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NewYork-Presbyterian today launched the Dalio Center for Health Justice, dedicated to understanding and improving health equity, addressing health justice, and driving action that results in measurable improvements in health outcomes for all.

The Dalio Center for Health Justice is the result of a $50 million grant from Dalio Philanthropies, whose founder Ray Dalio is a NewYork-Presbyterian Trustee and an important thought partner behind the center. Among the center’s priorities will be reducing health disparities that disproportionately affect communities of color.

“Our goal is to contribute to equal healthcare and equal education because we believe that these are the most fundamental building blocks of equal opportunity and a just society,” said Ray Dalio, founder of Dalio Philanthropies and NewYork-Presbyterian Trustee. “We know that these don’t adequately exist, and we are excited to have a great partner in NewYork-Presbyterian, who we are confident will find ways to achieve more health justice.”

“The Dalio Center for Health Justice reflects our shared commitment to proactively addressing health disparities and the systemic inequities that create conditions for poor health,” said Jerry I. Speyer, chair of the NewYork-Presbyterian Board of Trustees. “We are grateful to Ray Dalio for his extraordinary leadership in the fight for health justice and his support as we strive to deliver the highest quality care to every patient and improve the health of all the communities we serve.”

“We are living in a profound time where social, economic and health crises are converging at once, and we recognize our country must address longstanding health disparities due to race, socioeconomic differences, access to care, and other complex factors that impact the well-being of our communities disproportionately,” said Dr. Steven J. Corwin, president and CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian. “NewYork-Presbyterian hopes to be a leader in health justice and developing programs to help solve these issues and improve the lives of our patients and our communities.”

The Dalio Center for Health Justice will be a convener, collaborator and grantor, bringing together renowned experts in diverse fields to fuel change and support health justice among NewYork-Presbyterian team members, our patients and communities, and ultimately local and national policy. The center will be led by Dr. Julia Iyasere, who brings significant experience in medicine and has championed diversity and inclusion throughout her career.

“The COVID-19 pandemic exposed enduring health inequities in a new and alarming way, and the importance of health justice has never been clearer,” said Dr. Julia Iyasere, head of the Dalio Center for Health Justice at NewYork-Presbyterian. “We are committed to improving the health and well-being of our patients and communities through research, dialogue and education, equity in our clinical operations, investment in our communities and advocacy for national change.”

The center will promote health justice and address the health disparities of our employees, patients and communities through research, health education and programs that foster equity in clinical operations and enhance the culturally sensitive care provided by NewYork-Presbyterian. It will focus on comprehensive analysis to understand more fully social determinants of health, creating a robust and diverse health equity database to inform the center’s work in developing community-based initiatives, advocating locally and nationally for change, seeking grants, and producing an institutional equity report. It will also focus on examining and addressing unconscious bias in medicine and clinical trials. The center will inaugurate a Diversity, Inclusion and Health Equity Symposium to encourage discussions across the organization, highlight faculty research and innovations, and provide a career development forum for underrepresented minority fellows and residents, with the goal of producing tangible solutions to health disparities.

The Dalio Center for Health Justice will serve as a central resource for health justice, health equity and community-based work, focused on institutional alignment and the achievement of measurable and consequential outcomes. To foster innovations in research and care delivery, the center will convene local and national groups and become a sponsor for grant funding.

NewYork-Presbyterian

NewYork-Presbyterian is one of the nation’s most comprehensive, integrated academic healthcare systems, encompassing 10 hospital campuses across the Greater New York area, more than 200 primary and specialty care clinics and medical groups, and an array of telemedicine services.

A leader in medical education, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is the only academic medical center in the nation affiliated with two world-class medical schools, Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. This collaboration means patients have access to the country’s leading physicians, the full range of medical specialties, latest innovations in care, and research that is developing cures and saving lives.

Ranked the #4 hospital in the nation and #1 in New York in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals rankings, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is also recognized as among the best in the nation in the U.S. News Best Children’s Hospitals rankings. Founded nearly 250 years ago, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital has a long legacy of medical breakthroughs and innovation, from the invention of the Pap test to pioneering the groundbreaking heart valve replacement procedure called TAVR.

NewYork-Presbyterian’s 47,000 employees and affiliated physicians are dedicated to providing the highest quality, most compassionate care to New Yorkers and patients from across the country and around the world.

For more information, visit www.nyp.org and find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Dalio Philanthropies

Dalio Philanthropies is the philanthropic platform of the Dalio family. It supports a broad and diverse range of programs, including those in microfinance, mental health, physical health, ocean exploration, conservation, and equal opportunity in education. For more information about Dalio Philanthropies, please visit www.daliophilanthropies.org.

Dr. Julia Iyasere

Dr. Iyasere brings more than a decade of experience in medicine to her new role as Head of the Dalio Center for Health Justice and Vice President. She was previously the Associate Chief Medical Officer for Service Lines and the Co-Director of the Care Team Office. She was also Director of the Leadership Education and Development for Physicians (LEAD) Academy, Associate Designated Institutional Official for Graduate Medical Education at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and the Associate Program Director of the Columbia Internal Medicine Residency Training Program. An Assistant Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Dr. Iyasere continues to see patients as an internist in the Section for Hospital Medicine.