We are excited to announce that Dr. Janet Passley-Clarke has accepted the Vice Chair of Diversity role for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health! Dr. Passley-Clarke began her career at Penn State Health in 2017 and holds the role of Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, Advanced Practice Manager and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health. She earned both a Doctor of Nursing Practice and a PhD. Dr. Passley-Clarke serves as a National Advisor for the American Nurses Association Minority Fellowship Program, where she mentors professionals in minoritized communities pursuing graduate degrees in psychiatry and behavioral health. She is also mentoring a nurse practitioner of diversity at Hamilton Health Center, to foster collaboration between health systems. Recently, she was featured in the Penn State Health News Spotlight, which discussed advanced practice providers (APPs) and the lack of diversity within the ranks at Penn State Health and across the United States. She is coauthoring a book on the challenges experienced by health care professionals who face prejudice from patients and others in the workplace. Dr. Passley-Clarke is an active member of the DEI committee and has assisted in recruiting appropriate diverse providers here at Penn State Health.
Dr. Passley-Clarke’s extensive experiences in health care organizations and interpersonal interactions bring a wealth of knowledge and viewpoints that promote equal opportunity, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging to the workplace. She is eager to get started in her new role. She plans to involve the PPI team in productive activities addressing complex topics, conveying a forward-thinking mission and vision and implementing creative solutions/initiatives to bring positive changes to our health system. She recognizes the need for respectful discussions about implicit/explicit biases rather than completing annual compliance training that checks a box. Her goal is to develop metrics to measure progress toward meaningful goals and lead the team to address and close the gap in health care disparities.