Twila Cain-Pierce is currently serving on the board of directors for the Billi Odegaard Scholarship Fund. She has over 30 years in the health care industry and currently works as a Senior Care Coordination Manager for Medicaid and Charitable Care at Kaiser Permanente Northwest (KPNW). Her work focuses on promoting optimal health, community engagement and improving equity. While addressing disparities, Twila has been with KPNW since 1998 and worked as manager for KP Cares (a pilot program providing care to patients where they reside through the Geriatric and Long-Term Care Department) and Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research. She joined the Medicaid and Charitable Care team in 2012. Prior to working at KPNW, she worked in Long Term Care and Medical Services at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Portland, Oregon.

Ms. Cain-Pierce considers herself a Health Equity Champion, believing that everyone should have a fair and just opportunity to attain their full health potential and that no one should be disadvantaged, excluded or dismissed from achieving optimal health. She also believes that without closing racially unjust gaps in education, economic stability, career opportunities and health outcomes, we will not be able to achieve health, safety, and well-being for our nation.

Ms. Cain-Pierce and her husband LaVon are proud parents of two thriving adults and are long-term residents of Northeast Portland. Twila is a registered nurse with a BSN from Aspen University, a Master’s degree in Public Health from Portland State University and a Bachelor’s in Psychology from the University of Oregon. In 2021 she received a certificate from DELTA (Developing Equity Leadership through Training & Action), which is a health equity and inclusion leadership program that includes training, capacity-building, and networking to health, community, and policy leaders in Oregon.