# Shawn Dastmalchi

> Shawn Dastmalchi is a serial healthcare-technology entrepreneur and the CEO of Gratia Health, an Austin-based startup that uses behavioral science and incentive design to keep nurses on the job. A UC Berkeley PhD in vision science, he co-founded and led Apixio, a clinical big-data company later acquired by Centene, then built Ark.one Health out of an entrepreneur-in-residence stint at Sutter Health. Across 25-plus years in life sciences, medical devices and health IT, his throughline is turning messy clinical data into decisions - and, at Gratia, turning the daily grind of a hospital floor into reasons for nurses to stay.

- **Role:** Chief Executive Officer at Gratia Health
- **Organizations:** Gratia Health, Ark.one Health, Apixio, Data Expanse Ventures, Sutter Health, Carl Zeiss Meditec
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** PhD, Vision Science, University of California, Berkeley, BS, Genetics, University of California, Davis
- **Known for:** Co-founded Apixio and led it as CEO for 5+ years; the company was acquired by Centene, Built Apixio's Clinical Knowledge Exchange, an early clinical big-data platform unlocking insight from unstructured records, Co-founded Ark.one Health for predictive analytics in value-based care, incubated at Sutter Health

## Career timeline

- **1990s-2000s** — Academic researcher at UCSF and UC Berkeley; co-authored publications and grants
- **2000s** — Senior roles at Alpha Innotech and aPeerance; business strategy consultant for companies including Yahoo
- **2000s** — Director of Informatics Business at Carl Zeiss Meditec, leading US health IT solutions
- **2009** — Co-founded Apixio; built the Clinical Knowledge Exchange big-data platform
- **2009-2014** — Served as CEO of Apixio for over five years, board member for six
- **2010s** — Founded Data Expanse Ventures, advising early-stage digital health startups in Silicon Valley
- **2010s** — Entrepreneur in Residence at Sutter Health, where Ark.one Health was incubated
- **2010s** — Co-founded and led Ark.one Health, building predictive analytics for value-based care
- **2023** — Joined Gratia Health as CEO (late 2023 / February 2024), leading nurse retention platform

## Achievements

- Co-founded Apixio and led it as CEO for 5+ years; the company was acquired by Centene
- Built Apixio's Clinical Knowledge Exchange, an early clinical big-data platform unlocking insight from unstructured records
- Co-founded Ark.one Health for predictive analytics in value-based care, incubated at Sutter Health
- Founded Data Expanse Ventures to advise early-stage digital health startups
- Scaled Gratia Health to deployments across roughly 81 hospitals
- Reported 5x higher likelihood of nurse retention for engaged tier users and 10-15x ROI for health systems

## Latest updates

- **2024-02** — Took the helm as CEO of Gratia Health, leading its behavioral-science-driven nurse retention platform.
- **2025-02** — Posted about Gratia's team demonstrating product results, signaling continued platform 2.0 expansion into preceptor incentives and career pathways.

## Links

- Website: https://gratiahealth.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawndastmalchi/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/sdastmalchi
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gratia.health

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/shawn-dastmalchi
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-21