Guadalupe Martinez (She/Her), Network Diversity Director
The University of Vermont Health Network
Guadalupe is a Mexican/American millennial who emigrated from Sonora, Mexico to Arizona with her family at a young age. Thankfully, because of her DACA status, she received her Master of Healthcare Administration from the University of Arizona in the spring of 2022.
Her lived experiences of food adversity, house instability, and health disparities propelled her to become a DEI professional in 2018 at Banner Health, a large integrated health system, where she had the opportunity to be one of the founders of their Diversity and Inclusion department. During her time there, Guadalupe co-led and established Employee Resource Groups, facilitated Unconscious Bias, Macroaggressions, and LGBTQ+ Health 101 across clinical and non-clinical teams, and fostered community relationships, all aimed to tackle health disparities.
She was fortunate to join the University of Vermont Health Network as their first Network Diversity Director, in March of 2022 where her focus is cultivating a culture of belonging and addressing health equity. In her short time with the network, Guadalupe has delivered DEI and LGBTQIA+ care training to leadership at multiple hospitals and agency, is spearheading policies aimed at creating more equitable processes for staff, patients, and communities alike, and is collaborating with key network partners to identify DEI metrics and data. She is excited to continue serving marginalized and underserved populations by fostering a culture of innovation, belonging and equity across the communities that the University of Vermont Health Network operates in and serves.
My lived experiences of food adversity, house instability, and health disparities not only within my own family but surrounding communities propelled me to be an advocate for historically marginalized communities and am passionate about building equitable opportunities for all individuals.