Carla Gates is a nurse educator, healthcare leader, and Certified Diversity Executive (CDE®) with over 30 years of experience advancing equitable care. She began her nursing journey studying the health barriers faced by migrant farm workers, sparking a lifelong passion for ensuring that everyone has a fair chance to achieve their best health.

 

She has taught a wide range of health professionals — including nurses, counselors, medical assistants, and community health workers — always centering health equity in her teaching. At Chase Brexton Healthcare, she developed continuing education for nurses on implicit bias, anti-racist nursing, and gender-affirming practice. At AbsoluteCare, she created and delivered health equity training for diverse healthcare staff, while also teaching nursing students at Howard Community College. Earlier in her career, Carla provided direct care in HIV/AIDS programs and held leadership roles at Providence Hospital to strengthen systems and improve access to care.

 

Carla is the founder of Reclaiming Health Learning Lab, where she creates courses on the history of health disparities, the myth of biological race in medicine, and pathways toward health equity. She continues to pair clinical expertise with advocacy, believing that health equity is essential to collective liberation and better outcomes for all.