Dr. Benjamin Chu is president of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan?s Southern California Region. Kaiser Permanente?s Southern California Region is made up of eleven major medical centers, 47,300 employees and 3,600 physicians. It also includes a related health insurance plan with 3.1 million members.

Prior to moving to Kaiser Permanente, Dr. Chu served as President of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation from 1994-2005 with primary responsibility for management and policy implementation at the Corporation. Before his appointment as President, Dr. Chu was Senior Associate Dean at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He has also served as Associate Dean and Vice President for Clinical Affairs at the New York University Medical Center managing and developing the clinical academic hospital network.

Dr. Chu is a primary care internist by training with extensive experience as a clinician, administrator and policy advocate for the public hospital sector. He was Senior Vice President for Medical and Professional Affairs at the Corporation from 1990-1994. During that period he also served as Acting Commissioner of Health for the New York City Department of Health and Acting Executive Director for Kings County Hospital Center. Dr. Chu also has extensive experience in crafting public policy. He served as legislative assistant for health for Senator Bill Bradley as a 1989-90 Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow. His area of interests includes health care access and insurance, graduate medical education policy, primary care and public health issues. He has served on numerous advisory and not-for-profit boards which focused on health care policy issues. He serves on the board of the American Hospital Association.

Dr. Chu received a Master in Public Health from the Mailman School at Columbia University and his Doctorate of Medicine at New York University School of Medicine.