Chethan Bachireddy, MD, MSc is the Chief Medical Officer for the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services (Medicaid), which is dedicated to improving the health and well-being of over 1.5 million low-income Virginians. He is a physician, researcher, and public servant dedicated to improving health for vulnerable populations. In his role, he is leading efforts related to COVID-19, the opioid crisis, telehealth, maternal/child health, and health equity. He is excited to learn and collaborate to improve the health and well-being of the individuals, families, and communities who call Virginia home.
He is an Associate Clinical Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University where he cares for patients with substance use disorders. Prior to coming to Virginia, he was a National Clinician Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania where his work focused on two areas: 1) improving health for populations with high rates of HIV infection, substance use disorders, mental illness, and justice involvement; and 2) applying insights from behavioral economics and clinical trial design to test strategies and technologies to help form healthy habits.
He hails from Deep East Texas, studied economics and neurobiology at Harvard, attended medical school at Yale, trained in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, and completed a Masters in Health Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania.