In a world of fragmented healthcare, the Coyote Ventures Health Equity Innovation Summit brought together a remarkable coalition of founders, clinicians, investors, and policy leaders to address a fundamental question: How do we build systems that truly care? Systems that deliver equity, reflect real-world needs, respond to community voices, and remain sustainable for generations to come.

Setting the Foundation: Compassion as a Guiding Force

The day began with Tomoko Ishikura of Kicker Ventures leading attendees through a grounding meditation centered on equanimity—acknowledging our shared humanity and universal desire for wellbeing. This thread of compassion became the summit's through-line, weaving across conversations about building care systems that serve not only patients but providers, communities, and our shared planet.

The Clinician's Perspective on Policy and Innovation

Improving healthcare access requires addressing barriers from multiple angles.

The opening fireside chat featured Dr. Amanda Williams and Milan Chavarkar exploring the importance of a clinical lens behind health innovation that reduces barriers to healthcare. Both speakers—Milan having worked in both community health and innovation, and Dr. Williams bringing experience from Kaiser corporate leadership, startup advising and building, and the nonprofit March of Dimes—offered refreshingly pragmatic insights on maternal health and patients who are covered by Medicaid.

They emphasized that access isn’t just about insurance coverage. It's about geographic proximity, reliable internet connectivity, implementation support, and workflows that empower rather than obstruct care delivery. Milan delivered one of the day's most resonant quotes to remind innovators to look for low hanging fruit: "People [investors] want sexy solutions. As a clinician, I want to get rid of fax machines."

They covered several recommendations for founders– including focusing on practical problems over flashy technology, investing in robust implementation, recognizing practice diversity (from FQHCs to private practices), and integrating with health plans to avoid out-of-pocket costs. Despite political headwinds affecting agencies like NIH and CDC, they urged innovators to implement evidence-based interventions—doulas, midwives, lactation support—that improve outcomes while demonstrating clear cost savings.

They advocated for data-driven approaches, cost-effective solutions for Medicaid programs, and addressing adoption barriers through both provider integration and community trust-building—acknowledging that for many communities, we're not trying to get to optimal; sometimes we're just trying to help people survive.

Visionary Startups Reshaping Maternal Health

The Maternal Health Innovation Spotlight showcased founders reimagining care delivery:

Malama Health (Mika Eddy), one of Coyote Ventures’ portfolio companies, has developed a 24/7 virtual care model for high-risk pregnancies affected by social determinants of health, serving 30,000 women primarily on Medicaid. Their results are compelling: 13% fewer C-sections, 45% decrease in preterm births, and a 4:1 ROI through reduced emergency interventions.

Lovu Health (Noel Pugh) delivers culturally competent care across six states from pregnancy through two years postpartum, focusing on the leading causes of postpartum mortality: substance use and suicide. Their work with health systems like Providence and UCSF supports women with low medical literacy, language barriers, and limited social support.

Galena Innovations (Ashley Crafton) is developing the Hannah Cervical Cup to prevent preterm birth, addressing a critical gap in maternal health innovation. Their approach emphasizes that improving maternal outcomes directly enhances child health, family stability, and addresses broader social inequities in healthcare delivery.

As Noel impactfully noted, "If our solutions sound similar, it's because we've all identified the key problem. We all need funding; there won't be one winner. DEI may have been cancelled, but our mission is not."

Not present at the summit was Coyote and March of Dimes’ portfolio company Millie Clinic (Anu Sharma), who fittingly enough, did not attend last minute to a family member giving birth. Millie recently closed a Series A to open new clinics, and has launched a San Jose location. Millie is redesigning US maternity care from the ground up with a hybrid, tech-enabled model that combines the best of OB/Midwifery care, scaled with health system & payor partnerships.

Breaking Down Social Barriers Through Innovation

Addressing social barriers, community health, and caregiving are essential components of equitable care:

Alvee (Nicole Cook), a Coyote Ventures portfolio company, uses AI to surface social determinants of health from provider notes and aggregate SDOH data from disparate data sources, ensuring identified needs translate into meaningful action. Their EHR integration helps organizations build business cases around value while saving clinician time through workflow automation.

Oben Health (Peter Njongwe), driven by his brother's passing at 36 from hypertension, builds care infrastructure within barbershops and salons—trusted community spaces where visits are more frequent and convenient. Their model trains salon workers as community health workers, offering blood pressure monitoring with data flowing back to primary care providers.

Magnolia Health (Liz Tarullo), also backed by Coyote Ventures, supports family caregivers (who are disproportionately women and BIPOC) through clinical education, peer support, and a HIPAA-compliant AI platform that has demonstrated a 52% reduction in emergency department visits.

The Policy Landscape: Where Politics Meets Patient Care

Calling on innovators to bridge the critical gap between healthcare spending and outcomes.

Sean McCluskie, former Chief of Staff at HHS, delivered a compelling assessment of healthcare's systemic challenges through a personal story about being unable to secure portable oxygen for his hospitalized mother who needed to be moved to another state. While the U.S. leads in medical research (receiving 2.5x returns through NIH patents), there remains a critical gap between healthcare spending and actual outcomes.

McCluskie urged innovators to bridge this gap by creating effective products, communicating value to consumers and government payers alike, and continuing advocacy even as programs face cuts. "These programs that are being cut will inevitably come back," he noted, emphasizing the enduring importance of the government's role in healthcare.

Reimagining Investment: Due Diligence 2.0

Challenging investors to shift the paradigm of responsibility in the process of fundraising.

Jonalyn Denlinger, Managing Director of the REAL at Rhia Ventures, introduced "Due Diligence 2.0"—a framework challenging investors to shift from passive gatekeeping to active responsibility. This approach encourages venture capitalists to reconsider how they evaluate founders, particularly those historically excluded from capital access.

Key principles include respecting founder time, providing transparent feedback, and expanding the definition of "traction" beyond traditional metrics. The central thesis: investors must become part of the equity solution rather than perpetuating barriers to access.

The Climate-Health Connection: An Urgent Imperative

Addressing how healthcare contributes to and is impacted by environmental degradation.

The climate × health equity panel moderated by Reetu Gupta with Lisa Patel and Cynthia Prieto-Diaz highlighted alarming realities: healthcare ranks as the fifth-largest greenhouse gas emitter globally, while fossil fuel pollution disproportionately affects Black and Brown communities regardless of income.

"Our planet is sick. We are sick," noted Lisa, explaining how climate change multiplies health determinants through extreme heat, air pollution, water impacts, and environmental degradation. Solutions range from solarizing FQHCs and reducing medical waste to advocating for clean energy transition—recognizing that "improving wellness is the best way to decrease waste by decreasing the need for intervention."

Tactical Insights: Roundtable Knowledge Exchange

The afternoon consisted of a rich ecosystem of simultaneous roundtable conversations featuring healthcare leaders from Blue Shield of California, Morgan Health, and other prominent organizations across the healthcare innovation landscape.

In one roundtable about keeping health equity top of mind while innovating within health systems, Jessica Chao (UCSF) emphasized the importance of aligning with faculty and departments early when seeking pilots or partnerships. Health system innovation teams like UCSF Innovation Ventures can help navigate these relationships. Innovators must be strategic in grant writing in order to be impactful in this climate.

Molly Bode from McKinsey led an impactful discussion on creating thriving workplaces with the growing problem of burnout among the workforce. A standout insight from the conversation was the critical role of authenticity in leadership when implementing wellbeing initiatives and embedding health priorities from within the culture rather than treating wellness as an afterthought or separate initiative.

The Art and Power of Collective Impact

The day ended with a conversation and hands-on art project about our vision of the future of healthcare, led by Emily Peters, Founder and CEO of Uncommon Bold. One message resonated clearly: access and outcomes health challenges won't be solved through isolated solutions. This isn't a winner-takes-all market but a space where collaboration, community-informed design, systemic accountability, and even imagination aren't just ethical imperatives—they're essential for sustainable success.

Wellness 360: Embodying Health Equity Through Action

The summit's second day embraced holistic wellbeing through an exceptional wellness program that invited participants to practice what they preach. Attendees energized their bodies and minds through Maryam Sharifzadeh's centering yoga sessions, Allison Tibbs' invigorating outdoor bootcamp, and refreshing walk/runs along San Francisco's waterfront. For those seeking deeper renewal, the day culminated in revitalizing cold plunge and sauna experiences in the San Francisco Bay, complemented by a reflective leadership circle facilitated by Reetu Gupta. Throughout these activities, Hey Freya fueled participants' wellness morning with a hydration station featuring their electrolyte drink mix.

In a complex and increasingly challenging healthcare ecosystem, this collective demonstrates what is possible when diverse stakeholders unite with clear-eyed compassion, technical rigor, and determination to transform the status quo. Across policy, products, capital allocation, and care delivery, participants are actively reshaping the landscape of health equity.

Catalyzing Care: Insights from Coyote's Health Equity Innovation Summit