Advancing Equity: A Mission Without Walls

In her role at Booz Allen, Dr. Cassie Carter explores the challenges faced by federal public health programs and ways they can improve delivery of their services. This September, she will share research findings for a long-standing and impactful government kidney disease program. She and her team discovered that Black men were twice as likely to be involuntarily discharged from the program as white men.

This is just one of many ways Cassie is working to empower people and make the world a more equitable place. She’s also an adjunct professor at a community college in Maryland. She’s a conduit to valuable health resources in the communities she calls home. And she’s an organizer and connector for neighborhood events, from health fairs to dance classes. 

Read on to learn how Cassie’s making a difference on and off the job—and what inspires her to keep going.

At the 2023 State of Black Health Conference, Cassie will review the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Program, one of the oldest and largest programs by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The ESRD program offers support to kidney patients and their families for dialysis, medications, education, and more. While conducting research to learn more about CMS initiatives, she came across the ESRD program and was fascinated by its potential to drive equity.

“CMS makes it very easy to receive services, and when we talk about access, we want to see more of that,” Cassie says.

But access is only one part of the health equity picture. How and why patients leave the program matters as well.

A provider or care team can discharge a patient from a program like ESRD for many reasons, Cassie explains, such as noncompliance with the rules, interactions that are viewed as problematic, and perceived threats to safety. It’s important to realize that these reasons can overlap with factors like social determinants of health and mental health issues. Implicit bias and stigma may play a role as well, she says. 

“Sometimes policy doesn't really give you the space to understand the interconnectivity of some of the other social determinants of health, and how one decision point is directly tied to another,” she says. "They are all indeed connected.”

Cassie hopes that insights like those in her upcoming presentation can make decision makers think—and take action. “I want them to say: ‘We embed equity into every aspect of our programs every year.’ Policymakers can make impactful changes in real time to bridge the gap.”

Cassie is focused on action outside of work as well. In her childhood neighborhood in upstate New York and now in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area, she is building purposeful spaces for accessing knowledge, resources, and community connections. 

For example, she hosts free sessions on topics from heart disease to domestic violence. She helps people get access to resources, doctor recommendations, and information, such as what to expect in cancer screenings and ways to manage chronic conditions like diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. 

And sometimes neighbors even find themselves joining her free community Zumba class. “I like to dance,” Cassie says.

“Sometimes we get 50 people, sometimes we get four. But the power of community works,” she says. “It's been really cool to come full circle and be a researcher and also a practitioner.”

Cassie also sees these connections come to life as an adjunct professor of sociology at Montgomery College in Montgomery County, Maryland. Her students are young, most of them 18 to 24 years old. “They’re still learning about the world,” she says. Many are first-generation students, are immigrants, and experience learning disparities and other disadvantages. Cassie says that when they reflect on their lives and experiences, these students tend to self-blame, and feel it’s because of something they’ve done wrong.

“Some of them feel devalued, like they don’t have a place in society,” she says. “I’m able to offer a sociological perspective. My work offers me that critical societal lens to bring all the structural elements together.” 

All these experiences in turn enrich her work at Booz Allen. “I'm able to offer many different lenses and situations than if I were only consulting,” says Cassie.

Cassie joined Booz Allen six years ago. Why does she stay?

“I work with incredible minds that help me grow well beyond what I could imagine,” she says. That includes her colleagues on the IEC team to the communities of practice that connect disciplines across Booz Allen. “Everyone here is very invested, passionate, and smart. We empower each other and our clients.”

At Booz Allen, as in the community, Cassie says she’s inspired by the people around her. “It's the collection of intellect and innovation that come together for the ‘wow factor’ and it motivates you to want to be better, to bring your best self to work every day,” she says.

Cassie hopes to provide this inspiration to others, from fellow academics who can’t imagine their work being published to fellow community leaders and changemakers wanting to create a more equitable world.

“We all have the power within us, in whatever space we’re in, to make things better for someone else,” says Cassie.