Rajaie Batniji

Rajaie Batniji is a physician and entrepreneur passionate about improving care delivery. He received his doctorate in International Relations (D.Phil) from Oxford University and an M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine. Batniji earned both his M.A. and B.A. degrees in History (with distinction) from Stanford University. 

Dr. Batniji is co-founder and CEO at Waymark, where he and his team catalyze improvement in access and outcomes for people with Medicaid benefits through technology-enabled community care. Before his time with Waymark, Dr. Batniji was co-founder of Collective Health, where he was chief health officer for eight years, growing the company to serve hundreds of thousands of members. In the past, he has worked as a clinical assistant professor of medicine at Stanford University, where he trained in internal medicine, and is recognized as a CDDRL (Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law) Affiliated Scholar in the Freeman Spogli Institute (FSI) for International Studies at Stanford Medical Center.

Batniji’s research has been published in top international medical journals, including The Lancet, Health Affairs, British Medical Journal, and the Bulletin of the World Health Organization. His work has also been featured in major media, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Forbes, STAT, among others. His research examines the selection of priority diseases and countries in global health, with an interest in global health financing and the priority-setting process of international institutions. Batniji’s work further investigates social determinants of health in the Middle East. At FSI, Dr. Batniji is co-investigator on Global Underdevelopment Action Fund projects explaining U.S. global health financing and political causes of public health crisis. Batniji lives in San Francisco with his wife and young children.