Dr. Jegede leads health equity and community impact at Cone Health with a measurable vision to design the “CATCH 5 in 5” program, which aims to take collaborative actions toward community health to increase life expectancy by five years in five years. The program was prompted by the discovery of a 15-year life expectancy gap between zip codes in the communities Cone Health serves. Launched on July 8, 2023, in partnership with more than 73 community-based organizations and two local universities, the program implements strategic community wellness events through a mobile health clinic to expand access to care, conduct screenings for cardiometabolic risk factors and social determinants of health, and provide real-time care coordination with community-based organizations. These efforts are supported by community health worker pathways and primary care referral tracks for longer-term follow-up. The Cone Health board of trustees has approved $150 million in investment across five counties over five years to achieve the program’s goals. His impact extends to Cone Health’s mobile medicine program, delivering more than 4,189 clinical encounters per year to medically underserved communities. He has also led operational and cultural improvements that reduced emergency department utilization by 18.1% and inpatient admissions by 37%, and established the first transitional care clinic, which reduced 30-day readmission rates by 43% among established patients within its first year. He serves as medical director of Cone Health’s sickle cell program, as a faculty member at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and on the Governor’s N.C. Appointed Council on Sickle Cell Syndrome Services, among other leadership roles. Dr. Jegede received the American College of Healthcare Executives “Regent’s Award for Leadership in Health Equity” in 2024 and led the team that won “The Bernard J. Tyson Award for the Pursuit of Healthcare Equity” from The Joint Commission.
