President and Founder
Global Equity and Learning Partners (GEL)

Department of Public Health and Community Medicine

Visiting Researcher, Center for Health and Business Department of Bentley University

Dr. Rosa M. Colón-Kolacko, CDM, MBA, SHRM-SCP is the President and Founder of Global Equity and Learning Partners (GEL), and NeedsHuman, a consulting and interim leadership practice advancing inclusion, racial and health equity, human-centric AI, talent development, education transformation and community engagement across sectors.

She brings 25+ years of global experience spanning Pharmaceuticals, Life Sciences, Health Systems, Academia, Government, Corporate, Energy, and Nonprofits. Rosa has served in multiple C-Suite roles, including Senior VP & Chief DEI and Community Health Officer at Tufts Medicine, SVP & Chief People, Experience & Equity Officer at NYC Health + Hospitals, and SVP & Chief Learning, Diversity and Equity Officer at Christiana Care Health System where she was among the nation’s first healthcare CDOs. Earlier in her career, she worked at Bristol Myers-Squibb, and SmithKline Beecham (since renamed GlaxoSmithKline), leading cultural transformation, IT-digital Implementations, HR-leadership development, and lean/Six Sigma functions in Asia, Europe, North America, and Puerto Rico.

Rosa has held academic Professorship appointments at Bowling Green State University, Georgetown and Thomas Jefferson University, currently Adjunct Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine and Visiting Researcher, at the Center for Health and Business Department at Bentley University.

Rosa holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Development and Change, an MBA from Henley Business School, Brunel University (UK), a post-graduate Marketing Diploma from The Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK, Human Resources Executive certificate, SHRM-SCP, CDM, a Patient Professor certificate from the University of Maryland, AI in Healthcare from Strategy to Implementation Harvard University certificate, and Diversity Management certificate, from Columbia University. She is also an Equity Fellow of the Delaware Community Foundation.

Rosa is incredibly involved in national and state-level boards committed to advancing equity nationally She is the former President of the MA Health Equity Compact, a coalition of 80+ C-Suite leaders of color driving systemic change through legislation, workforce development, governance, data, and access to care. to advance equity.