The California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) today announced the election of David Carlisle, MD, PhD, and Lynne Chou O’Keefe to its board of directors. Carlisle is president and chief executive officer of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. O’Keefe is a partner at the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

“I am thrilled about David and Lynne joining our board,” said CHCF board chair Daniel Gross. “They each bring great passion for improving the health of Californians with low incomes, and their experience will immediately enhance our ability to achieve our goals.”

Distinguished Career Addressing Health Disparities

Carlisle has spent his professional life caring for the underserved, promoting diversity in the health professions, and improving health care systems to address racial and ethnic disparities. In 2011, he joined Charles Drew University, a private nonprofit medical school in Los Angeles dedicated to increasing the diversity of health professionals to better address the health of an underserved population. He previously served for 11 years under three governors as director of California’s Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development.

“David has dedicated his career to serving Californians with low incomes,” said CHCF president and CEO Sandra R. Hernández. “He’s made an impressive mark as a national leader in medical education, as a statewide public servant, and as a distinguished member of the Los Angeles community.”

Since last summer, Carlisle has been serving on the California Future Health Workforce Commission, which is developing a blueprint for modernizing the state’s health workforce. (The commission receives support from CHCF.)

Carlisle earned his MD from Brown University and his master’s degree and PhD from UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health. He is a former Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar.

He continues to work as a volunteer doctor at the Venice Family Clinic.

“It is a tremendous honor to be selected to join the California Health Care Foundation board of directors,” said Carlisle. “Their goals and mission — to increase access to health care and improve the state’s health care delivery system, particularly in underserved areas — align well with my personal values, and with the goals of Charles Drew University. I look forward to adding my voice to their esteemed board.”

Putting Innovation to Work for Californians with Low Incomes

O’Keefe joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in 2013. She has worked with entrepreneurs to develop digital health technologies and therapies and to improve patients’ lives. She also serves on the boards of several health technology companies.

Since 2017, O’Keefe has been a member of the CHCF Innovation Fund Advisory Board, which invests in market-based solutions with the potential to improve access and health outcomes for Californians with low incomes.

“Lynne has already played a key role in helping us develop one of CHCF’s signature programs,” said Hernández. “We are excited to apply her compassion, innovative mind, and financial acumen to even more areas of our work.”

Earlier in her career, O’Keefe served in a variety of roles at two medical device companies, Abbott Vascular and Guidant. She also spent time in the mergers and acquisitions division at Goldman Sachs. She has an MBA from Harvard Business School.

“I am honored to serve on the board of CHCF and join a team whose passion, dedication, and approach has driven impact in the way we deliver health care to the people of California, particularly those in need and without access,” said O’Keefe.

About the California Health Care Foundation