Impact Accelerator

Spreading health care solutions that have an outsized social impact and reduce the overall cost of care

What We Do

The Stanford CERC Impact Accelerator identifies and spreads health care solutions that have an outsized social impact, particularly for marginalized or vulnerable communities, and have a measurable impact on the cost of delivering high-quality care.

“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”

~ Alan Kay

In August 2025, the Stanford Impact Accelerator convened dozens of leaders from across the California safety net--from clinical medicine, academia, provider organizations, local agencies. and nonprofits--to invent the future of health care delivery for marginalized communities.

These leaders and their organizations have distinctive strengths that position them as ideal innovation partners: They’ve built bridges across traditionally competitive systems and sectors, established trusted relationships within their communities, and thrived despite limited resources. The result is a cohesive network of leaders joining together to collaboratively test and scale innovations and find bold solutions to health care’s seemingly intractable challenges. (Contact the Program Director at jacunnin@stanford.edu)

For a list of attendees click here.

Program Director Jason Cunningham introduces the Impact Accelerator

“The Safety Net is an interesting environment to innovate. Organizations are creative, deeply connected to communities, and have operated with scarcity for decades."

~Dr. Jason Cunningham, Impact Accelerator Program Director, CEO West County Health Centers

Action Network

The Action Network is a dynamic network of multi-sector leaders united to improve care while reducing costs for marginalized communities. This network brings together influential leaders from organizations positioned to drive meaningful changes within the organizations and their sphere of influence, and committed to bold action.

Smart Networking Map - Click to see live data

Accelerator Hubs

A reliable testing environment to accelerate and spread healthcare solutions.

Federally Qualified Health Centers, public hospitals, managed care organizations, health center coalitions, community-based organizations, and funders who are committed to working with early-stage startups, researchers, clinical innovators, and policymakers to test and scale innovation. These innovation hubs are connected to their clinical environments, patients, and communities to provide early feedback and an environment for piloting and scaling. The hubs are equipped with rich data sets and skills related to human-centered design, systems thinking, and pilot testing.

Participating Organizations

Solutions

Provides the structure for identifying and implementing strong early-stage health care solutions that benefit marginalized communities with coaching, connections to key stakeholders and content experts, development of viable financial models, along with measurement and research.

Discover more about our Solutions

About Us

Leadership

Jason Cunningham, DO

Program Director

Jason Cunningham is the Chief Executive Officer at West County Health Centers, a Federally Qualified Health Center caring for patients in western Sonoma County, California. At WCHC, he works alongside a dedicated staff that shares his passion for serving all people regardless of their race, ethnicity, economic status, sexual orientation, or ability to pay. He previously served as the organization’s medical director.

WCHC is a thought leader and innovator in redesigning primary care around the principle that a “trusting, long-term relationship” is the most important product of health care and the most influential in improving health. Jason’s leadership has focused on the use of video and communication technology to improve care coordination, team-based care for patients with complex medical and social stressors, and the use of data to drive innovation.

As a family physician with a deep interest in leading improvement in health care delivery, Jason participates in multiple boards and committees with local, regional, and state organizations. He received his BS in Biology from the University of Michigan and medical degree from Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine.

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Alan Glaseroff, MD

HVHCI Co-Director Emeritus

Dr. Alan Glaseroff came to Stanford in 2011 along with his wife Dr. Ann Lindsay at the behest of CERC Director Dr. Arnold Milstein to design and implement a new comprehensive model for patients with complex needs, Ambulatory ICU 2.0. He and Dr. Lindsay led Stanford Coordinated Care (SCC), a service for patients (employees and their dependents) with complex chronic conditions at high risk for future spending, from 2011 to the end of 2016. SCC has helped train over a dozen teams from across the US seeking to implement a similar approach. Dr. Glaseroff, a member of the Innovation Brain Trust for the Unite HERE Health Fund, and also served as faculty for the Institute of Healthcare Improvement's "Better Care, Lower Cost" 3-year collaborative and served as a Clinical Advisor to the PBGH "Intensive Outpatient Care Program" CMMI Innovation Grant that ended in June 2015. He served on the NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home Advisory Committee 2009-2010, and the "Let's Get Healthy California" expert task force in 2012. Dr. Glaseroff was named the California Family Physician of the Year for 2009. Dr. Glaseroff's interests focus on redesigning services at the intersection of patient-centered team care, patient activation, and investing effort to promote patient self-management within the context of chronic conditions.

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Dr. Sara Singer, PhD, MBA

Faculty Collaborator

Sara Singer, a Professor of Health Policy and Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine and at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Freeman Spogli Institute, by courtesy, joined DCI as their Research Director in September 2022. Sara became DCI’s Interim Faculty Director in September 2023 and Faculty Director in January 2024, succeeding Richard Saller.

Sara’s research in the field of healthcare management and policy is informed by her interdisciplinary training in health policy, organizational behavior, and general management. Using innovative mixed methods and organizational theories, she studies health care teams and organizations to understand how leaders and policymakers can improve the safety and quality of health care delivery through changes in institutional culture, leadership, organizational design, and team dynamics.

DCI is committed to research that will further our understanding of the impacts of the program on enhancing longevity, supporting life-career transitions, and creating opportunities for intergenerational learning and connection within existing University structures. Sara’s combination of interests and depth of experience in the fields of medicine and the study of organizations is well-suited to examining the potential impacts of DCI on individuals and institutions.

Sara is looking forward to working with the Fellows and DCI team to gain further insight into the impact of the fusion of renewed purpose, community building and a recalibration of wellness, on the life journeys of DCI Fellows and Partners.

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Craig Lindquist, MD, Phd

HVHCI Co-Director Emeritus

Dr. Lindquist was born and reared on a small farm in Northwest Iowa. He attended the University of Iowa as a biology major receiving his BS degree in an accelerated two year program. He completed his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees at U of I and Yale respectively while completing clinical rotations at the Peter Bent Brigham and the Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. His doctoral thesis was completed under Dr. J Bertino at the Yale Cancer Center and focused on mechanisms of drug resistance of leukemia cells.

Following completion of his medical studies, Dr. Lindquist completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Yale. He continued on as Chief Medical Resident under Dr. Sam Thier and was a co-founder of Yale’s first HIV/AIDS outpatient services. From New Haven, Dr. Lindquist next moved to San Francisco to complete a fellowship in Hematology/Oncolgy. During his fellowship he conducted research on Kaposi’s sarcoma . Upon completion of his fellowship he joined the UCSF clinical faculty as an attending physician in the Moffitt HIV/AIDS Clinic.

In the early 1990’s Dr. Lindquist joined the Marin Department of Health and Human Services where he developed a County-based HIV/AIDS clinic and supervised an AIDS Clinical Trials program. He was co-PI on a number of ACTG and industry drug trials as well as a consultant to projects involving drug resistance and gene sequencing. After several years in that position he assumed the position of medical director over all of the County’s medical services and periodically served as the County Health Officer at the same time. Near the end of his tenure as Director, Dr. Lindquist’s interests turned to issues in health care design, delivery and costs. Those interests led to post-graduate programs at the UC Berkeley School of Business and the Harvard Business School focusing on issues related to health care.

Craig re-joins CERC as an adjunct professor with great pleasure and excitement. The CERC staff and the Stanford environs present a great opportunity for a ‘hands on’ experience in designing innovations for application in the real world.

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Partnership

Veenu Aulakh

Executive Director

Acumen America

Executive Director for the Medicaid Innovation Collaborative, a program of Acumen America, which supports the adoption of tech-enabled solutions to promote more equitable and higher quality care for Medicaid enrollees. Led the development and implementation of the strategy to align the Medicaid ecosystem to address health related social needs. The ecosystem includes state Medicaid departments, Medicaid managed care organizations, consumers and tech-enabled private sector innovations. Supported fundraising and integration of MIC program into Acumen America's broader strategy to support entrepreneurs to address health equity for Medicaid populations.

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Chris McCarthy

Innovation and Design Leader

ILN Coaching and Consulting

Chris is a change rebel and healthcare innovator. He founded the ILN, which focuses on improving " innovation systems.” He led innovation at Kaiser Permanente for 20 years and Hopelab Foundation for five years, creating many award-winning and impactful solutions. His approach combines human(ity)-centered design, system thinking, and the art of gathering.

His work has been featured with CNN (Dec 2017), Harvard Business Review (Sept 2010), Bisognano’s “Pursuing the Triple Aim” (2012), FastCompany, the New York Times, and many more. As an author, he collaborated with Lyle Berkowitz, MD on their book “Innovation with Information Technologies in Healthcare” (2012).

Chris has a master’s in business administration from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute / Copenhagen Business School and a master’s in public health in Health Policy from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. In his spare time, he obsesses about fitness, musicals, and skiing between the trees.

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Advisors

Pat Curran

Chief Executive Officer

Health Plan of San Mateo

Patrick become CEO of HPSM in February 2022, succeeding Maya Altman, who served as CEO for 16 years. He joined HPSM in 2016 as Deputy CEO. In that role he developed provider learning collaboratives, implemented the first dental integration program for Medi-Cal and led company goal-setting and strategic planning. Prior to HPSM, Patrick served in various leadership roles at CareOregon, a nonprofit community-based health plan based in Portland. He began his tenure at CareOregon in 2003 as Director of Provider Services and was appointed CEO in 2012. He led the organization through state and federal health reform, developing and implementing Coordinated Care Organizations (CCOs). Patrick’s career also includes leadership roles in medical group management, Independent Practice Association (IPA) operations, network management and provider payment model design. He received his bachelor’s degree from Santa Clara University and his master’s degree in Public Health from San Diego State University.

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Carlina Hansen

Senior Program Officer

CHCF Improving Access

Carlina is a senior program officer for CHCF’s Improving Access team, which works to improve access to coverage and care for Californians with low incomes. Before joining the team at CHCF, Carlina worked at the Women’s Community Clinic in San Francisco, where she served as the executive director for 17 years. Before her work at the clinic, she was a senior program coordinator at the Tides Center, a fiscal sponsor and nonprofit incubator. She has served on multiple boards including the San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium and the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Organization. Carlina holds a master’s of science in health care administration from the University of California, San Francisco, where she now serves on the faculty.

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Andie Martinez Patterson

Chief Executive Officer

Community Health Center Network

Prior to serving at CHCN, Andie worked at the California Primary Care Association (CPCA) for nearly 15 years working to advance the mission of community health centers statewide. For the last decade she worked to build and advanced a payment reform initiative for health centers in California. Her last role at CPCA was as the Senior Vice President for Strategy, Integration and System Impact.

Andie’s background includes public policy, community organizing, advocacy, and membership engagement. She has an undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a master’s degree in Public Policy from the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs (UMN).

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Alexandra Quinn

Chief Executive Officer

Health Leads

Alexandra has spent two decades in the non-profit and governmental sectors working on issues of equity, justice, education, and health. Prior to becoming CEO, she held several executive positions at Health Leads and had the opportunity to work closely with health care systems, local public health and community partners from across the country. Before Health Leads, Alexandra was the Vice President of Program at Peer Forward, a national nonprofit focused on equitable access to education and career pathways. Alexandra started her career in the federal government lastly as the Director of Scheduling for the Attorney General at the Department of Justice. She was a W.K. Kellogg Community Leadership Network Fellow focused on racial equity, racial healing, and leadership and was named to the “Care100 list” as one of the most influential people in care in 2020. Alexandra was born and raised in New York City, spent her summers in rural Texas and now calls Oakland, CA home where she lives with her two kids, two rescue huskies and her partner. She holds a B.A. from Smith College, an M.A. from Georgetown University, and a Community Health Worker Certification from City College San Francisco.

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Crispin Delgado

Independent Consultant

Crispin Delgado currently serves as Executive Director of Insure the Uninsured Project (ITUP). Prior to joining ITUP, Crispin served as Public Policy Director for Northern California Grantmakers. Over his 20-year career, Crispin has worked in academia, local government, philanthropy, and the non-profit sectors. As Program Officer at Blue Shield of California Foundation, Crispin led a robust portfolio on the Health Care and Coverage team. His work primarily focused on improving access to and quality of care for all Californians. In this same role, Crispin was the primary architect of a multi-funder collaboration that sought to prepare California’s safety net for alternative payment methodologies. Crispin holds bachelor’s degrees from the University of California, Davis, and a master’s in public policy (focus: public health) from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley.

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Alicia Hardy

Chief Executive Officer

CommuniCare+OLE

Alicia Hardy is the CEO of CommuniCare+OLE. She originally served as CEO of OLE Health, first joining in 2009. She has two decades of experience in the fields of education, mental health, and health care administration. Alicia spent several years living and working abroad in both Peru and Nigeria, where she became passionate about working with underserved communities in initiatives related to health and wellness. After returning from South America, Alicia co-founded and taught at a charter school in the South Bronx with the goal of reducing academic disparities in the community. Alicia is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) and has provided behavioral health care to patients both at the VA Medical Center in San Francisco and at OLE Health. She holds a master’s degree in Management and Planning from the School of Social Welfare at University of California-Berkeley and is a Pozen-Commonwealth Fund Fellow in Health Equity Leadership at Yale School of Management, pursuing her Executive MBA in health care. She has spent her time at OLE Health in various leadership positions, overseeing large-scale initiatives related to integration and redesign of care delivery systems and was appointed Chief Executive Officer in January 2018. Alicia lives in Napa, has three children, and is an avid runner.

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Tracy Mendez

Chief Executive Officer

Aliados Health

Tracy Macdonald Mendez (she/her) is CEO at Aliados Health, a community health center consortium with 17 health center members in Sonoma and 5 other local counties. Tracy has been working in the health care safety net for the past 30 years, mostly in community health center operations and administration. She worked at La Clinica de La Raza, a large Oakland-based FQHC, for 16 years, and also served as the Executive Director for the California School-Based Health Alliance, a non-profit statewide advocacy and technical assistance organization supporting school-based health centers. Tracy has Master’s degrees in Public Health and Public Policy from UC Berkeley and completed California's Clinic Leadership Institute in 2010. She is committed to advancing equity by reducing racial, health, economic and social disparities. Tracy lives in Oakland with her 17-year-old daughter and Taiwanese rescue dog.

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George Su

Professor of Medicine

School of Medicine UCSF

George Su MD is a Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and a faculty member in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH). He directs the San Francisco Health Network (SFHN) Sleep Medicine Program and the Healthy San Francisco Asthma and COPD Program and serves as Director of Telehealth and Specialty Clinical Informatics for the San Francisco Department of Public Health's Office of Health Informatics (OHI).

George's operational and research efforts focus on advancing health equity through the implementation of scalable, evidence-based strategies that improve access to high-value care in safety-net settings. His work emphasizes the intersection of primary and specialty care, innovative systems design, and the use of health technology. He brings extensive experience in clinical and policy-focused quality improvement, including service on the SFGH/UCSF Clinical Practice Group Committee on Clinical Operations, Metrics, and Performance and the Quality Improvement and Implementation Committee (QIIC) of the American Thoracic Society (ATS).

At UCSF, Dr. Su is a committed educator and mentor within the School of Medicine. He is an alumnus of and served as human-centered design coach for the Center for Care Innovation’s Catalyst program. George is past president of the California Thoracic Society (CTS) (2022-2023), the largest state chapter of the ATS.

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Publications

Medical Care Research and Review

Engaging Interdisciplinary Innovation Teams in Federally Qualified Health Centers

Interdisciplinary innovation teams bring together frontline staff so that they can contribute to developing a new product, service, or way of working.Such teams enable bottom-up frontline innovation work, in contrast to top-down efforts dictated by policy or institutional changes.

Journal of General Internal Medicine

Ideas from the Frontline: Improvement Opportunities in Federally Qualified Health Centers - Journal of General Internal Medicine

Frontline clinicians and staff, who regularly and directly interface with patients and workflows and do not hold senior management positions, are well-positioned to generate and voice ideas for improvement and to participate in organizational problem-solving.

Our Journey

Partner with Us The Impact Accelerator is driven by aligned partnerships that create opportunity for organizations, leaders, an dcommunities to add value and receive benefit from collective activities. Consider partnering

Become an Affiliate Partner

Philanthropic Partner: Funders, foundations, philanthropic donors, interested in partnering with the Impact Accelerator

Action Network Leader: We are looking for leaders with the following criteria:

· Change Agents: People who are committed to taking action to improve care for marginalized communities. They are doers!

· Influencers: People who are well-connected beyond their single organizations (policy, funding, action).

· Desire to learn and improve: willing to try new solutions, build new skills (design/systems) and strengthen own leadership & connections.

Healthcare Solutions: Healthcare start-ups, organizations, clinical leaders, payers, policymakers who are interested in learning more, launching a new pilot, or partnering with the existing projects

Academic Partner: Researchers, learners, and departments interested in exploring a partnership with the Impact Accelerator or within the California safety-net

Contact the Program Director at jacunnin@stanford.edu

Clinical Excellence Research Center (CERC)

Find a doctor

Clinics & Services

Research Resources

Professional Training

Education Resources

Impact Accelerator

What We Do

“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”

“The Safety Net is an interesting environment to innovate. Organizations are creative, deeply connected to communities, and have operated with scarcity for decades."

Participating Organizations

Leadership

Jason Cunningham, DO

Alan Glaseroff, MD

Dr. Sara Singer, PhD, MBA

Craig Lindquist, MD, Phd

Partnership

Veenu Aulakh

Chris McCarthy

Advisors

Pat Curran

Carlina Hansen

Andie Martinez Patterson

Alexandra Quinn

Crispin Delgado

Alicia Hardy

Tracy Mendez

George Su

Engaging Interdisciplinary Innovation Teams in Federally Qualified Health Centers

Ideas from the Frontline: Improvement Opportunities in Federally Qualified Health Centers - Journal of General Internal Medicine