Carmen Hooker Odom, formerly an independent consultant, currently serves as a senior health policy advisor to a variety of organizations.

From 2007 to 2013, Ms. Hooker Odom was president of the Milbank Memorial Fund, a New York-based foundation that conducts non-partisan research on significant issues and health policy and works to improve the health population by connecting leaders and decision-makers with the best available evidence and experience. Before joining the Fund, she was appointed by the North Carolina Governor to be the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services in January 2001. Ms. Hooker Odom has spent her professional life working in health and human services. She served as vice president of government relations for Quintiles Transnational Corporation and as a group vice president for Carolina Healthcare System, now Atrium Health.

Ms. Hooker Odom served on the ACGME Board of Directors from 2009 to 2015 and was elected to serve again as a Board member in 2022. She also served on the initial Board of Directors at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute and was chair of the Research Committee.

Prior to moving to North Carolina in 1995, Ms. Hooker Odom was an elected member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives for 11 years, including four years as chair of the Joint Committee on Health Care.

Locally, Ms. Hooker Odom served as chair of the Board of Directors of Cardinal Innovations, as a member of the Board of Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina, and on the University of North Carolina (UNC) Press Advancement Council. Presently, she serves as a Board member of Care Ring, a charitable health care services organization in Mecklenburg County, and as a senior advisor to the HopeStar Foundation.