Deborah Plummer is a psychologist, university professor and diversity thought leader. She currently serves as Chief Diversity Officer at UMass Medical School and UMass Memorial Health Care.

Her groundbreaking and timely book, Some of My Friends Are…The Daunting Challenges and Untapped Benefits of Cross Racial Friendships (Beacon Press) examines how cross-racial friendships work and fail within American society. She is editor of the Handbook of Diversity Management (Rowman and Littlefield) and author of Advancing Inclusion: A Guide for Effective Diversity Council and Employee Resource Group Membership (Half Dozen Publications), and award-winning Racing Across the Lines: Changing Race Relations through Friendships (Pilgrim Press).

She has written for Diversity Executive, Boston Globe Magazine, authored several book chapters and published numerous journal articles for the professional academic community. Her essay “The Girl from the Ghetto” is published in the anthology All of the Women in My Family Sing: Women Write the World, Essays on Equality, Justice and Freedom (NBTT Press). Her work has been featured in several media outlets and she served for many years as an expert commentator. Deborah has been named by Becker’s Hospital Review as one of the Top 15 Chief Diversity Officers to Know.

Debbie is most passionate about creating inclusive organizations and building peaceful communities. She is a proud board member of GrubStreet, one of the nation's leading writing centers, and cherishes her work with the Facing History and Ourselves, an organization that empowers students to think critically about history and to understand the impact of their choices.