Kaiser Permanente, the nation’s largest integrated, nonprofit health system has announced that David Grossman, MD, MPH, and Stephanie Ledesma, MS, will co-lead the organization’s Office of Community Health. The team will partner closely to identify and address social health needs among Kaiser Permanente’s members, and -at the same time -to improve overall conditions for health and equity in the communities the organization serves.

In the last year, Kaiser Permanente established a social health practice to design and build new and innovative ways to connect members to social health services while bolstering the organization’s grant-making strategy to build and sustain communities’ capacity to meet growing needs. These efforts were previously led by Bechara Choucair, MD, who joined the Biden administration as the White House COVID-19 vaccinations coordinator in January.

Dr. Grossman will work in partnership with the Permanente Medical Groups to lead Kaiser Permanente’s social health strategy as well as the organization’s public health advocacy and response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ledesma will lead all community health operations and functions that support the organization’s community health portfolio.

“At this point in our pandemic response, it is critical that we accelerate our efforts to integrate how we address our members’ social health with our broader care delivery system,” Dr. Grossman said.