Shiva Bidar-Sielaff Biography

Shiva Bidar serves as UW Health’s Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer leading the overall vision, coordination, and strategic leadership for the design and implementation initiatives related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. She has over twenty years of experience in community partnerships, diversity, equity and inclusion work. She has been instrumental in leveraging and developing policies in Dane County and nationally to ensure equal access to health care for underrepresented communities.

Shiva has worked extensively on issues of equal access to health care for limited English proficient (LEP) individuals. She is nationally recognized for her work in the area of medical interpretation and is a frequent speaker at national conferences on cultural competence and health care interpreting. She served on the Board member of the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care for 15 years leading the work on the National Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice for Healthcare Interpreters. She serves as a founding commissioner of the Commission for Healthcare Interpreter Certification.

Shiva is the Co-chair of the Latino Health Council of Dane County, an executive committee member of the Latino Support Network, a Madison College Board Trustee, and a Madison Community Foundation board member.

Shiva completed her undergraduate studies at the Université du Hainaut, Mons, Belgium, her Master’s degree from the Monterey Institute of International Studies, Monterey, California. She obtained her Certificate in Diversity Management in Health Care (CDM) from the Institute for Diversity in Healthcare & Georgetown University.