Melissa Clarke
Melissa E. Clarke, MD, CMQ, is former chief population health officer at Solventum, embedded in regulatory and government affairs group. She provided clinical thought leadership in population health and value-based payment initiatives, supporting the transition to a health care delivery system that rewards high quality, lower cost and equitable care.
Her extensive background in health care transformation comes from former roles as vice president for population health at a D.C. based independent physician’s association. Prior to that she was senior medical director at Aetna-owned Active Health Management and board chair of Unity Healthcare, the largest federally qualified health center in Washington, D.C. Dr. Clarke has led or consulted on implementations of health-equity informed population health programs that include a telehealth, precision medicine, pharmacist led medication management and care coordination for Medicaid beneficiaries. She has also advised accountable care organizations of major U.S. health care systems on integrating effective population health management approaches, including developing effective partnerships with community-based organizations. Dr. Clarke is an emergency medicine physician and former assistant dean of medical education at Howard University College of Medicine.
Dr. Clarke is board certified in medical quality and authored the health consumerism book “Excuse Me Doctor, I’ve Got What?” During the COVID-19 pandemic, on a volunteer basis, she has spearheaded community-based strategies to mitigate the pandemic’s effects on vaccine hesitancy in communities of color, including being a co-founder of the Black Coalition Against COVID and a member of the D.C. health department’s Scientific Advisory Committee for the Development and Implementation of a Safe, Effective, and Equitable COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Program. She has published in peer reviewed journals or presented extensively in population health, patient centered care in opioid addiction, precision medicine, telehealth and health equity.
