, not only in his specialty fields of kidney transplant surgery and urology but in the broader medical world.
In March 2020 Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Dr. Modlin to serve on the Ohio Governor’s Minority Covid-19 Strike Force where he chaired the Education, Communications and Outreach Subcommittee.
“Dr. Modlin brings a wealth of experience that will build on our current Inclusion, Diversity and Equity efforts,” said Bernard Boulanger, MD, Executive Vice President, Chief Clinical Officer of The MetroHealth System. “We have committed to a comprehensive Underrepresented Minority Recruitment Strategy, and one of his key responsibilities will be to support the advancement of diverse provider talent at MetroHealth.”
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This summer, as it launched its new surgical residency program, MetroHealth welcomed a cohort that was 50 percent women and 75 percent people of color.
Nevel says that commitment makes him optimistic about his new role.
“I believe we have a moral obligation to lead,” Nevel said. “The work we’ve done to date, no one else in doing. So we have an obligation to lead and to teach everyone else. I believe an 8,000-person organization can impact millions.”
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