Karen DeSalvo, MD

Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, is the Chief Health Officer of Google. Dr. DeSalvo is a physician who has focused her career on improving access to affordable, high-quality care for all, especially vulnerable populations, and promoting overall health.

A former Assistant Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. DeSalvo was also the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, where she set high level policy and the strategic direction of the office, including efforts related to interoperability.

Before joining the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, she was Health Commissioner for the City of New Orleans where she built an innovative and award-winning model of neighborhood-based primary care and mental health services for low-income, uninsured and other vulnerable individuals that boasts a sophisticated health IT infrastructure after Hurricane Katrina.

She is a former professor of Population Health at the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School and Vice Dean for Community Affairs and Health Policy at the Tulane School of Medicine where she was a practicing internal medicine physician.

Dr. DeSalvo earned her Medical Doctorate and Master’s in Public Health from Tulane University, and Master's in Clinical Epidemiology from Harvard School of Public Health. She has an honorary doctorate from her alumnus institution, Suffolk University.