Yele Aluko, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of Ernst & Young LLP
Age: 63
Education: He earned a business degree from Wake Forest University and his medical degree from the College of Medicine University in Ibadan, Nigeria. He completed fellowships in interventional cardiology at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center and in cardiology at both Columbia University and Cornell University. He was an internal medicine resident at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University.
About him: As EY's CMO, Aluko helps shape the overall business strategy and direction of EY’s Health Sciences and Wellness practice in the Americas. He provides clinical and business insight and field proficiency to sector leadership and teams, making sure that EY clients receive leading-class solutions. “I led development of EY’s data driven COVID-19 testing strategy to assist our diverse EY portfolio of clients in return to work solutions," Aluko said.
He was also the lead on EY’s development of guidelines on eliminating health disparities and achieving health equity for EY’s health industry clients. He was an integral part of developing EY’s Physician Enterprise Management Solution, which assists healthcare provider clients in developing high-performing physician practices.
He is a member of multiple healthcare associations including the American College of Healthcare Executives, the American College of Cardiology, the Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions, the Association of Black Cardiologists and the Association of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas. Aluko speaks on a broad range of topics within the health industry, including healthcare mega-trends, universal health insurance and value based healthcare, healthcare in emerging markets, health equity and optimizing health system performance.
First job: “After high school, I worked as an administrative clerk in a news radio station.”
Proudest accomplishment: Being a mentor to several high school students who aspire to have careers in the healthcare industry. He also mentors medical students and physician residents in training and practice.
Problem he’s most passionate about trying to solve: “The lack of standardized approaches to data transparency on health system and provider performance within a fragmented and inefficient U.S. healthcare system.”
Book he recommends: Medical Apartheid—The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present, by Harriet A. Washington.
Advice he would give his younger self: “Anticipate failure, learn from it. Strive to accumulate more wins than losses. It’s all about playing the long game.”
What he’d do with his career if it wasn’t this: “Healthcare is my passion, and I’ve been privileged to work in it as a practicing physician, a physician executive and an industry consultant.” Outside of those — if he had to choose — he said he would likely be in health systems administration.
Advice he’d give to healthcare leaders seeking to make a real impact on the systemic problems of racism: “We have incontrovertible societal and scientific evidence that highlights the reality of the prevailing relics of systemic racism in healthcare. We must first align around this reality.” And despite the ongoing national conversations, he notes that leadership within all businesses (moral, political, societal) need to come together in order to hold the health industry accountable for the delivery of equitable care to all.