Dr. Thomas is the Executive Director at Equal Hope, with a wealth of hands-on experience managing multiple healthcare projects, programs, and services. As the Executive Director of Equal Hope, Paris is responsible for the operational oversight of all aspects and activities critical in supporting the mission of Equal Hope. Paris provides staff leadership and development, grant management and budgetary oversight, as well as program leadership and development. Paris creates strong and cooperative relationships with key staff members within Equal Care (Quality Consortium), Equal Voice (Policy & Advocacy), and Equal Hope (Outreach, Education & Navigation) programs to work productively and effectively. Paris promotes Equal Hope’s mission-based culture-driven environment to make significant progress in reducing health disparities for communities of color.
Before joining Equal Hope, Paris worked for the Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO) for Illinois. In this role, she was responsible for executing quality improvement strategies and providing system improvements for healthcare providers. Through this work, Paris successfully established 19 community coalitions across Illinois, convened over 300 providers, and executed more than 25 quality improvement projects. Paris has led numerous healthcare projects and developed innovative strategies and tools to improve patient’s quality of care. She has previous experience managing community programs in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), Patient-Centered Medical Homes (PCMH), Medicaid & Medicare, and the collegiate level.
Paris is a Chicago native and community health professional committed to improving the health of vulnerable populations and reducing health disparities in underserved communities through culturally competent interventions. Paris earned her Bachelors of Science Degree in Physiology from Grand Valley State University; a Master’s of Science Degree in Public Health Education & Promotion from the University of Cincinnati. She is currently a Health Sciences Ph.D. Candidate (Ph.D. (c)) at Northern Illinois University with research interest around community violence and health disparities, focusing on health outcomes in underserved communities. Paris also has accreditations in project management and health informatics and is a Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES) and Lean Six Sigma Green Belt.