The three honorees being inducted into the Modern Healthcare Health Care Hall of Fame for 2019 already have significant places in history. Individually, they’ve set the stage for population health, influenced important legislation and worked to bridge the racial gap in healthcare. The industry’s most prestigious award was created in 1988 to honor individuals whose exemplary and long-lasting achievements have positively affected the health of people around the world. This year’s honorees have impressively earned their recognition.
Karen Davis, a former leader of the Commonwealth Fund and HHS deputy secretary, spent much of her career studying the intersection of healthcare and socio-economic policies. Her work leading the Commonwealth Fund centered on ways to improve healthcare in the U.S. affordably. Paying close attention to that research was President Barack Obama, who wanted to make healthcare reform his signature legislation.
“Karen worked in and alongside government to formulate pathbreaking national healthcare proposals for universal healthcare, including the Affordable Care Act,” said Dr. David Blumenthal, who succeeded Davis as Commonwealth Fund president in 2012.
Now professor emerita in the health policy and management department at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Davis continues to advise policymakers as a nationally recognized economist.
Growing up as an African-American in rural Georgia in the 1930s, Dr. Louis Sullivan faced challenges reaching his dream of becoming a doctor. He would surpass that goal to become the nation’s top federal healthcare regulator.
As HHS secretary, Sullivan led an effort to substantially increase federal health research, creating what is now known as the National Institute on Minority Health and Disparities and inaugurating the Women’s Health Research program within the National Institutes of Health.
Sullivan also helped found the Morehouse School of Medicine and served as its dean, twice. Since retiring, Sullivan has served on countless boards and committees devoted to equitable healthcare and diversity in the workforce. He also chairs an organization he founded, the Sullivan Alliance to Transform the Health Professions.
John King’s long career has taken him to faith-based systems in Minneapolis, South Bend, Ind., Chicago and Portland, Ore., where he built healthcare organizations and focused on community service.
King helped the industry navigate the evolution of healthcare delivery, establishing effective boards and executive teams to best position growing systems. He also receives this honor for his early acknowledgment of the importance of caring for a community through population health.
The accomplishments of these three honorees set the stage for our current transformation of healthcare and we thank them for the work they did to set the ball rolling.
