COO
Dr. Joe Shonkwiler joined the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) as the inaugural chief operating officer in 2023. Joe previously served as a member of the healthcare and life sciences startup business development team at Amazon Web Services (AWS). In this role, he worked directly with hundreds of healthcare and life science startups from conception to exit and founded and hosted the AWS Health Innovation podcast. Prior to joining Amazon, Joe was the vice president of adoption and training at Aledade where he led national implementation of Aledade’s software and services, as well as all internal and external training on principles of population health management and value-based care.
Joe also spent time on Capitol Hill serving as former U.S. Senator Rob Portman’s senior health policy advisor. He began his career as a general surgery resident at Columbia University Medical Center/New York Presbyterian Hospital. Joe holds a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame, an MPP from Princeton University, an MBA from MIT and an M.D. from Columbia University.