Cara V. James is President and CEO at Grantmakers In Health (GIH). Prior to joining GIH in 2020, she served as Director of the Office of Minority Health at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in the US Department of Health and Human Services where she provided leadership, vision, and direction to advance health equity. Under her guidance, CMS developed its first CMS Equity Plan to Improve Quality in Medicare, its first Rural Health Strategy, created an ongoing initiative to help individuals understand their coverage and connect to care, increased the collection and reporting of demographic data, and developed numerous tools and resources to advance health equity. Before joining CMS, Dr. James served as Director of the Disparities Policy Project and Director of the Barbara Jordan Health Policy Scholars Program at the Kaiser Family Foundation. Dr. James holds a doctorate in health policy and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Harvard University. Dr. James is a member of the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services, and she serves on the board of the Association of American Medical Colleges, District of Columbia Hospital Association, and Health Care Cost Institute.
