Chief Medical Officer (4769)

About LifeLong Medical Care 

LifeLong Medical Care is one of the East Bay's largest and most established Federally Qualified Health Centers, serving more than 50,000 patients across 15 sites in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Founded in the 1976 as a Berkeley-based human rights organization, LifeLong has spent five decades providing care to and building trust with the communities most underserved by the healthcare system — and that mission remains at the center of everything we do. 

 

LifeLong is in an important period of transformation. We are strengthening our clinical leadership, deepening our care strategy, and investing in the systems and people needed to lead the next phase of community health in the East Bay. This is a moment that calls for a Chief Medical Officer who is energized by complexity, grounded in FQHC values, and ready to build. 

 

The Opportunity 

The Chief Medical Officer is a new role on LifeLong's Executive Leadership Team, reporting directly to the CEO. This is a practitioner-leader position: the CMO will maintain an active patient panel while serving as the strategic and operational leader for LifeLong's entire clinical enterprise. 

The CMO will inherit a strong clinical foundation — skilled providers, deep community roots, and a residency program already underway — and will have the mandate and the resources to take it further. The right candidate will be someone who sees leading a clinical organization not as leaving medicine, but as practicing it at a different scale. 

What You Will Own 

Clinical Strategy 

• Partner with the Head of Strategy & Value to develop and finalize a system-wide care strategy that positions LifeLong to lead the next phase of community health in the East Bay 

• Champion a care model grounded in access, equity, and full-spectrum primary care for underserved populations 

• Ensure clinical strategy drives facility, staffing, and partnership decisions — not the other way around 

Provider Leadership & Team Development 

• Build a culture of clinical excellence, peer support, and shared accountability among LifeLong's provider community 

• Lead the recruitment and retention of a fully staffed, mission-aligned provider team — one of the CMO's most important near-term mandates 

• Design and implement a medical leadership development program that supports, retains, and elevates physicians and advanced practice clinicians across all sites 

Clinical Operations 

• Serve as the clinical leadership partner to the Head of Clinical Operations, bridging care quality and operational efficiency 

• Oversee access standards, patient experience, and clinical workflow design across LifeLong's 15 sites 

• Ensure operational decisions reflect clinical values and patient-centered priorities 

Medical Leadership  

• Lead all medical providers and a direct reports team including the Deputy Chief Medical Officers, Regional Medical Directors and Specialty Medical Directors 

• Establish clear clinical governance, accountability, and performance structures across the medical provider team 

• Partner with HR and Operations on workforce strategy, compensation, and the systems needed to attract and retain exceptional clinicians 

Executive Leadership 

• Serve as a full member of the Executive Leadership Team, contributing clinical perspective to enterprise-wide strategy, financial planning, and organizational decisions 

• Represent LifeLong's clinical mission in external partnerships, including with health systems, payers, academic partners, and community organizations 

What We Are Looking For 

We are looking for a physician-leader who has built things — teams, systems, cultures, and access — in environments like ours. The strongest candidates will bring: 

Active clinical practice in a community health or FQHC setting  Track record building and leading provider teams in multi-site FQHCs  Deep familiarity with Medi-Cal, Medicaid, and safety-net financing  Experience improving access and operational performance in primary care

Demonstrated success recruiting and retaining clinicians in underserved settings  Comfort in a transformation environment requiring both vision and execution  Board-certified physician  Residency training or teaching experience a strong plus

 

Leadership Profile 

• A builder and developer of people: you invest in the clinicians around you and hold high standards without losing their trust 

• Operationally credible: you understand how clinics actually work and have the instinct to improve them 

• Mission-grounded: you chose community health for a reason, and it shows in how you lead 

• Calm under complexity: you can hold clinical, operational, and strategic questions at the same time without losing your footing 

• Collaborative and decisive: you build consensus where you can and make clear calls when you must 

Minimum Qualifications 

• Education: Medical degree (MD or DO) from an accredited institution required. Advanced degree preferred, including Master of Business Administration (MBA), Master of Public Health (MPH), Master of Healthcare Administration (MHA), or a related field in business, public health, finance, or health services administration. 

• Licensure: Active and unrestricted license to practice medicine issued by the Medical Board of California, with current Board Certification in an appropriate specialty.  

• Experience: Minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible clinical leadership experience, including at least two (2) years in a senior administrative or medical leadership role with responsibility for clinical operations, quality improvement, provider oversight, and strategic planning. 

• Preferred Experience:  

• Experience working within a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) or community health center environment.  

• Experience operating in a unionized workforce environment, including labor relations and collective bargaining considerations.  

• Demonstrated knowledge of healthcare compliance, quality improvement initiatives, value-based care, and population health management. 

Priorities in the First 12 Months 

Priority 1	Recruit and Retain a Fully Staffed Provider Team  Lead a targeted effort to fill provider vacancies across LifeLong sites and build retention systems that reflect the culture and mission of the organization.
Priority 2	Finalize System-Wide Care Strategy  In partnership with the Head of Strategy, develop and align the organization around a multi-year care strategy that drives clinical, operational, and facility decisions.
Priority 3	Build a Medical Leadership Development Program  Design and implement a structured program to develop LifeLong's medical leaders and better support the provider community across all sites.

 

Role Details 

Reports To	Chief Executive Officer
Team	Medical leadership and providers
Location	East Bay, California (multi-site; active clinical practice required)
Status	Full-time Executive Leadership Team member

 

LifeLong Medical Care is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a workforce that reflects the communities we serve.