KEVIN DEDNER

Kevin Dedner is an experienced public health executive with over twenty-five years of experience solving complex public health problems. Kevin most recently served as founder and CEO of venture-backed Hurdle. At Hurdle, Kevin led the company in implementing the first multicultural telemental healthcare framework, culminating in the expansion of operations to 27 states via relationships with national and regional payers, and community-based partnerships. Hurdle was acquired in the summer of 2023.

Kevin is now working with a select group of investors to launch an AI-powered platform to provide trustworthy health information, referrals to care, and care support to underserved communities with targeted priority populations.

Kevin is a best-selling author. In his first book, The Joy of the Disinherited: Essays on Oppression, Trauma and Black Mental Health, he details his personal story, eye-opening research into the effects of racism on mental health, and a manifesto for knocking down the invisible barriers to mental healthcare.

Kevin is an award-winning public speaker and often serves as a featured keynote speaker at health conferences and on panels, speaking to the research and needed policy changes. He is widely respected for his convening leadership, which has informed the mental health equity movement. He currently serves as an Optum Clinical and Scientific Advisory Council member. In 2021, Kevin was named one of the top 50 in Digital Health by Rock Health. In 2022 and 2023, he was named one of the Black healthcare leaders to know by Becker’s Hospital Review.

Kevin graduated from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and has a Master of Public Health from Benedictine University in Illinois.