Children’s Hospital Los Angeles has named its first chief innovation officer. Omkar P. Kulkarni was previously executive director of the Cedars-Sinai Accelerator powered by Techstars, where he helped build and launch the accelerator program.
In his new role, Kulkarni will be responsible for fostering innovation across CHLA’s clinical and research enterprises – including finding successful new methods of care, incubating new medical tools and software, and rallying communities in and out of the hospital to solve problems in the field of pediatrics – all with the goal of enhancing the experience and outcomes for the children and families CHLA serves.
Kulkarni also will work with the Consortium for Technology and Innovation in Pediatrics, which CHLA established in 2011 with the University of Southern California, to support and accelerate development and commercialization of medical devices and technology geared specifically to help vulnerable pediatric populations.
In his role at Cedars-Sinai, he evaluated more than 3,000 health care start-ups and provided extensive mentoring, serving as the main liaison between the start-up community and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Kulkarni also led the performance improvement department at Cedars-Sinai for many years and has experience in financial process redesign at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
“In our never-ending pursuit to create hope and build healthier futures for our patients, it’s crucial that we stay on the cutting edge of technology and new ideas that improve the quality care our patients receive,” said Jim Stein, M.D., senior vice president and chief medical officer, in a prepared statement. “Omkar Kulkarni has his eye on the constantly evolving arena of clinical health care and can help lead the innovation that makes CHLA the pediatric health system of choice.”
Kulkarni has a master’s degree in public health and health care management from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from George Washington University.
