Over the last several years, many organizations have taken a more direct and proactive role in fostering belonging and inclusion - not only internally, but also for the people they serve.

GE HealthCare recognizes the importance of embracing these values as a cornerstone of both our culture and business strategy, and in helping patients, who are the core focus of our mission of transforming healthcare for everyone.

As GE HealthCare’s first Chief DEI Officer, I was honored to design the company’s first diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategy, built upon the understanding that a workforce that is diverse and inclusive of unique perspectives and people is crucial to representing the patients we hope to help.

Our goal is to create an environment where every colleague can thrive, contribute, and continue our legacy of invention and innovation.

By reimagining the talent ecosystem, we can address structural and behavioral barriers to help every colleague perform at their best, share a sense of belonging, and feel valued. These initiatives focus on inclusive hiring, equitable advancement, enhanced engagement with underrepresented groups, and efforts to retain our best talent by investing in partnerships and training that keep our colleagues engaged.

We are also focused on amplifying all voices to enable a culture where everyone is heard and feels like they belong. We’re strengthening our listening channels and broadening our decision-making processes to amplify and embrace more diverse perspectives, ones that help us consider new ideas, reach more patients, and unlock new levels of innovation. Through new colleague-focused groups, we are helping increase representation, engagement, and retention, and foster a sense of community. 

Collaboration plays a critical role in broadening our impact, and we are maximizing partnerships and being intentional about who we align ourselves with as an organization. We are focusing on building relationships with diverse organizations and institutions that strengthen our talent pipeline and support workforce development.  

Through diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences and an inclusive culture, we can bring forward new ideas that help us challenge the status quo. This is critical as we tackle another key element of our strategy, which is to advance health equity. We recognize that health disparities arise from social, economic, and environmental factors, such as poverty, discrimination, lack of healthcare access, and unhealthy living conditions. As a healthcare company, it is even more important that we foster a workforce that can successfully develop solutions that help enable equitable access to care.

Addressing the root causes of health disparities is essential to improve patient outcomes, particularly among disadvantaged or marginalized groups. Our ambition to create a world where healthcare has no limits reflects our responsibility to address the individual, societal, and environmental barriers that lead to health inequities. Collectively, we are focused on improving health equity associated with cardiology, oncology, and neurology so everyone receives higher standards of health, no matter where they live or what their economic or societal circumstances are. We’re also working to support a company-wide health equity strategy to create sustainable, positive impacts in the communities we serve.

Every member of our organization has a role to play in making GE HealthCare’s workplace more inclusive. By embracing a growth mindset and creating opportunities for every voice to be heard, we can collectively drive innovation, improve patient outcomes, and engage meaningfully with our communities.

Abigail Epane-Osuala is the Chief Diversity Equity Inclusion Officer at GE HealthCare.