Loel Solomon is vice president of community health for Community Benefit at Kaiser Permanente. He lives in the Bay Area with his wife and two great kids.
Q: In a few words, what does Total Health mean to you?
A: I am connected to loved ones, doing meaningful work in the world, getting sleep and taking care of myself…and that I am living in a neighborhood and workplace that supports my healthy choices.
Q: Which person, living or dead, is your health hero or role model?
A: Jack Geiger – he saw that healthcare is necessary but insufficient to secure the blessing of health.
Q: What is your favorite food?
A: Dim sum – truth be told.
Q: What do you value most in your work? What inspires you to continue?
A: It’s the people I have the good fortune to work with, both at Kaiser Permanente and our partners. I keep on learning about all the different pieces that contribute to health – how it’s all connected – and how we all have such a vital piece of the health puzzle.
Q: In your opinion, what is the most underrated way to improve health for individuals?
A: Creating “optimal defaults” to shift behavior – by using principles of behavioral economics and behavioral design. Some people are also calling this “choice architecture.” It’s powerful stuff!
Q: Where would you most like to live?
A: Exactly where I live – in the East Bay of Northern California. Natural beauty, diversity, great food, walkable cities – and a place that is generating so much great thinking and doing around healthy communities.
Q: What do you consider your greatest achievement so far?
A: First, being raised by two great kids. They (and their peers) are the hope of the world. And a ton of fun. Second, co-founding the Convergence Partnership, a group of national funders and the CDC which have really helped bring equity and multi-sectoralism into the conversation about what really drives health, and how to invest in it.
Q: If you could have dinner with any three people, living or dead, who would you pick?
A: Yikes. A great grandmother I never net. She was a card, apparently. Nelson Mandela, FDR, the Dalai Lama, Studs Terkel, Robert Reich, Khaled Hosseini.