by Holly Fletcher
Arie Nettles, PhD, associate professor of Clinical Pediatrics and director of the Office of Inclusion and Health Equity, was named as the 2019 recipient of Nashville Cable’s Power of Inclusion Individual Award at a luncheon and ceremony held May 8.
Nashville Cable, a professional networking organization focused on helping women advance professionally, evaluated candidates for commitment and success in championing a variety of diversity in the workplace and demonstrating innovation in initiatives to promote inclusion culturally and in hiring practices.
An innovator in unconscious bias awareness training, Nettles founded the Office of Inclusion and Health Equity in 2011 and has since transformed it into a model for hospital systems across the country.
Her dedication to health equity is simple and rooted in her belief that all people deserve the best.
“All are included,” she said. “No one is excluded. And we all have responsibility for health equity. That’s why we’re here — to make sure everyone walks out of Vanderbilt University Medical Center healed.”
Nettles, a licensed psychologist in Tennessee and Michigan, provides “booster shot” bias training designed to assist search committees in their decision making and represents VUMC in a four-year study by the National Academy of Sciences Engineering and Medicine Action Collaborative on Preventing Sexual Harassment in Higher Education.
She worked with a core team to develop the first of a series on “Respect@Work: Eliminating Sexual Harassment” currently presented enterprise wide at VUMC.
“Dr. Nettles’ commitment to improving the cultural competency of our workforce is exemplary. From her leadership in the area of unconscious bias to her participation in state and national movements to support women and minorities, her efforts are making a difference. We are delighted that she is being recognized for her outstanding work in diversity and inclusion,” said Traci Nordberg, Chief Human Resources Officer.
Over her career she’s held joint appointments at the University of Michigan School of Education and School of Medicine as assistant professor/assistant research scientist and clinical assistant professor respectively and served as an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee Knoxville Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling.
An expert in developmental disabilities and autism in children to young adults, Nettles is a Vanderbilt Kennedy Center member. She was appointed in 2018 as chair of the Statewide Planning and Policy Council of the Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities by former Gov. Bill Haslam.
