StartUp Health Launches Health Equity Moonshot at Clinton Global Initiative (CGI)

The effort, led by global entrepreneur and health equity expert Kaakpema “KP” Yelpaala, will build on StartUp Health’s health moonshot investment thesis, adding a strategic framework for supporting founders and patients from historically disenfranchised communities.

In May 2020, the murder of George Floyd sparked a global movement dealing with the ways in which society remains held back by systemic racism and implicit bias. This movement led to protests around the world and forced many companies to reexamine their posture and policies towards people and communities that have been historically marginalized, particularly based on race, gender, and ethnicity.

Then COVID-19 happened. Some people began working from home while lower-wage essential workers had to keep showing up, and got sicker as a result. Along with other factors, the pandemic quickly showed us that racial inequities in health were worse than many people thought; communities of color had markedly higher rates of morbidity and mortality when compared to white populations.

COVID highlighted how our healthcare system was failing Black and brown communities, which in turn shined a light on broader, systemic health inequity. According to the CDC (2020), the maternal mortality rate for Black women is three times higher than for white women, and Black men are more likely to die from cancer, diabetes, and stroke than their white counterparts. In a 2022 study by Morgan Health and NORC at the University of Chicago for people with employer-sponsored insurance, the overall rates of anxiety and depression for self-identified lesbian, gay, or bisexual enrollees were 13.3% and 14.1% respectively, far above the national average.

These disparities also have significant, negative economic impacts on our society. According to a report from Deloitte, health inequities in the US cost about $320 billion today and can cost the US health system over $1 trillion by 2040 if not addressed.

There are many ways to frame health equity. The CDC defines it as “the state in which everyone has a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health.” Health equity is about re-orienting our innovation and our funding around communities and people who have been historically marginalized. There are children whose healthy futures are correlated largely with their zip codes. There are women whose pain is systematically under-treated because of the color of their skin. We see pharmacy deserts and healthy food deserts. Everywhere we look in health, there are imbalances in power and disparities in health outcomes. Health equity is the broad project of reshaping our health system and innovation ecosystem to be fair and just, in the name of greater health for all.

StartUp Health Launches Health Equity Moonshot

At StartUp Health, we invest in the most innovative health entrepreneurs in the world — our global army of Health Transformers. We are launching a Health Equity Moonshot at the Clinton Global Initiative in order to build a framework that re-orients these inspiring problem solvers to tackle the challenge beneath the challenge, the social and systemic factors that drive health inequities. This transformative initiative will be integrated into all of StartUp Health’s other moonshots, breaking down silos and encouraging local and global collaboration.

What does that look like? Perhaps you’re a startup using artificial intelligence to improve prenatal care. How are you orienting your product to make sure it’s available in low-income and rural communities where child mortality rates are the highest? Intentional and nuanced questions, aimed at challenging and supporting founders early in the process, can create a cascade of impact and opportunity.

Health Equity isn’t just about addressing the health needs of historically marginalized and under-treated communities. It’s also about investing in a more diverse array of founders. Venture capital and healthcare startups are still dominated disproportionately by white men. By having too much homogeneity — by not intentionally backing founders from a diverse array of backgrounds — we limit our perspective, our talent pool, and ultimately our ability to succeed.

StartUp Health’s Health Equity Moonshot is a big tent. Any entrepreneurs or patients that have been mistreated, neglected, or marginalized in society — whether based on race, gender, or ethnicity — have a seat at this table and a voice in the discussion. But it’s not diversity for diversity’s sake. We’re not trying to find the perfectly color-coded stock image for our website. Investing in diversity of background and experience and thought, we increase our ability to understand challenges and address them in creative ways. According to research cited in the AMA In Full Health innovation report, teams with greater diversity have 19% higher revenue, 9% higher margins, and 33% higher quality patient care. This is not about checking a box. It’s about building a healthier future for everyone using the best tools available.

Health equity is the broad project of reshaping our health system and innovation ecosystem to be fair and just, in the name of greater health for all.

StartUp Health’s Approach

Leading StartUp Health’s Health Equity Moonshot is Kaakpema “KP” Yelpaala, a global health entrepreneur and long-time StartUp Health founder who has dedicated his life to reducing health inequities. Yelpaala is an American of Ghanaian heritage and sits at the intersection of the immigrant and Black experience in the United States.

“I see this as a tremendous opportunity in the US and globally,” says Yelpaala. “I deeply believe that any productive society needs a healthy population. Our economic wellbeing is tightly linked to the health and wellbeing of our population. To transform healthcare requires more diversity, equity, and inclusion in the digital health innovation landscape than exists today.”

For Yelpaala, health equity moved from a mission to a deeply personal passion this year when he was diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the leading cancer in men but disproportionately kills Black men in the US.

“I ended up being lucky that I was screened early, but many Black men are not as lucky.”

Health equity isn’t a single effort, or a slogan, says Yelpaala. Creating a more equitable healthcare system and inclusive digital health innovation ecosystem requires a 360 degree approach. And that’s precisely why he’s optimistic about the initiative.

“I am tremendously enthusiastic about the health equity initiative we are launching. Not only will we support a more diverse cadre of Health Transformers through investment, but we will also offer community support, curating opportunities for historically marginalized entrepreneurs to learn from each other and support each other. At the same time, we understand that diversity, equity, and inclusion in the innovation landscape benefits all. We will support all of our entrepreneurs in understanding the benefits of building diverse teams and how to operationalize that as they scale their companies.”

Operationally, StartUp Health’s Health Equity Moonshot will work in two directions simultaneously. On one end, we’ll look back, engaging with our current portfolio of more than 400 health innovation companies around issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. This will be a nuanced process of coaching and education. On the other end, we will look forward, launching new efforts to support entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds, as well as entrepreneurs meeting the needs of marginalized communities.

This effort will include an intentional investment model to back underrepresented founders. Guiding the effort, in addition to Yelpaala, will be a newly formed Impact Board dedicated to building an intentional and effective health equity framework. These experts, pulled from across the industry, will help break down silos and speed up progress on these nuanced issues. In turn, the diversity of this board will become a guide for all of StartUp Health’s impact boards.

StartUp Health’s Health Equity Moonshot will involve ongoing programming at StartUp Health festivals and integration of health equity within StartUp Health’s university model. There will be dedicated efforts to create peer-to-peer engagement on Health Transformer Circles and we will open up the effort to global partners. These partnerships will help us raise scholarships for this moonshot so we can invite 100+ new founders for the Health Equity Moonshot into StartUp Health in the coming year.

Conclusion

As soon as health equity emerged as a popular term it became a buzzword and a political football. Many companies made health equity pledges without a clear understanding of what the outcomes would be. It’s with this in mind that StartUp Health is launching an intentional, long-term, and collaborative initiative to provide 360 degree support for founders and patients from historically marginalized populations. This is the beginning of a new work — and a way of thinking — that will last a lifetime and impact everything we do as a company.

Want to join this Health Equity Moonshot? If you’re an investor who believes in this vision, we want to hear from you. Are you a founder who has been held back based on systemic bias in race, sex, or ethnicity? We want to hear from you.

Investors: Learn how you can invest in Health Moonshots through the StartUp Health Moonshots Impact Fund.

Digital health entrepreneur? Don’t make the journey alone. Learn more about the StartUp Health Community and how StartUp Health invests.

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StartUp Health Launches Health Equity Moonshot at Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) was originally published in StartUp Health on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

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