Name: Cheryl Pegus
Previous title: Walmart EVP of Health and Wellness
New title: Managing director, Morgan Health
Walmart healthcare executive Pegus is joining Morgan Health as a managing director to support its strategic investments starting Monday.
Pegus will help inform Morgan Health’s focus on population-based health initiatives, including investing and scaling new care delivery models, along with work on addressing gaps in mental and behavioral health, diabetes, heart disease and other chronic conditions, according to a Monday release.
Morgan Health launched in 2021 with $250 million to invest in healthcare innovations in employer coverage and benefits for JPMorgan Chase’s employees and the 150 million Americans who receive health insurance through their employer.
Many are skeptical of efforts from major employers to disrupt the healthcare industry. Similar attempts have publicly crashed and burned in the past, facing roadblocks in the industry like entrenched health insurer business models. However, Morgan Health maintains its narrow focus on primary care, digital medicine and targeted population interventions should help it move the needle on employer health costs.
To date, Morgan Health has deployed $105 million in four early-stage companies.
Its first investment was $50 million in value-based primary care company Vera Whole Health in August of last year. In 2022 so far, Morgan Health has invested $5 million in healthcare navigation startup Embold Health; $30 million in plan administrator Centivo in July; and $20 million in home diagnostics company LetsGetChecked in September.
Pegus joins Morgan Health from Walmart. Over her two-year tenure at the retail giant, Pegus launched consumer health programs like the rollout of a low-cost private brand analog insulin; worked to expand Walmart’s retail health center network across major markets; and oversaw the company’s pandemic response, including COVID-19 vaccine administration.
The executive has also worked at Cambia Health Solutions, Walgreens, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Aetna.
Pegus, a cardiologist, will continue to serve as a senior adviser to Walmart, and will also be joining Atria, a physician-owned organization of heart specialists.
