Dr. Rishi Manchanda is CEO at HealthBegins, a national mission-driven strategy and implementation firm that helps Medicaid-serving managed care plans, health systems, and social sector clients to exceed health care equity and social needs performance requirements, and achieve long-term impact for people and communities harmed by societal practices. Dr. Manchanda's areas of expertise include building and scaling value-based care models for historically marginalized populations, embedding and advancing equity in clinics and communities, and designing and leading national and regional policy initiatives to improve population health.<br></p><p id="">Dr. Manchanda served as the founding director of social medicine for a network ofcommunity health centers in south central Los Angeles, as the first lead physician for homeless veterans at the Greater Los Angeles VA, and as the chief medical officer for a multi-billion dollar employer with a large rural agricultural workforce. In his 2013 book - The Upstream Doctors - and TED Talk, he introduced “Upstreamists”, a new model of healthcare professionals and leaders who improve outcomes by addressing the social and structural drivers of health equity - patients’ social needs, community-level social determinants of health, and structural determinants of health equity including structural racism. Based in Los Angeles, Dr. Manchanda serves as a board member and advisor for several national nonprofits, companies, and initiatives that promote health equity, economic opportunity, and participatory democracy.

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