A practicing obstetrician and gynecologist, Dr. Larkins-Pettigrew has spent her career engaging marginalized communities and building programs that promote access and outcomes equity for vulnerable patients and mitigate socio-economic barriers to care, particularly for women.
Modern Healthcare’s annual “Top Diversity Leaders” recognition celebrates a distinguished group of executives and organizations that are identified by an expert panel to be the nation’s trailblazers in the areas of health care diversity, equity, and inclusion.
In 2021 and 2022, Dr. Larkins-Pettigrew was named to the magazine’s Top 25 Diversity Leaders list. This year, she was named to Modern Healthcare’s special class of “Luminaries,” an award that honors individuals who have made “outstanding, sustained contributions to health care” and have a proven track record of improving organizations, advancing the careers of other minority leaders, and enhancing health care’s diversity and equity standards.
Dr. Larkins-Pettigrew is now among just a handful of the nation’s health care leaders to be named diversity Luminaries by the magazine, a group that includes Greg Adams, chair and CEO of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals; Beverly Malone, CEO for the National League for Nursing; and Ken Frazier, executive chairman of the board at Merck.
The 2023 individual awardees include leaders from health care institutions, insurance plans, academia, government, and the retail sector.
Profiles of the Top Diversity Leaders will be published online at ModernHealthcare.com/top-diversity-leaders and in the Oct. 16 issue of Modern Healthcare magazine.
“Modern Healthcare’s 2023 Top Diversity Leaders and organizations exemplify a commitment to meaningful diversity, equity, and inclusion,” said Dan Peres, President of Modern Healthcare. “They have exceeded industry standards and continue to devote necessary resources to providing internal opportunities while advancing community health equity, setting a great example for others.”
At Highmark Health, Dr. Larkins-Pettigrew and the AHN Equitable Health Institute — which she established — are advancing a comprehensive internal and external strategy designed to promote a culture of equity and inclusion across every component of the health and wellness enterprise.
In 2021, Dr. Larkins-Pettigrew and her team focused their efforts on equitable COVID-19 testing and vaccine distribution, ensuring that historically underserved communities and populations had equal access to these life-saving resources. In 2022, the Equitable Health Institute expanded its First Steps and Beyond program, a critical initiative established by AHN to reduce Black infant and fetal mortality and ensure that all babies born in the greater Pittsburgh region celebrate their first birthday.
And in 2023, the institute, along with partners from the AHN Women’s Institute, launched AHN’s first CenteringPregnancy® program, a nationally recognized model of group prenatal care shown to improve birth outcomes, particularly among Black babies.
In 2023, she was also appointed academic chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Drexel University College of Medicine.
“Dr. Larkins-Pettigrew is one of the nation’s top advocates for health care equity and diversity, and her incredible body of work speaks for itself,” said Bruce Meyer, MD, Highmark Health’s Western PA Market President. “We are extremely proud of everything she has done at Highmark Health to further advance our organization’s commitment to the highest DEI standards that guide our strategies, both as an employer and as a facilitator of health and wellness services for millions.”
At AHN, Dr. Larkins-Pettigrew and her team have built from the ground up a program that has greatly strengthened the network’s ability to effectively meet the health needs of every community it serves, said Jim Benedict, AHN President.
“Dr. Larkins-Pettigrew and her Equitable Health Institute team have had an extraordinary impact on our Network, and the diverse patient populations that we care for throughout the Western Pennsylvania region, helping to ensure that every person and every community feels valued and has access to the high-quality health care services they need and deserve.”
Dr. Larkins-Pettigrew joined AHN in 2020 from University Hospitals/Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, where she served as Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Chair of Clinical Diversity and Inclusion, and Assistant Dean of Students. She founded the JustWondoor (Women and Neonates, Diversity, Outreach, Opportunity, Research) global health program.
Dr. Larkins-Pettigrew earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing at the University of Pittsburgh, a master’s degree in education from California State University, a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Pittsburgh and her medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She served in the U.S. Navy for 13 years, achieving the rank of lieutenant commander and completing an OBGYN internship at Portsmouth Naval Hospital.
She also completed a residency at Magee Women’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, and practiced at Magee for eight years, while also serving as Magee’s Director of Global Health Programs.
About the Allegheny Health Network:
Allegheny Health Network (AHN.org), is an integrated healthcare delivery system serving the greater Western Pennsylvania region. The Network is composed of 14 hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, Health + Wellness Pavilions, multiple employed physician organizations, home and community-based health services, a research institute, and a group purchasing organization. The Network provides patients with access to a complete spectrum of advanced medical services, including nationally recognized programs for primary and emergency care, trauma care, cardiovascular disease, organ transplantation, cancer care, orthopedic surgery, neurology and neurosurgery, women’s health, diabetes, autoimmune disease and more.
AHN employs approximately 22,000 people, has more than 2,600 physicians on its medical staff and serves as a clinical campus for Drexel University College of Medicine and the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Media Contact
Bill Toland, Allegheny Health Network, 4123371738, [email protected], www.ahn.org
SOURCE Allegheny Health Network
