Jocelyn Freeman Garrick, MD is an emergency department physician who's on a mission to ensure that health care providers reflect the racial and gender diversity of the patients they serve. Her experience as a fellow in the CHCF Health Care Leadership Program, proved integral to the success of two nonprofit organizations that she founded to provide mentoring, training and job opportunities for people of color: Mentoring in Medicine & Science (MIMS) and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Corps. These organizations have reached more than 1,000 students. Both organizations are committed to diversifying the health workforce at a time of workforce shortages throughout the country.

“Many of these kids may not have people at home to serve as role models,” Freeman Garrick said. “They just need hope and motivation, and my job is to encourage them.”

In the CHCF Health Care Leadership Program, Freeman Garrick learned how to create a business plan and advisory board and to hire people who could raise funds for her non-profit organizations.

“I hadn’t been taught how to run a nonprofit, and I learned the value of building relationships with important people,” she said. “If you don’t tell the world about your organization, then you will not get the financial support you need.”

Freeman Garrick is profiled in the California Health Care Foundation blog.