Dr. Z. Colette Edwards is a passionate Ivy League-trained physician who began her career providing care and serving as the associate medical director of a large multi-site, multispecialty medical group. She is the author of Be Less Stressed, co-author of Navigating Your Healthcare Journey: Lessons Learned to Get the Care You Need and Deserve, and the Managing Editor of the Wharton Healthcare Quarterly.
Award-winning programs have been designed and implemented in her work and under her leadership, one of which received a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
With a comprehensive background spanning patient care as a practicing physician, the management of a multispecialty medical practice, healthcare consulting, integrative coaching, and expertise in health disparities, she offers medical and business acumen which provide invaluable insights that help put the “health” back into healthcare and drive holistic, compassionate, transformative action that is focused on the whole person.
For almost a decade at a Fortune 50 healthcare company, she provided clinical leadership and spearheaded innovative initiatives to increase preventive care utilization, optimize health, enhance employee well-being, close care gaps and reduce health disparities, and keep people safe during the COVID pandemic. In addition, she focused on providing employees with resources to build self-advocacy skills and educational opportunities to help them become well-informed, empowered healthcare consumers.
As CEO of Insight MD, her healthcare consultancy navigates clients through the complexities of healthcare, leveraging her expertise to foster innovation and competitive advantage.
She has recently launched a multidisciplinary, omnichannel program (currently in beta) to help women navigate the menopause journey and live their best lives, both now and in the vibrant years that lie ahead.
Her multifaceted roles as a clinician, business executive, coach, and advocate converge to pioneer holistic approaches to healthcare, which epitomizes her commitment to fostering well-being in diverse settings.
Recent work experience:
- Medical Consultant at Humana
- Corporate Medical Executive, Associate Health and Well-Being at Humana
- Faculty Member, Population Health Leadership Series at Jefferson University College of Population Health
- CEO at Insight MD
- COVID-19 Content Contributor and Long COVID Speaker for the Harvard Alumni/ae Community Helps (HACH) Initiative
Education:
- Harvard University, Bachelor of Arts (BA), concentration in biology with a minor in economics.
- The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Doctor of Medicine (MD)
- The Wharton School, Master of Business Administration (MBA)
- Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Internal Medicine Resident
- University of California, San Francisco, Clinical Gastroenterology Fellow
- Maryland University of Integrative Health (formerly Tai Sophia Institute), Graduate Certificate in Health and Wellness Coaching
- National Institutes of Health, Scholar Program in Translational Health Disparities