Kara Odom Walker

Kara Odom Walker, MD, MPH, MSHS is a health policy leader and serves as the Chief Population Health Officer at Nemours Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, where she leads all aspects of population health strategy, research, innovation and implementation. Her scope of responsibility includes the advancement of the overall health and well-being of children, both broadly and among the populations served by Nemours Children's. Dr. Walker is a board-certified, practicing family physician.

Kara Odom Walker
MD
Walker at TANF Awards of Excellence in 2018
Secretary of Delaware Department of Health and Social Services
In office
February 6, 2017 – June 2020
GovernorJohn Carney
Personal details
Alma materUniversity of Delaware, BS, 1999
Jefferson Medical College, MD, 2004
Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, MPH, 2003
University of California, Los Angeles, Fielding School of Public Health, MSHS, 2009
Previous WorkplacesUniversity of California, San Francisco, 2010 – 2012
Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, 2012 – 2017
Current WorkplaceNemours Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children

Dr. Walker also leads Nemours Delaware Valley primary care network and its Value-Based Services Organization. She collaborates with Nemours operational leaders and shares accountability for managed care initiatives, including medically complex case management, school-based wellness programs and other services for specific populations.

From February 2017 to June 2020, she served as Secretary of the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services. Prior to holding that position, she served as the Deputy Chief Science Officer at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) In 2018, she was elected to the National Academy of Medicine.

Education

Odom Walker attended high school in Bear, Delaware and graduated as valedictorian from Caravel Academy high school.[1] She then attended the University of Delaware where she graduated cum laude with her bachelor's degree in chemical engineering in 1999.[2] She then attended Jefferson Medical College, where she received her Doctor of Medicine in 2004. During that time, she also received a Master of Public Health degree in Health Policy and Management from Johns Hopkins University in 2003.

Odom Walker then moved to California to complete her residency training specializing in family medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. She then became a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she also completed a Masters of Health Services Research in 2009.[1] During her time there, she studied how hospital closures impacted underserved minority populations in Los Angeles.[3]

Career

In 2010, Odom Walker became an Assistant Clinical Professor in Family and Community Medicine at University of California, San Francisco, researching health disparities and working to understand how best to provide high quality, coordinated care with patients' needs in mind.[4] In 2012, Odom Walker became a Program Officer at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and became Deputy Chief Science Officer in 2013. After 5 years of service at PCORI, Odom Walker transitioned to public service.

On February 6, 2017, Odom Walker was sworn in as Secretary of the Delaware Department of Health and Services, working under the administration of Governor John Carney. As Secretary, she has worked to develop policies and programs to prioritize patient outcomes in Delaware's healthcare system.[5] In this role, she has overseen Delaware's response to the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, paying special attention to elderly citizens and vulnerable populations.[6] In March 2020, she also warned that half of Delaware's positive COVID-19 tests were among people aged 18 to 49, urging caution among younger populations that may have thought they had low risk of developing serious symptoms.[7]

In June 2020, Odom Walker stepped down from her post as Delaware Health Secretary to begin a position at the Washington branch of Nemours Children's Health System as Senior Vice President and Chief Health Officer.[8]

Awards & honors

References
  1. "Office of the Secretary: Secretary Kara Odom Walker's Biography - Delaware Health and Social Services - State of Delaware". www.dhss.delaware.gov. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  2. "DHSS Secretary Dr. Kara Odom Walker Elected to Prestigious National Academy of Medicine". State of Delaware News. 2018-10-15. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  3. "Kara Odom Walker, MD, MPH, MSHS". www.pcori.org. 2012-10-22. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  4. Kavanagh, Anne. "Family Medicine Residency at SFGH: Past, Present and Future". Family Medicine Residency at SFGH: Past, Present and Future | UC San Francisco. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  5. "5Q: Secretary of DHSS Dr. Kara Odom Walker". Delaware Business Times. 2018-02-22. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  6. McAneny, D. J. "'A wake-up call' | Carney, Odom Walker address statewide coronavirus concerns following 1st deaths in Delaware". WDEL 101.7FM. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  7. Odom Walker, Kara (2020-03-25). "Delaware DHSS secretary: Half of state positives are 18-49. We ALL must isolate ourselves". delawareonline. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  8. "Delaware Health Secretary Dr. Kara Odom Walker steps down from post". whyy. 17 June 2020. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  9. "Walker elected to National Academy of Medicine". Dover Post. 2018-10-15. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
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