Yvonne Waiters Dixon, director of health equity for Novant Health, was named a Champion of Health by the National Medical Fellowships (NMF). She received the NMF Diversity in Leadership Award at the Champions of Health Awards held in Atlanta on Oct. 30.
As the director of health equity at Novant Health, Dixon works to identify the gaps in health care by understanding which rural, low-income and racial and ethnic minorities need access and how Novant Health can develop programs that can help close those gaps.
An example of Dixon’s commitment to equity includes her work on a project to reduce avoidable readmissions among African-American patients. In 2018, Novant Health was named as the first health care system to receive the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Health Equity Award for closing the gap in readmission rates by 50% among black patients with pneumonia.
Dixon is the daughter of Dr. Henry Waiters of Salisbury.