CommonSpirit Health, a health system created by the alignment of Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health as a single ministry in 2019, has announced the launch of the Lloyd H. Dean Institute for Humankindness & Health Justice to leverage the power of human kindness to treat the social causes of poor health and advance health justice. 

Named for former CommonSpirit Health CEO Lloyd H. Dean, who retired in August, the institute aims to celebrate and advance Dean’s longstanding commitment to health equity and the power of human kindness. To that end, the institute will fund new research into how kindness, empathy, and trust can be leveraged in health settings to improve outcomes among diverse populations; coordinate the work of community health initiatives addressing the social determinants of health to align with clinical approaches; bolster CommonSpirit’s industry-leading programs seeking to diversify the healthcare workforce with academic partners across the country; and align data and reporting techniques with clinical initiatives that are seeking to reduce race-based health disparities, while addressing social issues that also contribute to these inequities. 

Alisahah Jackson, who most recently served as system vice president for Population Health Innovation and Policy at CommonSpirit, will serve as the institute’s inaugural president.

“We are leveraging the science of kindness, compassion, empathy and trust to accelerate health equity and social justice,” Jackson said. “The formation of the institute comes at a crucial moment for our industry—when we must focus on doing maximum good in our communities, while focusing on our shared humanity.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/People Images)