Biography
Chief Executive Officer, Health Trust
Dr. Anthony “Tony” Iton is a physician, attorney, public health leader, and nationally recognized advocate for health equity. Over a career spanning more than 30 years, Dr. Iton has tackled systemic barriers to health and championed community-led solutions to address inequities.
At The California Endowment, he served as Senior Vice President for Healthy Communities, leading the landmark $2 billion, 10-year Building Healthy Communities initiative—one of the largest philanthropic efforts of its kind in the nation. His visionary leadership focused on empowering marginalized communities, shifting policy systems, and reimagining public health practices.
Previously, Dr. Iton served as Director and Health Officer for the Alameda County Public Health Department. There, he pioneered innovative strategies to address social determinants of health and co-authored research demonstrating how ZIP codes predict life expectancy more than genetic codes.
Dr. Iton holds an MD from Johns Hopkins University, a JD and MPH from UC Berkeley, and a BS in Neurophysiology from McGill University. He is a Lecturer of Health Policy and Management at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health and serves on the boards of national organizations focused on health equity, including the Public Health Institute and Prevention Institute.
Q&A
What inspires you in your work?
I am passionate about the need to eliminate health inequities; that goal has been a constant throughout my career. I believe the only way to achieve sustainable progress is by designing intensive, place-conscious interventions that draw on existing assets and build social, political, and economic power among residents of under-resourced communities.
If you could change one thing about medical education, what would it be?
I would help medical students gain deeper insight into their patients’ lives by participating in patient home visits and ambulance ride-alongs. Once students had participated in 50 home visits and ambulance rides, I’d ask them to write assessments of the social conditions their patients face and the policies they see as barriers to their patients’ health and opportunity.
What life experience has taught or changed you the most?
My older brother died from leukemia at the age of 51. It was a shock to our family, and we are changed as a result. I have learned not to take things for granted and that humans are fragile and ultimately mortal. It also taught me to question conventional wisdom and to pursue fundamental change with an urgency that’s tempered by realism.
What’s your most annoying habit?
I am impatient and sometimes I reveal my impatience at times when I should probably disguise it.
