Stephen K. Klasko MD, MBA

Dr. Stephen Klasko is a transformative leader and advocate for a revolution in our systems of health care and higher education. He has been a university president, a dean, a CEO, and an obstetrician, and now pursues his vision for the creative reconstruction of American healthcare by bridging traditional academic centers with entrepreneurs and innovators.

His passion is using technology to eliminate health disparities and offer everyone the promise of health assurance. Dr. Klasko is also a lifelong DJ who believes that the message in the music can give us the courage to tackle a broken, fragmented, unfriendly, expensive, and inequitable healthcare system.

He currently serves as an executive in residence at General Catalyst, North American ambassador for Sheba Medical Center in Israel, and as CMO of Abundant Partners. He serves on the board of directors at Teleflex. In 2022, President Biden appointed him to the National Board of Education Sciences. His 2023 book is titled Feeling Alright: How the Message in the Music can Save Healthcare. To be published by ACHE.

Dr. Klasko is an internationally recognized advocate for transformation in health care and higher education. He is the author of 2020’s UnHealthcare: A Manifesto for Health Assurance, with Silicon Valley investor Hemant Taneja. In 2019, he spoke about the future of hospitals at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and in 2020, was named a Distinguished Fellow of the World Economic Forum and co-chair of its Board of Stewards for the Forum’s platform on the digital economy. He is co-author of the 2020 book, Patient No Longer with Ryan Donahue; Bless This Mess: A Picture Story of Healthcare in America (2018) – an account of how the USA was elected to the Intergalactic Council of Cool Health Systems by 2035; WE Can Fix Healthcare in America (2016); and The Phantom Stethoscope (1999).