Becker’s Healthcare has recognized Lakesha Butler, Pharm.D., the chief diversity officer for UF Health and a clinical professor in the University of Florida College of Pharmacy, as one of its 40 diversity and inclusion executives to know. Becker’s compiled a list of diversity and inclusion champions from hospitals and health systems across the nation who have led successful transformations and continue to drive positive change within their organizations. Butler is the only health care leader from the state of Florida to appear on the list.
Butler joined UF Health and the UF College of Pharmacy in August and provides strategic leadership coordinating DIHE efforts across the six academic health colleges and the health system. She previously served as a professor of pharmacy practice and director of diversity, equity and inclusion at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Pharmacy. She has close to two decades of experience as a pharmacy professor and has received several national awards for her leadership, mentoring and efforts to champion diversity and inclusion.