Chief Health Officer, Google; former Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Dr. Karen DeSalvo is an internist and health leader working at the intersection of medicine, public health, and information technology.  She has dedicated her career to improving health outcomes for all with a focus on solutions that address all the determinants of health.  Dr. DeSalvo continues to be a powerful voice and advocate for eliminating inequities and improving the public’s health.

She brings this lifelong commitment to her role as Chief Health Officer at Google, where her team of health professionals provide guidance for the development of Google’s research, products, and services, including those for Google’s own employees and their family members.  Prior to Google, Dr. DeSalvo was Vice Dean for Community Affairs and Health Policy at Tulane School of Medicine and Chief of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics.  She served as Health Commissioner in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans, then as the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and Assistant Secretary for Health (Acting) in the Obama Administration.

Dr. DeSalvo is on the Board of Directors for Welltower and the Council of the National Academy of Medicine.  She co-convenes the National Alliance for the Social Determinants of Health (NASDOH) with former HHS Secretary Michael O. Leavitt and is a member of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation National Commission to Transform Public Health Data Systems.  Dr. DeSalvo previously served on the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission and the Humana Board of Directors.  She served as President of the Society of General Internal Medicine and Honorary Vice President, United States, for the American Public Health Association.  In 2021 Dr. DeSalvo was named to Business Insider’s list of 100 People Transforming Business and has repeatedly been included on the list of Modern Healthcare’s 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare. She earned her MD and MPH from Tulane University, and a masters in clinical epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health.