Cara V. James

Cara V. James, Ph.D., 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) where she provided leadership, vision, and direction to advance health equity. Under her guidance, CMS developed its first Equity Plan to Improve Quality in Medicare, as well as its first Rural Health Strategy. She also worked to create an ongoing initiative to help individuals understand their coverage and connect to care, increased the collection and reporting of demographic data, and developed numerous resources to help stakeholders reduce disparities. 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 Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Dr. James holds her doctorate in health policy from Harvard University.