About

James L. Mason, Ph.D. is an independent health consultant focusing on organizational diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. He is the Chief Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Officer for CareOregon, the former Chief Diversity Officer for Providence Health & Services in Oregon, the former Director of the Office of Multicultural Health for the State of Oregon, and one of the founders of the National Association of State Offices of Minority Health (NASOMH) where he served as treasurer.

At the Georgetown University Child Development Center, he worked to develop a model of cultural competence for children’s mental health, along with a tool for assessing cultural competence. He is a founding member of the National Center on Cultural Competence also at Georgetown University where he worked to improve public health and health care services to diverse populations.

He has worked in higher education as an administrator, researcher, and educator since 1977; he has consulted and spoken with colleges, universities, and health and human service professionals and organizations in the United States, Latin America, and Canada.  His focus has been culturally competent organizational and work force development.  He has applied cultural competence to a variety of service disciplines including: healthcare, public health, mental health, child welfare, higher and compulsory education, and government.

Relevant Awards

  • Oregon Health Care Interpretation Presidential Award for Language Access Champion 2014.
  • HRSA Child and Adolescent Service System Program Cultural Competence Pioneer Award, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2003
  • HRSA Director’s Award, National Center on Cultural Competence, Georgetown University 2002.
  • The Mary Switzer Memorial Scholar Award.  Presented by the Annual Mary Switzer Memorial Seminar, Michigan State University, Lansing, Michigan, fall 1998.