Rishi Manchanda, M.D., M.P.H., 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.
Dr. Manchanda served as the founding director of social medicine for a network of community 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 his TED talk, he introduced “Upstreamists,” a new model of health care 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.