Kimberly A. Truong, Ph.D.

Listen to this article

Kimberly A. Truong, Ph.D.

Chief Equity Officer at MGH Institute of Health Professions.

Kimberly A. Truong, Ph.D. is the Chief Equity Officer at MGH Institute of Health Professions. MGH IHP is a graduate school founded by Mass General Hospital in 1977 to grant degrees in health and rehabilitation sciences and nursing. In her role, she guides the organization toward fulfilling its mission of advancing care in a diverse society. This includes collaborating with departments, programs, and offices to evaluate current programs and policies for inequities addressing those inequities, guiding them to develop through the JEDI strategic action planning processes and goal-setting, and providing technical support and tools to improve teaching, learning, and research related to justice and equity issues. As one of a small, but growing group of executive-level diversity officers at Mass General Brigham (MGB), she collaborates with colleagues to ensure there is a coordinated approach to JEDI efforts across the MGB system.

In March 2021, the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE) recognized Dr. Truong as the inaugural Rising Star Award recipient. This award is given to chief diversity officers who have made exceptional contributions to research, administration, practice, advocacy and/or policy informs and advances the understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusive excellence in higher education. Also in March 2021, Dr. Truong was recognized by Get Konnected! as one of 50 most influential people of color in higher education.

In 2020, Dr. Truong founded XEM Consulting Services, LLC to continue to provide support to individuals and organizations to engage in transformational institutional change. The services she provides includes strategic planning and management, research, evaluation, and education. Over the years, Dr. Truong has consulted with various organizations on a number of research projects and on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives. She works with institutions committed to better understanding systemic oppression, how they produce inequities that exist within their organizations, and addressing these disparities through intentional policies and practices. Dr. Truong is experienced with collaborating with organizations in crisis and need guidance on where to start. In addition, she leads workshops, gives presentations, and facilitates conversations about justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion issues.

Dr. Truong is an adjunct lecturer on education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she has taught Critical Race Theory in Education for the past 10 years with Dr. Daren Graves. She is a faculty affiliate of the MGH Center for Cross-Cultural Student Emotional Wellness and a member of the MGH Transgender Action Group. In her affiliations with these centers, she has planned professional development opportunities for community members, health care practitioners, and others about equity issues.

Prior to coming to the MGH Institute, Dr. Truong was Director of Inclusion Programs at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. In this role, Dr. Truong worked closely with Dr. John Silvanus Wilson, former Morehouse College President and Senior Advisor and Strategist in the Office of the President at Harvard University, as a member of the senior leadership team on diversity, inclusion, and belonging to implement policies, programs, and practices across the university, which included the first-ever university-wide Pulse Survey. During her time at the Harvard Chan School, she coordinated the first-ever school-wide campus climate assessment of faculty, staff, and students, which resulted in 50% response rates across stakeholder groups. She also drafted the Harvard Chan School’s diversity, inclusion, and belonging strategic plan. Dr. Wilson referenced this plan as “the best plan we reviewed. Others used it as a model for how to think about approaching DIB-style change in a complex institution of higher education.”

As Co-Chair of the Association of Harvard Asian and Asian American Faculty and Staff, Dr. Truong is actively involved in developing structures and programs to support employees. She is a member of the Employee Resource Group Council at Harvard University. Dr. Truong is committed to public service as an appointed member of the Self-Determination Advisory Board with the Department of Developmental Services of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Dr. Truong previously served as Vice Chairperson and Commissioner of the Asian American Commission of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Dr. Truong is passionate about justice, equity, diversity, inclusion issues in higher education as someone who comes from marginalized and minoritized communities (first-generation college student, low-income student, refugee, Southeast Asian American student). She began her career in this field over 20 years ago so that she could help improve educational access and efforts to retain marginalized and minoritized students. Prior to joining the Harvard Chan School, Dr. Truong was an Administrative Fellow through the Harvard Office of the Assistant to the President on Diversity and Equity. In this role, she collaborated with the Harvard College Women’s Center, Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, and Office of BGLTQ Student Life to support equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts at Harvard College. She initiated several programs, including the Diversity, (In)Equity, and Social Justice Undergraduate Research Conference, Scholar-in-Residence Program, and Desserts and Dialogue.
In 2019, Penn GSE recognized Dr. Truong for her significant contributions in the field through professional achievement and community service. She was given an Early Career Award of Merit. In 2018, Dr. Truong received the NASPA Region I Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Award for having a strong and sustained record of professional activities that promote equity, diversity, and inclusion, being actively engaged in advocating for and advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion, having a reputation for taking a stand on critical issues related to equity, diversity, and inclusion, being dedicated to creating an inclusive campus culture, and being known as someone whose work has “broken barriers” and in so doing, has served as a role model, and helped to facilitate employment and educational access and opportunity for others from diverse backgrounds.

Dr. Truong conducts research on justice and equity issues in higher education, university student experiences, and higher education policy. She is nationally recognized for research on the experiences of doctoral students of color with racism and racial trauma. Her written works have been published in the Harvard Educational Review, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, New Directions for Institutional Research, and About Campus. Dr. Truong co-founded the Support Network for Asian American and Pacific Scholars. She has served on the membership committee of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Qualitative Research Special Interest Group (SIG) and was co-editor of the AERA Research on the Education of Asian and Pacific Americans SIG Newsletter.

Dr. Truong earned a Ph.D. in higher education at the University of Pennsylvania, Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and B.A. from Brandeis University.