Office of Minority Health

Dr. LaShawn McIver joined CMS as the Director of the Office of Minority Health in August 2020. She is a proven public health leader with experience in driving successful health initiatives and public policy efforts aimed at promoting health equity, improving health outcomes, increasing access to care, and promoting health system reform.

Before joining CMS, Dr. McIver led Government Affairs & Advocacy (GA&A) efforts at the American Diabetes Association (ADA) as its Vice President of Public Policy & Strategic Alliances and later as its Senior Vice President of all GA&A. During her 9-year tenure with the ADA, she provided strategic direction and oversight of the ADA’s advocacy activities which focused on increasing federal and state funding for diabetes research and programs; eliminating diabetes disparities; diabetes prevention; and improving the availability of accessible, adequate, and affordable health care. She has also served as the inaugural HIV/AIDS fellow for the Congressional Black Caucus’ Center for Policy Analysis and Research and as a program director at the Baltimore City Health Department.

Dr. McIver earned a Medical Degree in International Health & Medicine through the Medical School for International Health in Collaboration with Columbia University’s Medical Center and a master’s degree of Public Health from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

CAPT Wanda Finch is a Health Services Officer of the US Public Health Service assigned as Deputy Director at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Office of Minority Health. Prior to CMS, she served as Senior Public Health Advisor at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Office of Consumer Affairs in the Center for Mental Health Services. As the Project Coordinator for Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Strategy, she led a national initiative designed to promote the adoption of policies and practices to facilitate treatment and recovery support services at state and community levels. She was responsible for implementation of technical assistance, training and administrative oversight to service system authorities. She also managed programs aimed to increase access to evidence-based treatment and service options for trauma focused service systems for children, youth and families, and provide integrated health care in health care settings for people living with serious mental illness and substance use disorders.

CAPT Wanda Finch also worked at the Defense Centers for Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury. During her tenure there, she served as Program Manager for Suicide Prevention and Family and Community Resilience efforts. As Chief for the Psychological Health Advocacy Division in the Psychological Health Promotion Directorate, she was responsible for strategic planning and coordination of initiatives to increase access to care, focus on psychological health determinants of care, increase mental health literacy and empower Department of Defense beneficiaries in care.

CAPT Finch received a Master’s of Social Work from Howard University, a Master’s of Counselor Education – Rehabilitation from the Pennsylvania State University and a Bachelor’s Degree from Jackson State University. She has over 27 years of professional social work experience serving adults and youth living with mental and substance use disorders, military families, child welfare, and underserved populations.