We are delighted to announce that Dr. Maia Hightower, MD, MPH, MBA, has joined our team as the Senior Director for Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Dr. Hightower’s role with the Office for the Associate Vice President for Health Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion began February 22 and will be a crucial part of our dedicated effort to the institution’s equity, diversity, and inclusion mission.
Prior to joining the University of Utah Health team, she was the Chief Medical Information Officer and Interim Chief Population Health Officer for The University of Iowa Health Care. She joined the faculty of the University of Iowa’s Carver College of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine in August of 2015, after serving as Associate Medical Director for Stanford Health Care’s University HealthCare Alliance. Dr. Hightower received her Medical Degree, as well as a Master of Public Health, from the University Of Rochester School Of Medicine, followed by residencies in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego. She also holds an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
As UUH’s Chief Medical Information Officer, Dr. Hightower and her teams transform data into value and drive the exceptional digital experience for patients, faculty, staff, and students. Her teams include the enterprise data warehouse, business intelligence, research IT, FHIR clinical applications, provider informatics and digital health teams that support University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics, University of Utah School of Medicine, and University of Utah Health Sciences. Dr. Hightower is a champion for health equity, diversity, and inclusion awareness and initiatives. She developed the Healthcare IT Equity Maturity Model (HITEM) to dismantle structural bias hardwired in health care IT and develop an inclusive and equity-minded health care IT culture.
Dr. Hightower has led the charge for health equity in the COVID era identifying and producing data to show where our testing and vaccination efforts needed to be centered and is also leading teams in our quest for gender salary equity among U of U Health employees. We are elated that she has joined our team. Please join us in congratulating her in her new role.