
Kavitha Bhatia, MD, MMM, FAAP
Chair and President, Prime Healthcare Foundation
Chief Medical Officer of Strategy
Kavitha Bhatia, MD, is the Chair and President of the Prime Healthcare
Foundation, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity dedicated to improving
healthcare through its hospitals and educational and charitable initiatives.
Fifteen of Prime Healthcare’s 46 hospitals are members of the Prime
Healthcare Foundation and provide millions of dollars annually in quality
healthcare, philanthropy and community service. The Prime Healthcare Foundation,
through a $60 million donation, established the California University
of Science and Medicine (CUSM), a private, non-profit medical school in
Southern California in 2018 with a mission to advance medicine, improve
the health of communities and inspire service in underserved areas. Dr.
Bhatia serves as Founding Vice Chair of the CUSM Board of Trustees. She
also serves as a member of the Board of the California Hospital Association (CHA).
In addition to her role as Chair of the Prime Healthcare Foundation, Dr.
Bhatia also serves as the Chief Medical Officer of Strategy for Prime
Healthcare, one of the nation’s largest health systems, where she
leads strategic innovation, system-wide value creation and excellence
initiatives. Dr. Bhatia was recognized among the “100 CMOs to Know”
in Becker’s Hospital Review in 2020, and selected for the Los Angeles
Business Journal's prestigious "Top Women Leaders in Healthcare" in 2020.
Committed to improving the health and lives of others, Dr. Bhatia is a
dedicated philanthropist. Her experiences have been broad, caring for
the sick and dying in the slums of Calcutta to teaching inner city youth.
For her work with the Missionaries of Charity, Dr. Bhatia was awarded
a Miraculous Medallion with Mother Teresa. She has served in advisory
roles for national and global causes such as the World Children’s
Initiative and Project Heart Uganda. Dr. Bhatia is also the Executive
Director of the Dr. Prem Reddy Family Foundation, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit
charitable organization dedicated to improving healthcare and providing
educational opportunities which include annual scholarship programs for
underserved students and educational grants.
Dr. Bhatia graduated as a Phi Beta Kappa scholar with a Bachelor of Science
in Physiology and Neuroscience from the University of California, San
Diego. She earned her medical degree from the UCLA School of Medicine,
graduating with Honors and Letters of Distinction in Doctoring. Dr. Bhatia
also holds a Certificate in Healthcare Strategy from Harvard Business
School and has earned a Masters of Medical Management from the USC Marshall
School of Business. Dr. Bhatia is a Fellow of the American Academy of
Pediatrics and has been a scholar at world-renowned institutions such
as Mass General, Boston Children’s Hospital and the All India Institute
of Medicine.