Congratulations to 40 Under 40 Winner: Zach Harris, Vice President, Ancillary Services, John Muir Health
Get To Know Zach:
Age (as of December 31, 2023): 39
Hometown: Portland, OR (currently reside in SF Bay Area)
Alma Matter: Oregon State University
Number of Years of Experience in Healthcare: 16 years
Someone You Look Up to in the Industry: Bernard Tyson (1959-2019)
Your Favorite thing about healthcare: I believe this industry engages and empowers the most passionate and capable people in the world
Why is this candidate a good fit for 40 under 40?
Zach Harris is a seasoned healthcare professional with nearly 20 years of experience in the industry and still not even 40! Throughout his career, he has held leadership positions in various academic, public, and private, not-for-profit healthcare settings. Zach's expertise spans a wide range of areas, including healthcare operations, health insurance strategy, provider networks, IPAs and medical group administration, value-based care initiatives, integrated health management with a focus on chronic and complex conditions, M&A activity, health equity, and sustainability. With a firm belief that healthcare is a fundamental human right, Zach is deeply passionate about delivering high-quality and equitable care to communities. Currently, Zach serves as the Vice President of Ancillary Services at John Muir Health, a prominent private, not-for-profit health system in the San Francisco Bay Area. In this role, Zach leads a team of over 1800 caregivers across multiple departments, contributing to revenues exceeding $500 million and expenses of $200 million. Prior to joining John Muir Health, Zach was responsible for the operational and strategic leadership, direction and performance of outpatient physician practices Stanford Children’s Health. Prior to Stanford, Zach spent several years at the Queen’s Health System, the largest and most comprehensive in the state, where he managed the organization’s ambulatory, CIN and MSSP strategy and operations, with a keen focus on building a robust primary and urgent care foundation. A few of Zach’s other leadership roles have been at Blue Cross Blue Shield, Oregon Health & Science University as Director of Ambulatory Care and Children’s Health, based in Dallas, TX with oversight of Neurosciences. Zach’s educational background includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology, a Master of Business Administration degree, a Master of Public Health from Oregon State University and his current undertaking of a Master of Engineering, Sustainability and Health at University of San Diego.
Explain this candidate’s professional accomplishments.
Zach has authored literature on several healthcare topics, such as health equity and diabetes incidence in underserved minority populations, the significance of primary and preventive care, healthcare's role in preventing gun violence, and sustainability, climate equity, and resilience. Zach was honored as one of the "Forty Under 40" by the Portland Business Journal in 2017. He is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, a Fellow in the American College of Medical Practice Executives, and a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. Under Zach’s leadership at Queen’s Health System, the number of providers, clinic sites and support staff increased more than it had ever in the organization’s history. In addition, he led its ambulatory response to the COVID-19 pandemic while concurrently managing a successful integration into a MSSP ACO and launching a new brand that included a comprehensive, team-based joint venture clinic, the first of its kind in the State.
How does the candidate show commitment to the industry and bettering their professional career?
Zach has championed three large efforts in recent years: sustainability and resilience, health equity and gun violence prevention. He has committed and is leading John Muir Health’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions by at least 50% by 2030. Reduce food waste and enjoy renewable and regenerative foods by 50% by 2030 and measure and monitor all scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions for the health system by the end of 2023. Zach also sits on the Contra Costa County Gun Violence Coalition, Contra Costa Sustainability Commission and is leading the organization’s efforts to reduce workplace violence prevention while sharing a Hospital’s United public awareness campaign to reduce gun violence. In health equity I know he has given many presentations about stratifying race, ethnicity and language data to understand and impact health disparities. He and I spoke about work he is doing to address inequity in diagnostic imaging faced by government sponsored insurance members and minority and marginalized populations. His LinkedIn also recently shows that he led a session at the UCSF Rosenmann Institute around innovation in healthcare’s current climate. Zach is impressive, I have known him for years, and I encourage you to add him to the list of other qualified 40 under 40 winners.
