Cara James (CMS) Dr. James is the Director of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of Minority Health (OMH), and co-chair of the CMS Rural Health Council. She is a nationally recognized expert in health disparities, health equity, and improving health outcomes for vulnerable populations. As the Director of the CMS OMH, Dr. James leads CMS’s efforts to meet the unique needs of minority and underserved populations. Under her leadership, CMS OMH developed the first CMS Equity Plan to Improve Quality in Medicare, created an ongoing initiative to help individuals understand their coverage and connect to care, and strengthened the quality and increased the collection and reporting of demographic data. Dr. James is a member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity and the Elimination of Health Disparities. Dr. James received her Ph.D. in Health Policy from Harvard University.