Bechara Choucair

Bechara Choucair, MD, is executive vice president and chief health officer at Kaiser Permanente. As a board-certified family physician, he brings more than 25 years of leadership experience across public health, health care, and environmental sustainability in government, nonprofit, and private-sector organizations. He reports directly to Kaiser Permanente’s chair and chief executive officer and is a member of the National Executive Team. Dr. Choucair oversees Kaiser Permanente’s community health and social health portfolios, including more than $5 billion annually to support community and public health grants and initiatives, charitable contributions, and subsidized care. His leadership includes the creation of the nation’s largest social health network, integrated with Kaiser Permanente’s health care services, to address members’ housing, food, and transportation needs. He is also accountable for Kaiser Permanente’s Medicaid line of business, serving more than 1.5 million members, and advances initiatives to expand access to care and improve health outcomes for people enrolled in both Medicaid and Medicare. Dr. Choucair leads enterprise clinical business development opportunities focused on care delivery models, technologies, and products. He led the development of Habitat Health, which expands access to the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), helping older adults with complex needs receive coordinated care and remain in their homes and communities. He also leads Kaiser Permanente’s environmental stewardship work. Under his leadership, the organization became carbon neutral in 2020 and established a goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Dr. Choucair chairs the board of Maui Health System, serves on the boards of Habitat Health and Enterprise Community Partners, and is a member of the American University of Beirut’s International Advisory Council. He has also served on the boards of ChangeLab Solutions, the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, and Futuro Health. In 2021, Dr. Choucair served as the White House national COVID-19 vaccinations coordinator. He oversaw the timely, safe, and equitable administration of vaccinations in partnership with federal agencies, state and local authorities, health systems, and community organizations. During his tenure, nearly 500 million vaccine doses were administered nationwide. He returned to Kaiser Permanente in December 2021. Before joining Kaiser Permanente in 2016, Dr. Choucair served as senior vice president of safety net and community health at Trinity Health. He led efforts to improve population health, address social determinants of health, and develop new care delivery models and partnerships. He and his team oversaw approximately $1 billion in annual community benefit investments and launched Trinity Health’s Transforming Communities Initiative. From 2009 to 2014, Dr. Choucair served as commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, where he and his team launched Healthy Chicago, the city’s first comprehensive public health agenda. Under his leadership, the department earned national accreditation. Earlier in his career, he served as executive director of Heartland Health Centers in Chicago and medical director of Crusader Community Health in Rockford, Illinois. Dr. Choucair is the author of Precision Community Health, a guide to improving health through innovation in policy, data, media, and community partnerships. Dr. Choucair has earned numerous local and national awards, including recognition by Modern Healthcare as one of the 50 Most Influential Health Executives in the United States, one of the Most Influential People in Healthcare, one of the Top 25 Innovators in Healthcare, and one of the Top 25 Minority Healthcare Executives. He was named one of Chicago’s 40 Under 40 by Crain’s Chicago Business in 2012. Born in Beirut Lebanon, Dr. Choucair holds an MD from the American University of Beirut and a master’s degree in health care management from the University of Texas at Dallas. He completed his family medicine residency at Baylor College of Medicine.