Director, National Center for Cultural Competence
Principal Investigator, Leadership Institute for Cultural Diversity and Cultural and Linguistic Competence,
Director, University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities,
Georgetown University Center for Child & Human Development
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Georgetown University Medical Center
Tawara Goode is an assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. She has been on the faculty of the Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development (GUCCHD), for over 30 years and has served in many capacities. She has degrees in early childhood education, and education and human development. Professor Goode has extensive experience as a principal investigator for federal and private sector grants and contracts. She is the director of the National Center for Cultural Competence (NCCC) at GUCCHD. She is the new Director of the GUCCHD’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities and focuses on national level efforts to advance and sustain cultural and linguistic competence in this field.
The NCCC has been in existence for the past 23 years during which Professor Goode was the director for 22 years. The mission of the NCCC is to increase the capacity of health care and mental health care programs to design, implement, and evaluate culturally and linguistically competent service delivery systems to address growing diversity, persistent disparities, and to promote health and mental health equity. Professor Goode is recognized as a thought leader in the area of cultural and linguistic competence and building the NCCC into a nationally and internationally recognized and award winning program. She had a primary role in developing curricula, assessment instruments, professional development series, and other resources that support cultural and linguistic competence.
Professor Goode is actively involved in the development and implementation of programs and initiatives in the area of cultural and linguistic competence at local, national, and international levels. These efforts address the needs of diverse audiences including health and mental health care, public health, social services, community/advocacy organizations, professional societies/organizations, and institution of higher education. Professor Goode has conducted research on cultural and linguistic competence and its role in addressing health and health care disparities including: 1) a collaborative effort to create validated instruments to measure cultural and linguistic competence in health care settings; 2) a multi-site project to examine health disparities for populations at the intersection of race, ethnicity, and disability; and 3) a community-engaged study to examine if barriers to participation in research by racial and ethnic groups (other than non-Hispanic White) can be reduced by “truth and reconciliation” community forums designed to acknowledge past injustices and exploitation committed by researchers and research institutions and to foster reconciliation. Professor Goode is a member of the Community Engagement Module of the Georgetown-Howard Universities Center for Clinical Translational Science.
In addition to the GUCEDD, Professor Goode administers three grants from the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities including the Leadership Institute for Cultural Diversity and Cultural and Linguistic Competence, Community of Practice on Cultural and Linguistic Competence, and Embedding Cultural and Linguistic Competence: A Guide for UCEDD Curricula and Training Activities. Each of these grants focuses on: 1) increasing the number and capacity of leaders to advance and sustain cultural and linguistic competence to respond to the growing cultural diversity among people with developmental disabilities; and 2) developing curricula and professional development for current and future professionals that will teach, provide services and supports, and conduct research with and on behalf of people with developmental disabilities, their families, and the communities in which they live.
Professor Goode's publications include peer reviewed articles, book chapters, monographs, policy papers, guides and instruments that support cultural and linguistic competence in a variety of human service and academic settings. She has and continues to serve on numerous boards, commissions and advisory groups at the local, regional, and national levels that are concerned with the health, mental health, and well-being of culturally and linguistically diverse populations and communities in the U.S. its territories, and in tribal communities.
In November 2016, Professor Goode was appointed by President Obama to be a member of the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities. Other selected boards/committees include, but are not limited to current and past service: Member, Board of Directors, Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) 2017-2020 and 2009-2012; Member, AUCD Multicultural Council 2002-present; Member, District of Columbia Developmental Disabilities Council 2016-present; Member, National Project Advisory Committee for the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) in Health and Health Care 2010-present; Member, External Advisory Committee, Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities Center on Education and Research, Xavier University, School of Pharmacy, 2008-present; Member, The Arc's Diversity Council, 2017-present; Member, National External Advisory Board, Center for Health Equity Intervention Research, University of Massachusetts, School of Medicine, 2012-2016; Member, National Diversity Committee, The Arc 2013-2014; Member, TASH Multicultural Council, 2012-2014; Member, National Advisory Board, Moffitt Diversity, Moffitt Cancer Center, 2010-2014; Member, CLAS Enhancement Initiative, Office of Minority Health, DHHS 2010-2013;Member, National Advisory Board for the Kaiser Permanente Institute for Culturally Competent Care 2005-2014; Member, Coalition to Reduce Disparities in CV Outcomes, American College of Cardiology 2009-2011; Member, Council for Coordination and Collaboration, Substance Abuse Mental Health Administration, Child, Adolescent and Family Branch (CAFB), 2006-2012, Chair, CAFB Cultural and Linguistic Competence and Disparities Work Group, 2008-2011, and Member, CAFB LGBTQI2-S Work Group, 2010-2014; Member, Expert Panel, National Quality Forum, Measuring and Reporting Cultural Competence in Health Care Quality, 2010.
Yee, S., Breslin, M.L., Goode, T.D., Havercamp, S.M., Horner-Johnson, W., Iezzoni, L., & Krahn, G. (2018). Compounded Disparities: Health Equity at the Intersection of Disability, Race, and Ethnicity. Washington, DC: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, & Medicine. http://nationalacademies.org/hmd/Activities/SelectPops/HealthDisparities/Commissioned-Papers/Compounded-Disparities.aspx
Goode, T., Jones, W., & Christopher, J. Brown, I., Responding to Cultural and Linguistic Differences among People with Intellectual Disability (2017). In Percy, M., Wehmeyer, M. L., Shogren, K. A., & Fung, A. (Eds.) . A comprehensive guide to intellectual and developmental disabilities (2nd ed.). Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing.
Wallington, SF., Chiranjeev, D., Sheppard, V., Goode, TD., Oppong, BA., Dodson, EE. Hamilton, R., Adams-Campbell, LL. Enrolling Minority and Underserved Populations in Cancer Clinical Research. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. January 2016, Volume 50, Issue 1, 111-117. http://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(15)00446-8/abstract
Horner-Johnson, W., Fujiura, G. & Goode, T. (Eds.) Healthcare at the Intersection of Disability, Race, and Ethnicity. Medical Care October 2014, Volume 52, Issue 10, Supplement 3. http://journals.lww.com/lww-medicalcare/toc/2014/10001
Horner,-Johnson, W., Fujiura, G., & Goode, T., Promoting a new research agenda. Health disparities research at the intersection of disability, race, and ethnicity. Medical Care, October 2014, Volume 52, Issue 10, S1-S2.
http://journals.lww.com/lww-medicalcare/Fulltext/2014/10001/Promoting_a_New_Research_Agenda__Health.3.aspx
Goode, T., Carter-Pokras, O., Horner-Johnson, W., & Yee, Silvia. Parallel tracks: reflections on the need for collaborative health disparities research on race/ethnicity and disability. Medical Care October 2014, Volume 52, Issue 10, S3-S8. http://journals.lww.com/lww-medicalcare/Fulltext/2014/10001/Parallel_Tracks__Reflections_on_the_Need_for.4.aspx
Peterson-Besse, J. J., Horner-Johnson, W., Walsh, E., Goode, T., & Wheeler, B.Barriers to Health Care Access at the Intersection of Race, Ethnicity, and Disability: A Scoping Review of the Literature. Medical Care,
October 2014, Volume 52, Issue 10, S51-S63.
http://journals.lww.com/lww-medicalcare/Fulltext/2014/10001/Barriers_to_Health_Care_Among_People_With.10.aspx
Goode, T., Harris-Haywood, S., Bronheim, S., Smith, K., & Murphy, L. (2013). The Role of Self-Assessment in Achieving Cultural and Linguistic Competence and its Impact on Addressing Health Care Disparities. In. Penelope J. Kinsey and Delroy M. Louden (Eds). Health, Ethnicity, and Well-Being: An African American Perspective. Lincoln University, PA: The Lincoln University Press.
Haywood, S., Goode, T., Gao, Y., Smith, K., Bronheim, S., Flocke, S., & Zyzanski, S. (2012). Psychometric evaluation of a cultural competency assessment instrument for health professionals. Medical Care, Volume 24, Number 2, May 2013, 671-687.
Watson, MR., Kaltman S., Townsend TG., Goode TD. &, Campoli M. A Collaborative Mental Health Research Agenda in a Community of Poor and Underserved Latinos. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, May 2012.
Goode, T., Jackson, V., Bronheis, S. & Harris-Haywood, S. (2012). Cultural competence: Essential knowledge and skills for health professionals to address diabetes. In Jack Leonard (Ed). Diabetes in Black America: Clinical and Public Health Solutions to a National Crisis. 2nd edition. Munster, IN: Hilton Publishing
Like, R.C. &, Goode, T.D. (2012). Promoting cultural and linguistic competence in the American health system: Levers of change. In D. Ingle, A. Chiarenza, I. Kotsioni, and W. Devillé (Eds.), Inequalities in Health Care for Migrants and Ethnic Minorities. COST Series on Health and Diversity Volume II, Antwerp: Garant..
Goode, T.D. & Like, R.C. (2012). Advancing and sustaining cultural and linguistic competence in the American health system: Challenges, strategies, and lessons learned. In D. Ingle, A. Chiarenza, I. Kotsioni, and W. Devillé (Eds.), Inequalities in Health Care for Migrants and Ethnic Minorities. COST Series on Health and Diversity Volume II, Antwerp: Garant.
Goode, T., & Fisher, S. (2012). Cultural and Linguistic Competence Self-Assessment: Implications for serving LGBT Youth. In Sylvia K. Fisher, Jeffrey M. Poirier, and Gary M. Blau (Eds.). In Improving Emotional and Behavioral Outcomes or LGBT Youth: A Guide for Professionals. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.
Goode, T., Jones, W. & Jackson, V. (2011). Families with African American Roots. In E. Lynch & M. Hanson (Eds.) Developing Cross Cultural Competence 4th edition. Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing.
Goode, T. Bronheim, S. & Jackson, V. The Essential Role of Cultural Competency in Addressing Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities in the African-American Community. In Leonard, J. (Ed.) Diabetes in Black America: Public Health and Clinical Solutions To A National Crisis. Munster, IN: Hilton Publishing, 2010.
Goode, T. D. & Maloof, P. End-of Life Through a Cultural Lens. (2010). In Friedman, S. and Helm, D. (Eds.) End-of Life Care for Children and Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Washington, DC: American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
Goode, T., Wells, N., & Kyu, Rhee (2009). Family-Centered, Culturally and Linguistically Competent Care: Essential Components of the Medical Home. In Turchi, R. & Antonelli, R. (Eds.) Pediatric Annals Special Supplement on the Medical Home. Thoroughfare, NJ: Slack Incorporated.
