Tawara Goode is an associate 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. A primary area of focus for Professor Goode is national level efforts to advance and sustain cultural and linguistic competence within an array of settings including but not limited to institutions of higher education, health, mental health, and other human service systems. Professor Goode is the director of the National Center for Cultural Competence (NCCC) at GUCCHD. The NCCC has been in existence for the past 27 years during which Professor Goode was the director for 26 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 acknowledged as a thought leader in the area of cultural and linguistic competence and for 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 an invited scholar, lecturer, and visiting faculty: a) nationally to schools of medicine, public health, education, research institutes, professional associations, and state and national government; and b) internationally in Australia, South America, and the United Kingdom.
Professor Goode is also the director of the Georgetown University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (GUCEDD) and is responsible for short-term and ongoing programs for individuals at-risk for and with developmental and other disabilities and their families. Her duties include program development, administration, and teaching within the University and community settings. She served as the principal investigator for three grants of national significance from the Office on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Administration for Community Living at HHS. They include: 1) the Leadership Institute for Cultural Diversity and Cultural and Linguistic Competence (completed 2/20); Community of Practice on Cultural and Linguistic Competence in Developmental Disabilities (ongoing); and Embedding Cultural and Linguistic Competence in UCEDD Curricula and Training Activities (completed 2/19). Each of these grants was designed to: 1) increase 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) develop curricula and professional development for current and future professionals that will teach, provide services and supports, and conduct research with and about people with developmental disabilities, their families, and the communities in which they live
Professor Goode continues to conduct research on cultural and linguistic competence and its role in addressing health and health care disparities. Selected examples of studies include: 1) a collaborative effort to create validated instruments to measure cultural and linguistic competence in health care settings; and 2) a multi-site project to examine health disparities for populations at the intersection of race, ethnicity, and disability. She is currently a Co-PI for a PCORI study entitled “Reconciling the Past and Changing the Future: Engaging Young Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and Researchers in Comparative Effectiveness Research,” and is an investigator for a PCORI supplement entitled “Understanding the Impact of COVID-19 on Young Adults with IDD-MH and their Families: An Analytical Framework and Database to Identify Service Experiences and Outcomes Across Diverse Populations in Real Time,” and a co-investigator for Georgetown-Howard Universities Center for Clinical Translational Science.
Professor Goode holds an adjunct appointment with the University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Since 2012, she provided consultation to assist the University of Sydney to establish a National Centre for Cultural Competence in partnership with the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Indigenous Strategy and Services. For the past eight years she has assisted the University of Sydney in faculty development, curricula adaptation, community engagement, and research focused on cultural competence.
Professor Goode’s publications include peer reviewed articles, book chapters, policy papers, guides, and instruments that support cultural and linguistic competence in a variety of human service and academic settings. She serves on the Board of the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) and is the current president. Professor Goode and the NCCC have received numerous awards for academic achievements.
Professor Goode 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 racially and ethnically diverse populations. She serves on the Board of the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) and is the current president