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Ruth T. Perot, M.A.T.

Ms. Perot is co-founder and executive director of Summit Health Institute for Research and Education, Inc. (SHIRE).  Since 1998, Ms. Perot has guided SHIRE projects for The California Endowment; The Commonwealth Fund; Consumer Health Foundation; Office of Minority Health, Department of Health and Human Services; Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS); Office on Women’s Health; Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC), Health Resources and Services Administration; and other agencies.  She has also had principal responsibility for the coordination of Out of Many, One, a multicultural advocacy coalition that represents and engages the five major racial/ethnic groups in the United States that experience health disparities.

Ms. Perot has served as an expert consultant and advisor to the Office of Minority Health, the Office of Minority and Women’s Health, BPHC, CMS, and the National/State Tobacco and Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health initiatives of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She is the principal author of a nationally recognized study on federal data-related activities, the results of which were published by The Commonwealth Fund, entitled Racial, Ethnic and Primary Language Data Collection in the Health Care System: An Assessment of Federal Policies and Practices.  Ms. Perot is a graduate of Oberlin College, and she received a Master of Arts in teaching degree from the Harvard School of Education.  In April 2002, the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust presented her with a “Healthcare Hero” award.  Ms. Perot received the Families USA Consumer Health Advocate Award in January 2004.