Casey KirkHart, D.O

Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Casey KirkHart, D.O. is a board-certified, Spanish-speaking family physician and innovative healthcare leader with over two decades of experience advancing health justice, systems design, and community-based primary care. As Chief Medical Officer of Santa Cruz Community Health, he led the transformation of a small clinic network into a thriving, multi-site Federally Qualified Health Center system serving over 13,000 patients annually. Under his leadership, the organization launched new service lines in behavioral health, addiction treatment, acupuncture and Chinese medicine, and pain management, and implemented structural reforms that strengthened quality, safety, staff engagement, and leadership development. 

Dr. KirkHart serves as Founding Faculty and Director of Community Impact for the Morehouse School of Medicine Dominican Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program, a first in Santa Cruz County. There, he helped design and launch the residency in partnership with national and local partners including Morehouse School of Medicine, CommonSpirit Health, Dominican Hospital, and Santa Cruz Community Health and created a model for community-based medical education and workforce development in a historically underserved region. 

Dr. KirkHart’s career reflects a lifelong commitment to service and social justice, including his work as the 2004 Jack Rutledge Fellow at the American Medical Student Association where he led national advocacy on universal healthcare and global AIDS policy, and as a 2020 Health Care Leadership Fellow at the California Health Care Foundation. A graduate of UC Berkeley and the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, he completed residency and fellowship training at Harbor-UCLA Family Medicine. Known for his engaging public speaking and collaborative leadership, he champions joy in medicine, clinician well-being, and equitable access to high quality, evidence-based care. 

Outside of medicine, Dr. KirkHart is an avid trail runner, surfer, sci-fi buff, and self-proclaimed “recovering vegetable-oil car mechanic.” He lives in Santa Cruz, California, where he is a “teen dad” and remains deeply connected to the communities and natural beauty that inspire his work.