Jackie Hunter (She/Her), Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer

The University of Vermont Health Network

Jackie Hunter, DC, MHA, is the University of Vermont Health Network’s first Senior Vice President, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer. She leads diversity, equity and inclusion efforts for a health system that serves more than 1 million people across Vermont and Northern New York. Her priorities include working in partnership to create a shared culture of inclusivity, addressing health disparities and eliminating language-access barriers, all of which contribute to the Network’s commitment to health equity.

Prior to joining UVM Health Network in October of 2021, she created and led the first diversity and inclusion department at Banner Health, a 30-hospital health system based in Phoenix, Arizona. She’s been named a “Diversity Leader to Watch” by Modern Healthcare and is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, the National Association of Health Services Executives and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

Marissa Coleman (She/Her), VP of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

The University of Vermont Medical Center

Marissa N. Coleman, PsyD is the Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the University of Vermont Medical Center. She is a practicing bilingual, clinical psychologist with a specialty in International Psychology and Human Rights. Additionally, Dr. Coleman serves as a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at The Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at The University of Vermont. She completed her pre-doctoral residency at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami; followed by her postdoctoral fellowship at Emory School of Medicine. With her background in creating culturally grounded healing spaces, Dr. Coleman’s work emphasizes psychological safety, liberation theory, and centering the role of community in systemic change.

Her career in healthcare spans domestically and internationally with focus areas in program development, monitoring and reporting, participatory action research, DEI strategic planning, and cultivating holistic educational experiences. Dr. Coleman continues to work in multiple international contexts, particularly working with individuals and communities disaffected by human rights violations, conflict/war, torture, health epidemics, and trauma.

Nyasha Zimucha (She/Her), Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Alice Hyde Medical Center, Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital, Elizabethtown Community Hospitals

Growing up in the apartheid era in Southern Africa, Nyasha has utilized her public platforms in business and human rights over the past 15 years to advance social equity in the US, Africa, Europe and Asia. Fluent in 5 languages, the polyglot, and graduate of Harvard University, specializes in education, compliance and public policy and building frameworks as the Global Head of DEI at Bubbles and Bridges Consultancy.

She currently serves as the Vice President for all New York health systems in the state of New York at UVMHN mainly Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital, Alice Hyde Medical Center and Elizabethtown Community Hospitals.

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.

Erin Armstrong (She/Her), Director, Community Health Improvement

The University of Vermont Health Network

Erin Armstrong is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and experienced leader. After graduating from St. Michael’s College she completed two years of AmeriCorps VISTA, and worked at alternative schools before graduating from Bryn Mawr College of Social Work in 2006. In her early years as a social worker, she worked with many people experiencing systemic barriers. She has since provided oversight and supervision of several therapeutic, case management and residential programs for individuals experiencing mental illness.

Since 2017, she has held a variety of leadership positions at the UVM Medical Center, shifting from directly connecting people to the care they need, to addressing some of the upstream factors that lead to the barriers and injustices people face. Erin currently leads a team of talented individuals who work closely alongside community partners to address community priorities, health literacy, and the development of health equity initiatives. She is excited to bring her knowledge, build new partnerships, and highlight the voice of the community to make a greater impact on all of the areas served by the UVMHN.