UCSF Health, Kleiner Perkins, and Doerr Capital have launched UCSF Health Converge, a new health AI accelerator that brings select companies together with clinicians, operators, and technology leaders to build, validate, and scale AI solutions in real care delivery settings.
Centering on an "inside-out" approach, UCSF Health Converge will select a small number of companies annually to co-develop tools with UCSF Health experts within the workflows, technology systems, and operational realities that determine whether an innovation can successfully address enterprise-level health system challenges and improve the experience of patients and care teams at scale.
If a solution can be shaped by our clinicians, operators, technology teams, and standards, and demonstrate value in our environment, it is better positioned to meet the needs of health systems more broadly.
Suresh Gunasekaran, President & CEO, UCSF Health
UCSF Health recognizes that the health systems of the future must have better tools for care teams, better support for patients, and a clear path for responsibly using AI to improve care. Delivering on that promise requires solving one of healthcare's most difficult technical challenges: how to build enterprise-grade, patient-centered, clinically effective AI solutions in one of the most complex and highly regulated environments in the country.
"Healthcare does not need more AI tools looking for a use case," said Suresh Gunasekaran, President & CEO, UCSF Health. "It needs solutions built around the real needs of patients, care teams, and the systems responsible for delivering care. At UCSF Health, we hold ourselves to the highest standards for our patients, and we expect the same from the tools we bring into our system. UCSF Health Converge is one way to make sure that happens."
The accelerator will focus on solutions that align with UCSF Health's standards for clinical excellence, safety, trustworthiness, equity, and patient-centered care. Success will be measured by impact within the health system - whether solutions can improve care for patients, fit into existing workflows, be adopted by care teams, and scale responsibly across specialties and care settings.
The program is led by UCSF Health in collaboration with Kleiner Perkins and Doerr Capital, who will provide investment support and hands-on mentorship to selected companies. Their experience building and scaling healthcare technology companies, along with their founder networks and market perspective, complements UCSF Health's expertise in clinical care, health system operations, and large-scale care delivery.
"Healthcare is one of the most important arenas where AI can improve lives," said John Doerr, Chair at Kleiner Perkins and Founder at Doerr Capital. "UCSF Health Converge can elevate patient care by responding to the real needs of clinical teams and environments. Its purpose-built approach gives us a window into the many ways AI can serve humanity."
Built differently, where care happens
Many healthcare AI solutions are developed outside the clinical environments they are meant to serve. Companies can spend critical time and resources building products that are difficult to integrate, hard to adopt, or misaligned with clinical or operational workflows. Health systems are then left evaluating tools that may be promising but are not yet ready for enterprise deployment.
"Healthcare founders do not need more distance from the real world. They need closer proximity to the clinicians, operators, patients and systems that will ultimately determine whether their products matter," said Mamoon Hamid, Partner at Kleiner Perkins. "UCSF Health Converge gives companies that environment from the start: direct, structured engagement with one of the world's leading health systems, and a clear mandate to build AI that can move from promise to practice at scale."
Even when a tool appears viable, the full health system evaluation process - including clinical, technical, financial and compliance reviews, IT integration, and staff workflow planning - can take a year or more. Once a tool enters the clinical environment, it is often limited to a handful of settings and rarely scaled across the enterprise. These barriers are not new, and in the AI age, when the stakes for safety, trust, and impact are even higher, healthcare organizations are likely to move even more cautiously.
UCSF Health Converge is designed to address that fit-for-purpose challenge by helping companies build with implementation in mind from the start. Each project will be anchored in a real care delivery need and sponsored by a UCSF Health operational leader. Companies will co-develop solutions with interdisciplinary teams across clinical care, operations, analytics, and IT, with dedicated support for technology integration, project management, governance, and evaluation.
"With this model, UCSF Health won't have the antibody response that so many health systems have to AI solutions, because there will be UCSF Health DNA in every product that comes through UCSF Health Converge," added Gunasekaran. "For founders, building this way creates a level of credibility that is difficult to achieve from the outside. If a solution can be shaped by our clinicians, operators, technology teams, and standards, and demonstrate value in our environment, it is better positioned to meet the needs of health systems more broadly."
UCSF Health Converge will initially focus on two high-potential areas where AI can improve care delivery and patient experience: supporting patients beyond the hospital or clinic visit; and improving care delivery inside hospitals and clinics. The first area includes using AI to identify patient needs earlier, improve communication, and make it easier for patients to navigate care. The second includes helping clinical and operational teams cut through information overload to make better decisions, with applications in clinical decision support, documentation, billing, care planning, and other operational processes that shape the care experience.
Elizabeth Engel, Vice President at UCSF Health, will serve as the Executive Director of UCSF Health Converge. Engel brings deep experience across health care technology, policy, strategy, and partnerships, including prior leadership roles in digital health companies, large technology platforms, and across the University of California system.
Applications now open
Applications for UCSF Health Converge's inaugural cohort are now open. The program is open to companies at various stages, from early-stage startups to established organizations seeking to co-develop and scale solutions within UCSF Health.
