Vice President of Health Equity and Chief Equity Officer

Baylor Health Care System

Jim Walton, D.O., MBA,  is vice president and chief health equity officer for Baylor Health Care System in Dallas. In this role, he is charged with overseeing health care equity improvement throughout the System including the ambulatory care centers operated by HealthTexas Provider Network, Baylor's physician group. He also chairs the BHCS Health Equity Advisory Council.

Dr. Walton, whose career spans more than two decades in health care management, clinical practice and research related to community health improvement, is dedicated to serving the economically disadvantaged and working to improve health care access for all.

He joined Baylor in 1996 as medical director of the Office of Community Health. Since 2000, he has served as the medical director of Project Access Dallas, a network of more than 2000 physicians and 15 hospitals providing comprehensive health care access to uninsured people throughout Dallas County. He also developed and currently oversees Baylor's Volunteers-in-Medicine program and has worked on community-level initiatives to pilot health improvement strategies.

He is active in the Dallas County Medical Society and the Texas Medical Association's efforts to improve Medicaid operations and funding. He has served on numerous state Medicaid-related committees, including the governor's Ad-hoc committee on Medicaid in 2004 and the Department of Health and Human Services' Committee on Integrated Care Management in 2005.

Dr. Walton earned a bachelor's degree from the University of North Texas in 1978 and a doctor of Osteopathic medicine degree from the University of North Texas Health Science Center 1982 and completed his internal medicine training at Methodist Dallas Medical Center. He received his MBA at The University of Michigan.