Q+A with Dr. Charlton Wilson
Last year, NAU’s College of Health and Human Services (CHHS) established its inaugural Advisory Board.
This group of healthcare and industry leaders are dedicated to shaping the future of the college by strengthening programs, expanding community impact, and supporting student success. We sat down with the board’s founding chair, Charlton Wilson, M.D, to talk about the future of healthcare careers, and how CHHS can continue to prepare the most competent future clinicians.
What do you see as some of the most pressing healthcare challenges facing Arizona over the next decade, and how can institutions like CHHS help address them?
Arizona faces a combination of healthcare challenges—a growing and aging population, workforce shortages, and persistent health disparities, particularly in rural and Tribal communities. To address these challenges, we must create new ways to meet the health needs of people and communities. This will require professionals who can collaborate across disciplines, use community data effectively, and thoughtfully integrate emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, while strengthening—not replacing—the human connection at the heart of healthcare.
CHHS has an extraordinary opportunity to prepare that workforce. By fostering collaboration, innovation, community partnerships, and lifelong learning, the college can help develop healthcare clinicians and leaders who are equipped to improve the health of all Arizonans.
Your career has spanned clinical practice as well as healthcare administration and policy. What lessons have you learned about improving health outcomes at the community level?
One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is that lasting improvements in health happen in partnership with patients and communities. The most effective solutions are developed with the people they are intended to serve, building on their strengths, priorities, and lived experiences. Improving health is shared work that depends on collaboration, trust, and a long-term commitment to working together.
Healthcare is quickly evolving through technology, policy changes, and shifting patient needs. What skills do you believe today’s healthcare students need to become tomorrow’s clinicians?
Tomorrow’s healthcare professionals must be comfortable working in interdisciplinary teams, using complex data to inform decisions, and thoughtfully incorporating technologies such as artificial intelligence while maintaining sound clinical judgment, compassion, and empathy.
Equally important is a commitment to continuous learning. Healthcare will continue to evolve throughout their careers, requiring clinicians and public health practitioners to remain curious, embrace innovation responsibly, and continually build new knowledge and skills.
Throughout your career, you’ve worked across healthcare systems serving diverse populations. How can healthcare organizations and educational institutions such as CHHS continue improving community access to care?
Improving access begins with understanding the communities we serve. That means recognizing the cultural, geographic, economic, and social factors that influence health and designing services around those realities rather than expecting patients to adapt to the healthcare system.
Educational institutions play a vital role by ensuring students are exposed to community-based care, rural health, Tribal health, and interdisciplinary practice. Those experiences help develop clinicians and public health practitioners who understand the importance of partnering with communities, collaborating across disciplines, and continually improving the systems of care that support healthier communities.
As a member of the CHHS Advisory Board, what excites you most about the role universities can play in shaping the future healthcare workforce?
What excites me most is the opportunity to work alongside other Advisory Board members and CHHS faculty to bring together the perspectives of healthcare organizations, community leaders, and education experts to better prepare students for tomorrow’s healthcare challenges.
CHHS is uniquely positioned by its strong connections to communities across Arizona and the breadth of its disciplines and career pathways. By partnering with healthcare organizations, Tribal nations, public agencies, and community leaders, the college can prepare graduates to make an immediate and lasting impact on the health of our communities.
If you could offer one piece of advice to students preparing for careers in healthcare, what would it be?
Never lose sight of why you chose a career in healthcare. Science and technology will evolve. Policies will change. Healthcare systems and public health programs will continue to transform. But the privilege of serving another human being and helping a community thrive will always remain at the heart of what we do.
