Photo courtesy of UAB University Relations.
Dr. Deborah Grimes, chief diversity officer for the UAB Health System, was named one of the Most Influential Women in Corporate America by Savoy Magazine in its summer 2019 issue.
Deborah Grimes, who serves as chief diversity officer for the UAB Health System, is proud of what the system has achieved in welcoming all kinds of people to its workforce.
“We’re incredibly diverse,” she said. “We do not have a diversity problem at all. We have people from all over the country and the world. We have all ages and races. We celebrate our diversity.”
And over the summer, Grimes also received a prestigious individual honor that celebrates her work at UAB and her impact on the community.
Grimes was named one of the Most Influential Women in Corporate America for 2019 by Savoy Magazine. “It was a very humbling and blessed experience,” Grimes told Iron City Ink.
She also stressed she has been part of a team effort.
“I’m very grateful to Savoy for recognizing some of the many blessings that I have been able to accomplish with the help of many people at UAB,” she said.
Grimes, a native of Anniston who came to Birmingham in 1982, has been able to accomplish quite a bit during a 33-year career at UAB.
She earned her bachelor’s degree from the School of Nursing in 1986 and her master’s degree from the School of Health Professions in 2016. She earned her JD degree from the Birmingham School of Law in 1995.
Grimes has held several leadership positions at UAB Hospital. She was vice president of quality and regulatory affairs and chief compliance officer before becoming chief diversity officer for the health system in 2017.
“Deborah has served in many roles as nurse, attorney and administrator,” said Will Ferniany, CEO of the UAB Health System. “We salute the diversity of experiences she brings to the job each day, and congratulate her on this most deserving recognition.”
In her role as chief diversity officer, Grimes said her primary focus day to day is to “implement our vision for UAB Medicine, which is to develop and implement a comprehensive and integrated diversity, equity and inclusion plan that will position UAB Medicine as the academic medical center of choice for patients, employees and students.”
Diversity is a complex issue, with many more aspects than merely race, gender and ethnicity, Grimes said. “There are other things that you look at, like regionally — where were you educated, where did you grow up,” she said.
There are a variety of reasons why it behooves a large organization such as UAB Medicine to be committed to diversity, Grimes said. “It is the right thing to do because a clear focus on diversity and inclusion leads to better outcomes for our patients, families and employees,” she said.
These better outcomes come because diversity helps to increase employee and patient engagement, according to Grimes.
Photo by Jesse Chambers.
Grimes serves as chief diversity officer for the UABHealth System, which has more than 20,000 employees. UAB Hospital,shown here, is the centerpiece of the system.
According to research studies, “organizations that focus on diversity and inclusion see improvements in employee engagement, and if you see that, it usually translates into increased patient engagement, because happy employees usually means happy patients,” Grimes said.
One also sees “better trust between patients and caregivers,” she said.
Trust and communication between caregivers and patients — and better quality outcomes — also increase when an institution offers culturally competent care, according to Grimes.
Culturally competent care takes into account not just the physical but the social, cultural and linguistic needs of patients.
“We are serving a community that is very diverse, so you should celebrate that diversity and show it in the people you hire,” Grimes said.
This is especially important because UAB seeks to serve people outside of Alabama — in the Southeast, around the country and around the world — Grimes said.
Making a commitment to diversity and inclusion also helps attract employees, Grimes said.
“If you’re a diverse candidate or even just a person who has lived outside of Alabama and wants to live in a diverse area, it absolutely helps attract people to come and work there,” she said.
An emphasis on diversity in an organization like UAB Health System is also good for people at a personal level, Grimes said.
“Diversity and inclusion allows for every individual to thrive and experience the comfort and respect for being valued for their own uniqueness,” she said.
Making all different kinds of people feel comfortable within the workforce — creating “a cohesive, consistent culture of inclusion” — is critical, Grimes said.
“You want people to be comfortable expressing themselves and finding a place where they may be in a minority of numbers but are not in a minority of thought,” Grimes said. “There is a common purpose.”
As one of the largest employers in the area, Grimes said UAB Health System has an opportunity to set a powerful example in regards to promoting diversity in its hiring and staffing practices.
