The COVID pandemic has taught the world many things, but one of the most crucial is the lack of health services and health literacy in underserved neighborhoods and communities. This book chronicles the experiences of one physician and how she started Grapevine Health which is a community and health outreach organization that focuses on patient engagement and health literacy by bringing together community partners and stakeholders.
Running from Greatness is part autobiographical, part instructional and is a timely account of the personal and professional experiences of the author. Dr. Lisa Fitzpatrick, is a global citizen, world traveler and esteemed health expert who invites the reader into her world personally and professionally as she reflects on how community engagement around the world changed her as a leader, a doctor, and a public servant.
Frustrated by the lack of progress in addressing social inequity, Dr. Lisa moved into an under resourced community. Her goal was to become proximal enough to better understand health inequity and the structural and policy changes needed to address it. She shares lessons learned about how little the healthcare system serves the needs of underserved people of color, insights about why Black and Brown communities were so disproportionately affected by the pandemic and offers solutions for addressing the persistent health inequities highlighted by the pandemic. This book is filled with stories about healthcare, community, empathy and service.
Above all, Running from Greatness highlights how connected we are whether doctor, front line worker, policymaker or C-Suite leader. For anyone who has felt stuck, struggled with inertia, self-doubt or simply struggling to balance a desire to enjoy the world and serve the world, this book is our call to action.
About the Author: Lisa Fitzpatrick, MD, MPH, MPA is a senior health care leader, with over 20 years of health care management, leadership, clinical and research experience with renown organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, US Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, including Medicaid and the Milken Institute George Washington University School of Public Health. She is a member of the Aspen Institute Global Leadership Network and an Aspen Institute Health Innovator. Dr. Fitzpatrick has a proven track record in global health leadership, designing and conducting prevention and clinical research and establishing multi-disciplinary coalitions to influence organizational change. She is an influencer among clinicians and public health leaders. Dr. Fitzpatrick has keen insights both personally and professionally into low-income and African American populations and over her career has conducted countless formative interviews, including focus groups, with low-income populations to better understand barriers and challenges to engagement in health care and preventive health behaviors. She founded an outpatient clinical center and a wellness non-profit to help address unmet needs of the low-income population in Washington, DC. She is a skilled negotiator and uses her strategic and analytical decision-making expertise to influence agency policies affecting at-risk minority populations. In 2015 Dr. Fitzpatrick became the Senior Medical Director for the Washington, DC Department of Health Care Finance, a health care agency with a $3.1 billion budget. In this executive role, she develops and influences all clinical policies for the Medicaid program. In this role she fosters cross-sectoral collaboration with the Departments of Health, Human Services, Behavioral Health and Emergency Services.
Prior to her Medicaid role, Dr. Fitzpatrick was a Commander in the US Public Health Service and served at the CDC for 10 years where she held a variety of leadership roles including, senior medical epidemiologist, lead researcher and mentor for young, minority investigators. Throughout her career, Dr. Fitzpatrick has received many awards and honors, most recently and notably, the American Hospital Association Grassroots Champion award, the DC Health Care Finance Director's Award for Excellence in Service, the US Public Health Service Commendation Medal and has been recognized by Ebony magazine as a "Future Leader of the 21st Century". She is a member of the American Public Health Association and serves on the board of the Infectious Disease Society of America HIV Medicine Association and the Public Health Committee Advisory Group. Dr. Fitzpatrick holds Doctor of Medicine from the University of Missouri, a Master in Public Health from the University of California-Berkeley and a Master in Public Administration from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government.
