Richard Merkin, MD

In 1979 Richard Merkin, MD founded Heritage Provider Network. Heritage was the first global risk medical group in the United States. The Heritage network comprises 50 medical groups, 15 urgent care centers, home health agencies, surgi-centers and hospice care. Dr. Merkin’s innovations and research endeavors in an ever-changing healthcare environment has led to the formation of multiple public and private companies. He has been recognized by HealthLeaders Media as one of the top 20 healthcare leaders in the nation, and “Fast Company Magazine” named HPN as one of the most innovative global healthcare companies for 2012. Seeking cutting edge solutions to achieve healthier outcomes, Dr. Merkin created the $3 million Heritage Health Prize Competition, challenging entrants to create an algorithm that will predict avoidable hospitalizations. The competition had 39,000 entries from 41 countries

Dr. Merkin is on the Board of Trustees at the California Institute of Technology and the Board of Overseers at the Keck School of Medicine, and the cofounder of Faster Cures. He recently developed a six country drug development program supporting the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. He has established foundations, initiatives, professorships and institutes at the Broad Institute at Harvard and MIT (stem cell research), UCLA (Nanosystem Institute and Neural Regeneration), Johns Hopkins Brain Science Institute, the Brookings Institution (Reform and Clinical Leadership for Healthcare reform), the City of Hope (Gene Therapy and Immunology), Beijing’s Tsinghua University, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, University of California San Francisco, Harvard University Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.