Kaakpema "KP" Yelpaala

Kaakpema “KP” Yelpaala is the chief impact officer of the Health Equity Moonshot at StartUp Health. In this role, he is an investor and ecosystem builder focused on digital health innovations that can reduce health inequities globally. Yelpaala, who goes by “KP,” is a global entrepreneur and public health practitioner with a deep understanding of health systems and 20 years of experience working across the public and private sectors in the United States, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Caribbean.

Yelpaala co-founded InOn Health in 2018. The company improves access to care in the United States, using digital communication channels and consumer insights, to better connect multicultural populations to health care services. Prior to InOn Health, he also founded access.mobile International and serves as chair of the organization. access.mobile is a global, digital health company that develops solutions to improve access to health information and services in African countries. The company has implemented programs in 13 African countries. Yelpaala served as one of the early employees of the Clinton Health Access Initiative and worked as a management consultant for Dalberg Global Development Advisors.

Yelpaala serves in several health equity and digital inclusion advisor capacities. In early 2021, Governor Jared Polis appointed him to serve on the Colorado eHealth Commission. He is now the chair of the commission, which governs all health IT for the state of Colorado. He served on the Yale School of Public Health Leadership Council and chaired its Strategy Committee. Yelpaala received a Bachelor of Arts with honors from Brown University and a Master of Public Health from the Yale School of Public Health.