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Denise Brooks Williams on equity and the power of representation
FOX 2 spoke with Denise Brooks Williams, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Henry Ford Health, because her leadership sits at the intersection of data and lived experience. She served on the Michigan Coronavirus Racial Disparities Task Force while also navigating corporate health care leadership as a woman of color and a mother.
DETROIT (FOX 2) - As part of Black History Month, FOX 2 is talking to leaders in the Black community who can speak about their experiences and offer advice for all of us, because Black history is also American history.
Big picture view:
FOX 2 spoke with Denise Brooks Williams, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Henry Ford Health, because her leadership sits at the intersection of data and lived experience. She served on the Michigan Coronavirus Racial Disparities Task Force while also navigating corporate health care leadership as a woman of color and a mother.
We wanted to understand not only what the numbers show, but how perspective shapes policy, equity, and outcomes.
Denise Brooks Williams is Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Henry Ford Health, overseeing operations across a 13-hospital system with more than 550 sites of care, 50,000 team members, and approximately $12 billion in annual revenue. Leaders like Brooks Williams bring essential perspectives to the table, and lived experience also has value.
"I think when you think of representation, it is extremely helpful that everybody is bringing their set of experiences," she said. "Uniquely, of course, in health care we have a huge benefit. We have physicians that are significant leaders, so that clinical perspective is a voice and a discipline that is at the table all the time. The issue of maternal mortality and the issue that has been for Black women, yes, I’m a Black woman who had two children. I have a perspective, but I’m joined by many others who have a perspective. I can talk about what my journey was. Here’s the training we want to have and here are the gaps we want to fill."
Williams served on Governor Whitmer’s Task Force on Racial Disparities, which is credited with helping to reduce mortality rates among Black people during the pandemic.
By the numbers:
According to the final report from the Michigan Coronavirus Racial Disparities Task Force, COVID-19 death rates among Black Michigan residents declined each year of the pandemic.
- In 2020, the rate was 22.8 deaths per 10,000 people.
- In 2021, it dropped to 16.2 per 10,000.
- In 2022, it fell again to 8.6 per 10,000.
- By 2022, that rate was nearly equal to the rate for White residents.
One inflection point in understanding disparity is how to address it.
"I’m very empathetic that health care is a right and people have to be healthy to be able to participate in our society. Equity is an opportunity for us to pursue, the data is clear," said Williams. "From a health care perspective, it’s important to stay focused on the data and the evidence that is factual. If there are differences due to regions or genetics, how can you customize the care?"
She also reflected on balance. Early in her career, she focused on establishing herself as a professional. Now, she advises younger women that you can have it all, you just may not be able to do it all at the same time. Parenting, she says, is parenting.
"What advice I give today is you can have it all, you just may not be able to do it all at the same time. So you do have to have balance. My niece just had her first child and her husband had more time. I don’t think it’s more gender-based anymore, parenting is parenting," said Williams.
Dig deeper:
When asked about how well hospital systems are serving the city of Detroit, Brooks Williams acknowledged the new mayor of Detroit, the city’s first Black female mayor, and said the city is on an amazing journey, declaring that representation does matter at the highest levels.