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Uniting leaders, innovators, and investors to drive real change in health equity.
About the Summit
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About the Summit *
A transformative gathering for industry leaders, startups, and investors committed to advancing health equity and women’s health.
The Health Equity Innovators Summit is a unique, action-driven experience designed for those already contributing to improving health equity. Through thought-provoking discussions, collaborative problem-solving, and immersive wellness experiences, we’re shaping the future of healthcare together.
Who Attends?
Healthcare Leaders: Payers, providers, employers, consultants, and biotech companies
Innovators & Startups: Companies driving real solutions in health equity
Investors: Those actively investing in health equity or eager to deploy capital in the space
Policymakers & Experts: Visionaries committed to lasting change
The summit is hosted by Coyote Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in health equity & women’s health.
San Francisco | April 10-11, 2025
Key Speakers & Companies
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
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Amanda P. Williams, MD, MPH, FACOG is the Interim Chief Medical Officer of March of Dimes where she leads March of Dimes' mission team to advance efforts in research, advocacy, education and programs that will prioritize the well-being of all moms and babies. Additionally, she is the Clinical Innovation Advisor at the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative based at Stanford University, where she is also on the adjunct faculty of the OBGYN department, guiding hospital-based birth equity projects using quality improvement methodology to support maternity units across California. Previously she was the Medical Director of a tech-enabled, venture-backed maternity wrap around services company called Mahmee. She was formerly the Assistant Chair of the Chiefs of OBGYN for Kaiser Permanente, Northern California and Maternity Director at Kaiser Permanente, Oakland Medical Center, in addition to personally caring for thousands of women as a practicing OBGYN.
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After a successful NBA career, Mr. Thomas has transitioned from the basketball court to the boardroom.
Kenny Thomas is President and KT Legacy Consulting LLC, a dynamic and versatile multi faceted conglomerate. KT Legacy encompasses television and film production, sports entertainment and management and real estate development.
Kenny Thomas is also the Founder of The Kenny Thomas Foundation dedicated to helping the community youth by providing opportunities for under privileged youth experiencing financial hardship through higher education, college scholarships and helping families in need of assistance move from poverty to self-sufficiency.
Kenny Thomas is also a board member on both ALS New Mexico and the African American Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce.
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Sean McCluskie is the founder of Northstar Park Strategies, LLC, a consulting firm that provides strategic policy and political advice to leaders in the private and public sectors, focusing on health care and human services. Sean served as Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), overseeing the Immediate Office of the Secretary. During his tenure, he played a critical role in the department’s regulatory and policy initiatives, helping achieve historic milestones such as securing access to health insurance for a record number of Americans. Sean also served as Chief Deputy Attorney General for the California Department of Justice and was a Capitol Hill veteran who served as Chief of State to Democratic Caucus Leader and then-Congressman Xavier Becerra.
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With over 15 years of experience in healthcare marketing and communications, I help teams grow authentically and get attention for their good work. As the founder and CEO of Uncommon Bold, a healthcare branding agency, I work with clients such as Blue Shield of California, Lyra Health, Elation Health, and Rock Health to craft compelling stories, design memorable brands, and launch impactful campaigns. I bring a uniquely humanist, data-driven, and creative approach to healthcare branding, combining my skills in brand strategy, data storytelling, public relations, social media, content, and co-marketing.
My second book, "Artists Remaking Medicine", is an award-winning No. 1 Amazon best seller, and showcases how diverse voices are working to change America's healthcare system through art, design, music, writing, and more.
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Allison Tibbs is a wellness coach, speaker, and corporate facilitator dedicated to helping leaders and organizations bridge the gap between well-being and sustainable success. With a focus on self-care, stress management, and behavior change, she empowers high-performing professionals—especially women—to reclaim their time, energy, and vitality without sacrificing their impact.
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Milan Chavarkar has been a family nurse practitioner, women's health specialist, and midwife for 20+ years. She has faced her own health challenges over the years and understands what women face at every stage of life: maiden, mother, and mature goddess! She has seen that the conventional medical system has failed patients in achieving true healing and preventing disease. She is dedicated to helping women and their families improve their health and vitality through a collaborative and integrative approach. She uses functional medicine knowledge, natural therapies, health coaching, mindfulness techniques, supplements, and herbal treatments to treat her patients, specializing in women's health: fertility, menopause, weight loss, and sexuality. She firmly believes an integrative approach is the future of healthcare.
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Jessica Karr is Founder & Managing Director of Coyote Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in bold innovations in health equity & women’s health that drive health outcomes for overlooked populations. Jessica’s experience launching novel impact-focused products began when she joined Impossible Foods as the 12th employee, where she helped develop and launch the Impossible burger. She has worked with over a dozen startups as a consultant and advisor, she holds an MS in Biochemistry and an MBA.
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Maryam Sharifzadeh, founder of Office Yoga and ZaaS, is an entrepreneur, athlete, and wellness advocate with a passion for helping others thrive. When she's not helping employees maintain their well-being, she's swimming in the open water or taking her Chihuahua , Pinta, for a walk!
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Reetu Gupt is a seasoned senior leader with more than 20+ years of experience in healthcare and finance. Her area of expertise are customer success, strategy, new program development, and corporate sustainability. She advises B2B and B2B2C start-ups and growth stage companies on customer success. Gupta also works with companies and sustainability teams on sustainability projects & strategy. She is passionate about leveraging technology and data to address core issues and opportunities within climate. She is interested in the intersection of impact of climate change on health and in decarbonization solutions. Gupta supports causes and organizations that are working to level the playing field for women professionals, founders and persons of color.
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25 years ago, I started on a path of bringing together my interests in the environment with health. I studied ecology and evolution in college, worked as an environmental scientist for several years before going to medical school. It was while I was in Mumbai working on an asthma collaboration between Mumbai public health officials and the Environmental Protection Agency that I had a light bulb moment. I was visiting a gymnasium that had been converted to the children’s asthma ward because the hospital didn’t have enough beds. Seeing the enormity of our failure to transition off fossil fuels in the form of a gymnasium packed with children struggling to breathe—it really hit home that this was our collective failing, and we were making children suffer for it. Since then, I've devoted my career to finding opportunities to work at the nexus of climate change and health.
Today, I work both as a pediatric hospitalist, caring for premature infants in our NICU, well newborns, and hospitalized children and as the Deputy Executive Director for the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health. In my ED role, I have the privilege of organizing a movement of passionate health professional advocates throughout the country who understand climate change to be a profound threat to health and health equity. Together, we're advocating for bold policy solutions that best protect the health of our people and the planet on local, state, and federal levels.
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Bringing my background as a full-cycle biomedical engineer and public health analyst to the forefront to advance sustainable solutions in healthcare. As a stubborn optimist, I know we can make our healthcare system more equitable and environmentally responsible. Excited to be part of the event!
Roundtable Leaders
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Stephanie Silverman, CFA, is a seasoned financial professional, healthcare venture capitalist, Wharton MBA and startup growth advisor with 12+ years of experience at Rock Health, Goldman Sachs and Solstice — her boutique digital health consulting firm. Stephanie's enterprise client base includes Fortune 20 and Fortune 100 tech conglomerates. Stephanie has helped companies raise more than a billion dollars and specializes in crushing capital raises, executing high-ROI partnerships / investments / M&A / exits, optimizing business models to fuel profitability and growth and data-informed GTM.
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An attorney, mediator, and health care law/policy expert, skilled in helping to identify common interests, reaching consensus to achieve amicable resolutions, and crafting strategies to tackle complex issues
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With 15+ years of experience as an operator at tech startups, Ariel is a seasoned investor, advisor and marketing leader with a relentless drive to get stuff done. As Managing Director of Segal Ventures, a venture-focused family office, Ariel invests in female fund managers and founders making a positive impact on the world and achieving above market returns. Ariel holds a B.A. in Marketing & Psychology from Georgetown University and an MBA from NYU Stern.
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Dr. Ziza Phillip is an Investment Associate at the American Heart Association Ventures, where she leverages her clinical and academic expertise to drive innovation and social impact through the Go Red For Women Fund, Social Impact Fund and Studio Red venture studio.
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Faz K. Bashi, MD, has a research background in Immunology and Virology from UCSF. He is Lead Venture Investor for Portfolia's FemTech Funds I, II and III, focused on Women's Health and Wellness (www.portfolia.co), an active member of Life Science Angels (www.lifescienceangels.com) in Silicon Valley and an Emeritus Board Member of the Angel Capital Association (ACA; www.angelcapitalassociation.org) where he continues to Chair the ACA's Life Sciences Syndication group. He is active with UCSF’s Entrepreneurship Startup 101 and Lean Launchpad, and serves on the external advisory board member for UCSF's Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) and Johns Hopkins' Center for BioEngineering and Design (CBID; https://cbid.bme.jhu.edu/). He mentors women entrepreneur leaders for Springboard Enterprises (www.sb.co) Life Sciences Council. Dr. Bashi is also very active in the Animal/Pet Health entrepreneurial ecosystem and serves as an advisor to One Health Group (www.onehealthgroup.com), with 72 issued patents providing non-contact, highly accurate, medical-grade remote-monitoring animal health data. Dr. Bashi is committed to helping find treatments for Tinnitus, Autism, Lupus, and Vascular diseases. He completed several triathlons with Team-In-Training to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
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Jonalyn Denlinger supports the advising and field building work for The REAL. Jonalyn has over 15 years of supporting foundations, funds, and businesses in the capital deployment strategies for impact. In addition to her work with Rhia, she supports clients through consulting focused on impact areas of affordable housing, small business and entrepreneurship, environmental justice, and the social determinants of health.Jonalyn Denlinger supports the advising and field building work for The REAL. Jonalyn has over 15 years of supporting foundations, funds, and businesses in the capital deployment strategies for impact. In addition to her work with Rhia, she supports clients through consulting focused on impact areas of affordable housing, small business and entrepreneurship, environmental justice, and the social determinants of health.
Innovators Spotlight
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Nicole Cook is the Founder and CEO of Alvee, leveraging AI to help healthcare organizations identify and act on SDOH. Previously, she spent 7 years at Epic implementing EHR systems and was an early, key leader at SameSky Health, scaling the team and revenue by over 10x. Her expertise spans EHR integration, clinical environments, and startup growth, giving her a unique perspective on driving impact through technology.
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Current healthtech founder. Former founding team of Amazon Care. Former Grand Challenge product leader. Former Partnerships lead for Vesta Healthcare. Founding team for Venture for America. New Mom. Caregiver. Optimist.
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Founder of Malama, on a mission to improve maternal health outcomes, mom of two, world traveler.
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Thoughtful strategic and business development executive with 24 years experience in growth and change agency.
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Anu is the founder of Millie, a women's health company that is redesigning the current standard of maternity care with a hybrid model that combines OB/Midwifery care with modern technology to create more right sized, complete, and proactive care for better outcomes & experiences.
See Who Went
Keynotes & Fireside Chats
Removing Barriers to Health: What can we learn from the maternal health ecosystem? - with Dr. Amanda Williams & Milan Chavarkar
From Policy to Impact: Transforming Healthcare Access for All - with Sean McCluskie
Health Equity Through Youth & Sports - with Kenny Thomas
Climate Change x Health Equity - with Reetu Gupta, Lisa Patel, & Cynthia Prieto-Diaz
Aligning on Health Equity & Women’s Health - with Jessica Karr
Due Diligence 2.0 - with Jonalyn Denlinger
Roundtable Sessions
Family office perspective on healthcare funding for startups and funds
Health systems (faculty) innovations in health equity
Founder workshop: Smart capital & high-value exits: advanced tactics for fundraising & M&A success in health equity
How can employers provide benefits that cover unique health equity needs?
Founder workshop: healthtech partnerships & exits
How can startups use health outcomes dashboard to raise effectively from VCs?
Founder workshop: Raising your first Angel round
Unlocking the [insert pedantive adjective] mysteries of health plans and how to navigate them
Venture Capital funding towards health equity
How health systems innovate while keeping health equity top of mind
Founder workshop: Innovating with non-dilutive funding
Advancing Equity in Investing: Utilizing Tools and Frameworks for Change
Innovation Highlights with Seed & Series A stage startups: Malama Health, Millie, Lovu Health, Alvee, Oben Health, & Magnolia
Art & Wellness Experiences
Morning Meditation with Tomoko Ishikura
Art x Healthcare with Emily Peters
Yoga with Maryam Sharifzadeh
Bootcamp with Allison Tibbs
Walk/run with Kelly Caviglia
Cold plunge & sauna in SF Bay
Leadership circle with Reetu Gupta
Hydration station with Hey Freya
Breakfasts, lunches, & all-day coffee included!
Event Highlights & Agenda
Why Attend?
Expand Your Network – Meet industry leaders and mission-driven investors
Actionable Insights – Skip the “why” and dive straight into solutions
Experience Holistic Well-Being – Engage in immersive wellness activities
Unparalleled Setting – San Francisco’s most breathtaking views
Sponsors
A Special Thank You to Our Sponsors & Partners Who Make This Possible
