Barbara Obena
Clinical Instructor, Health Systems and Population Health
206-531-5647 | bobena@uw.edu
Research Interests
Health; Healthcare Delivery; Healthcare Outcomes; Mental Health; Policy; Public Health; Race, Equity & Identity; Workforce Development
Bio
Barbara Obena currently serves as Senior Manager of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) at Delta Dental of Washington, where she leads the DEI Strategic Framework, Inclusion Communities, Groundwater Initiatives, and Health Equity Community Advisory Council, and serves as subject matter expert to ensure inclusion and equity in talent practices.
Previously, she spent over nine years at Kaiser Permanente in roles spanning both market and national levels. At the market level, she built the Washington market’s first DEI infrastructure, redesigned the member discrimination grievance process, and managed a $3M interpreter services program. At the national level, she drove enterprise-wide impact as a subject matter expert who co-designed a national health equity framework with Deloitte and scaled equity-centered design training to 300+ employees across the organization. Most recently, she partnered with senior Medicaid leadership to align national quality strategy and advance health equity for Medicaid members.
Earlier in her career, she led NCQA Multicultural Healthcare Distinction efforts at Community Health Plan of Washington, delivered quality improvement consultation at the Washington State Department of Health, and managed school-based health center operations at Neighborcare Health. She has also served on the boards of International Community Health Services and Creative Reaction Lab. Obena holds an MPH from the UW COPHP program and teaches Population Health during the Fall Quarter using problem-based learning, a method she loves for its ability to ground students in real-world complexity and collective problem-solving.
Education
MPH Community Oriented Public Health Practice, University of Washington, 2013
BS Biological Sciences, University of California (Merced), 2009