Tawara Goode

Tawara Goode is an associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. She has been on the faculty of the Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development (GUCCHD), for over 30 years and has served in many capacities. She has degrees in early childhood education and education and human development.

Professor Goode has extensive experience as a principal investigator for federal and private sector grants and contracts. She is the Director of the GUCCHD’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (GUCEDD) and is responsible for short-term and ongoing programs for persons at-risk for and with developmental and other disabilities and their families. Professor Goode's duties include program development, administration, and teaching within Georgetown University, locally, and nationally.

Professor Goode holds an adjunct appointment with the University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Since 2012, she provided consultation to assist the University of Sydney to establish a National Centre for Cultural Competence with the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Indigenous Strategy and Services. For the past eight years she has assisted the University of Sydney in faculty development, curricula adaptation, community engagement, and research focused on cultural competence.

A primary area of focus for Professor Goode is national level efforts to advance and sustain cultural and linguistic competence within an array of settings including but not limited to institutions of higher education, health, mental health, and other human service systems. Professor Goode is the director of the National Center for Cultural Competence (NCCC) at GUCCHD. The NCCC was established in 1995 and Professor Goode has served as director for 26 years. The mission of the NCCC is to increase the capacity of health care and mental health care programs to design, implement, and evaluate culturally and linguistically competent service delivery systems to address growing diversity, persistent disparities, and to promote health and mental health equity. Professor Goode is recognized as a thought leader in the area of cultural and linguistic competence and building the NCCC into a nationally and internationally recognized and award winning program. She had a primary role in developing curricula, assessment instruments, professional development series, and other resources that support cultural and linguistic competence. Professor Goode has conducted research on cultural and linguistic competence and its role in addressing health, and health and mental health care disparities ⎯ including a multi-site project to examine health disparities for populations at the intersection of race, ethnicity, and disability. Professor Goode’s publications include peer reviewed articles, book chapters, policy papers, guides, and instruments that support cultural and linguistic competence in a variety of human service and academic settings. Professor Goode has and continues to serve on numerous boards, commissions, and advisory groups at the local, regional, and national levels that are concerned with the health, mental health, and well-being of racially and ethnically diverse populations.