Karen DeSalvo, MD, joined early-stage venture capital firm LRVHealth as an executive adviser. LRVHealth exclusively works to identify and invest in digital health, device and diagnostic companies
"My entire career has been focused on improving the health of people and communities by catalyzing solutions to address all the determinants of health, and there's no question that technical innovation will play an increasingly important role," Dr. DeSalvo said in a news release.
"We need to transform the way healthcare is delivered and paid for, and there's no better way to do that than working with innovators who are disrupting the system from within," she added.
Four things to know about Dr. DeSalvo:
1. Dr. DeSalvo served as the ONC chief under the Obama administration, as well as the acting HHS assistant secretary.
2. She currently serves as a professor of medicine and population health at the University of Texas at Austin's Dell Medical School. Previously, she was the vice dean for community affairs and health policy at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans.
3. Dr. DeSalvo is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, serves on the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission and is on the Verily Advisory Board.
4. Keith Figlioli, general partner at LRVHealth, said of Dr. DeSalvo's appointment:
"Dr. DeSalvo is a true insider who has seen the healthcare system from multiple angles including time working directly with patients, organizing better community access to care and implementing policy at a national level … Our network is built to unite the people who can identify the challenges within the healthcare system and are in the best position to think and act strategically about ways to solve them."