Kaakpema "KP" Yelpaala

Kaakpema “KP” Yelpaala is a global entrepreneur and public health practitioner with experience working across the public and private sectors in the United States, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Caribbean. He is the Inaugural Senior Fellow and Lecturer at the Yale School of Public Health and serves as the Inaugural Faculty Director of the Future of Health Innovation Hub. His work focuses on how digital technologies, policy, and entrepreneurship can be combined to expand access to care and strengthen health systems globally.

KP has founded two venture-backed digital health companies focused on improving access to care. In 2018, he co-founded InOn Health, which used digital communication channels and consumer insights to better connect multicultural populations in the United States to healthcare services. Prior to InOn Health, he founded access.mobile International, a global digital health company that developed digital health solutions to improve access to health information and services across several African countries.

Earlier in his career, KP was among the early employees of the Clinton Health Access Initiative and worked as a management consultant at Dalberg Global Development Advisors. He has also served as a digital health consultant with the World Bank.

At Yale, KP teaches Future of Health: Emerging Themes in Health Innovation, a course exploring the intersection of technology, policy, entrepreneurship, and health systems transformation. He mentors students and emerging innovators across Yale and develops case studies and applied learning initiatives examining health innovation, digital transformation, and evolving models of care delivery in the United States and internationally.

In addition to his academic work, KP is a Venture Partner at Heuristic Capital and a member of the Expert Network for Fusion Fund, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley. He previously served on the External Equity and Innovation Advisory Board of the American Medical Association and was appointed by Governor Jared Polis to the Colorado eHealth Commission, where he later served as Chair.

KP received a Bachelor of Arts with Honors from Brown University and a Master of Public Health from the Yale School of Public Health. He was named a 2023 Rock Health Top 50 in Digital Health Luminary.