NEW YORK– Grin, a comprehensive digital platform that provides solutions for all oral health needs connecting practices and patients, announced that Dr. Kyu Rhee, MD, MPP, former Senior Vice President and Aetna Chief Medical Officer at CVS Health, has joined its Advisory Board. As a purpose-driven physician executive, scientist, and entrepreneur who researches and educates on the importance of the oral-systemic connection and dental-medical integration, Dr. Rhee will join Grin in its mission to help the general public to become more aware of the important connection between their oral health and health of the overall body and the importance of integrating oral health with primary care. All in addition to providing a safer, more convenient oral care solutions that enhance accessibility to everyone.
“Especially as we celebrate Oral Health month, we are excited to welcome this healthcare visionary to our Advisory Board,” said Dr. Adam Schulhof, Grin CEO. “Dr. Rhee brings decades of expertise and leadership in key areas such as medical device technology, strategic implementation, and, most importantly, his influence and commitment to the oral-systemic connection. His valuable perspectives will benefit Grin’s strategy of oral health knowledge, literacy and access. Dr. Rhee believes strongly in our long-term vision where Grin will be widely used to help people become more aware of their oral health and thereby overall health and well-being.”
Dr. Rhee has spent over two decades in the nonprofit, public, and private healthcare sectors. Most recently, Dr. Rhee held the position of Senior Vice President and Aetna Chief Medical Officer at CVS Health. He led a team of over 1,500 doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other health professionals in the integration and delivery of clinical and population health solutions to improve the health and deliver the “Quintuple Aim” for up to 65M people via commercial Medicare, Medicaid, behavioral health, digital health, student health, vision, dental, and voluntary health plans. This essential work also enabled providers to assure the right care at the right time through 850+ evidence-based clinical policies and activated 900+ data scientists using data, analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.
“Grin is building a new world of ultra-convenient, family-centered care, where patients can use the Grin technology to unlock powerful information about their oral health from home, and studies show that oral health can also have a systemic effect on a person’s overall health,” said Grin’s newest advisory board appointee, Dr. Kyu Rhee. “To me, this is so important. Grin can go far beyond just monitoring a patient’s smile—it can also ultimately integrate oral health into primary care and reduce the risk for potential issues relating to other chronic health conditions just by encouraging early detection and better oral health. I am very excited to work with a company democratizing care to lower the barriers to healthcare with services like telehealth, home health, and patient-centered technology that will define the industry’s next era.”
The Grin experience consists of the Grin App, first-of-its-kind Grin Scope®—an FDA listed medical device which serve as an intraoral adaptor to retract cheeks and provide full views of patients’ mouths. Under the supervision of partner doctors, these technologies currently engage with thousands of patients who provide tens of thousands of intraoral self-scans to their care teams—across the US, Canada, EU, Brazil, Israel, and beyond.
Dr. Rhee was most recently Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Aetna at CVS Health. Previously, he was the Chief Health Officer at IBM for a decade. Before IBM, Dr. Rhee was Chief Public Health Officer at the Health Resources and Services Administration, the primary federal agency for improving access to healthcare services for people who are uninsured, isolated, or medically vulnerable. Dr. Rhee also previously served as director of the Office of Innovation and Program Coordination at the National Institutes of Health, the primary federal agency for medical research.
Prior to his public service, Dr. Rhee worked as a primary care physician for the National Health Service Corps and Chief Medical Officer in community health settings in Washington, DC, and Baltimore.
