Rachel Willard-Grace is the director of the UCSF Center for Excellence in Primary Care (CEPC). She began her career as a medical assistant and pharmacy tech and later worked as executive director of a free clinic. She worked with Tom Bodenheimer and Kevin Grumbach to develop the 10 Building Blocks of Primary Care based on a study of high-performing practices across the United States. She conducts research related to burnout, health coaching, and primary care transformation. She also guides CEPC’s extensive training program, which provides training in patient-centered communication and practice transformation to organizations across the United States.

Willard-Grace has a master’s degree in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.