CHCF head to step down

Mark D. Smith, MD, MBA, who has led the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) since its founding in 1996, plans to step down as president and CEO at the end of year.

During his tenure, Smith focused CHCF on catalyzing efforts to improve healthcare quality, promote greater access and reduce the cost of care for the state's most vulnerable and underserved residents. The Oakland-based philanthropy makes grants totaling approximately $37 million annually from a fund of $700 million.

Under Smith's leadership, CHCF focused on improving the way healthcare is delivered and financed in California through a number of initiatives, such as promoting research, policy analysis and transparency, training new leaders, fostering innovation, modernizing enrollment and supporting healthcare reporting.

Smith was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 2001 and recently completed service as the chair of an Institute of Medicine committee on The Learning Health Care System in America, which issued its report Best Care at Lower Cost in September 2012.

Smith, 61, will continue his work as a member of the clinical faculty at the University of California, San Francisco, and as an attending physician at the Positive Health Program for AIDS Care at San Francisco General Hospital, where he has practiced since 1992, including during his tenure at CHCF.