Carmen A. Peralta, M.D. Chief Medical Officer, Cricket Health
Age: 46
Education: Peralta received her bachelor’s degree from Rice University and earned her medical degree from Johns Hopkins University. After completing her residency for internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, she went on to participate in a nephrology fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco.
About her: She has dedicated her career to improving the lives of people living with chronic kidney disease (CKD). She’s worked to shift away from a system focused on kidney failure, she said, to one that emphasizes early detection of kidney disease and prevention of complications. For over a decade, that has included working on ways to reliably detect kidney disease at earlier stages, identify people with the disease at high risk for complications, and institute evidence-based management strategies to reduce these complications.
“My work has also improved the understanding of how race/ethnicity and socioeconomic factors influence kidney disease and care," Peralta said.
She is co-founder of the University of California, San Francisco and the San Francisco VA’s Kidney Health Research Collaborative—a group of researchers internationally known as leaders in early detection and prevention of kidney disease. “In this role, I led studies that described the epidemiology of chronic kidney disease and conducted randomized clinical trials to evaluate best strategies to improve the care of persons with kidney disease in a primary care setting.”
She also serves on national review and advisory committees, ranging from peer review to kidney health policy. She is the recipient of grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the American Heart Association Established Investigator Award, and the Harold Amos Faculty Development Award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Most recently, she was selected as one of the Aspen Institute Health Innovators Fellowship’s fifth class.
“In the last year, I have focused on designing and implementing a clinical model at Cricket Health to fundamentally change the broken kidney care system.” Cricket Health partners with payers and providers to help improve the care of persons living with CKD and analytics to identify persons at earlier stages. She leads a multidisciplinary clinical team, which includes some of the most talented professionals in the space. ”My biggest goal for next year is to expand our services to patients across the U.S.”
First job: She spent a summer as an office assistant in her hometown of Barranquilla, Colombia.
Proudest accomplishment: Mentoring students, residents and fellows with “brilliant minds,” and who are excited to solve the problems of chronic disease management in the U.S.
Problem she’s most passionate about trying to solve: In addition to fixing kidney care, she is passionate about increasing the diversity of voices in healthcare innovation. “I believe that the U.S. is in the midst of a shift in healthcare, as we transition to value-based care and the use of technology. I firmly believe that investing in a generation of innovators from diverse backgrounds is imperative. We can only increase access to care and reduce disparities if the leaders who are on the front lines of innovation represent the populations we serve.”
Book she recommends: The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen. "It uncovers why successful, well-managed companies often fail when faced with disruptive technologies, and how these challenges can be overcome."
Advice she would you give her younger self: “Have faith.”
What she’d do with her career if it wasn’t this: Turn a passion for Latin American literature into a Ph.D. and specialize in teaching 20th century Latin American novels at a university.
Advice she’d give to healthcare leaders seeking to make a real impact on the systemic problems of racism: “First and foremost, we must understand that we have a responsibility to make our world better. Many of us are fortunate to lead outstanding teams. As such, I believe one of the most important actions we can take is to give opportunities to persons from diverse backgrounds within our organizations. We must hire, cultivate, mentor and support diverse leaders across our organizations. I believe that investment in a pipeline of innovators and leaders will have a ripple effect larger than what we can each accomplish alone.”