BLACKBIO100 2023
The Journal of Black Innovation and the Dr.T. Nathaniel Burbridge Center for Inclusive Innovation have selected Burgess Harrison, executive director of the National Minority Health Association, among the third annual BlackBio100. Researcher and educator Dr. T. Nathaiel Burbridge was leader of the San Francisco NAACP during the United San Francisco Freedom Movement from 1963 to 1965, leading the Auto Row demonstrations that desegregated the auto industry nationwide. He was also a world-class pharmacologist who hailed from Talladega College in Alabama to become tenured medical faculty in California in the 1950s.
Burgess Harrison, MBA, brings a wide breadth and depth of expertise to the National Minority Health Association (https://www.thenmha.org ). He comes with more than 25 years of home health/ home care tech, electronic visit verification (EVV), and telehealth technology experience. He is a pioneer in EVV and Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM), and possesses a unique understanding of the market and issues patients, providers, and vendors face.
As Executive Director of the NMHA, he is leading the organization in its mission of health equity through Operation Healthy YouTM, technology, vaccine education, and hesitancy reduction programs ; clinical trial diversity; dementia caregiver training; and utilization of Patient Activation MeasureTM (PAM) to the healthcare system. NMHA’s recent $11.1 million HRSA grant stands as one example.Through Burgess’ leadership, NMHA partnered with Epistemix and launched a COVID-19 risk assessment tool called COVID-Scape found at https://covid.scape.health. The organization is bringing pharmaceutical companies together to address the issue of diversity in clinical trials and launching a program called THE.art Alliance, spearheaded by Angelica McKinley, Creative Director, The Walt DisneyTM Company, that will bring artists together to raise awareness of the issue of health equity through art as two examples of its innovative health equity-focused programs.
He co-founded StatChek, Inc., a pioneer in electronic visit verification for in-home care (acquired by Wipro NYSE: WIT), and Ankota LLC, an innovative SaaS home care technology company. He has held senior marketing roles at Frontier Communications, American TeleCare, The Terrie Williams Agency (Public Relations), and Southern New England Telephone, acquired by AT&T. In addition to his NMHA duties, he serves on the board of Tradehome Shoes, a leading family footwear retailer, and an ESOP with 120 stores in 22 states.
Burgess is known for developing forward-thinking programs for non-profits. In addition to serving on the board of NMHA, he served on the boards of the American Red Cross of South- Central Connecticut and Shoreline Foundation. From an education perspective, he was an inner-city high school business teacher and has also served as an adjunct professor of Marketing at the New York College of Technology.
Burgess holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of New Haven and a BS in Marketing Education from the College of New Jersey. He also holds a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace Certificate from the University of Southern Florida. In June 2022, he was recognized by Twin Cities Business Magazine as a notable Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion executive. Burgess sits on health equity-focused advisory committees for Medical Alley Association, the American Kidney Foundation, National Pancreatic Foundation, and the American Epilepsy Society, and STEM City USA Content Provider Advisory Committee.
During Innovation&Equity23, the annual scientific proceeding of the Journal, BlackBio100 selectees will gather with the 23d 50 Most Important African-Americans in Technology and the second annual 50 Most Important African-Americans in Technology on the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in San Francisco. Throughout the year, these experts are providing important and timely programs each week during the Burbridge Center’s scientific discourses on key topics.