Full Name
Cheryl Rucker-Whitaker MD
Job Title
President, Central and Southern Region
Company
CINQCARE
Speaker Bio
Dr. Cheryl Rucker-Whitaker is a distinguished physician executive with deep expertise in value-based care and risk-based contracting, particularly in Medicare and Medicaid. She leverages financial, quality, and utilization data to guide strategy, improve performance, and drive better outcomes. Known for her analytical rigor and strategic judgment, she excels at solving complex business challenges and communicating clear insights and recommendations that support sound decisions and organizational alignment.
An entrepreneurial leader and operator, Dr. Rucker-Whitaker has helped launch several new ventures, including her current role as Regional President of CINQCARE, a national company delivering “care where you live” for high-need populations. In this role, she led growth and risk contract performance across Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Georgia, and Tennessee. She scaled the business from launch to $500 million, built and managed provider networks, negotiated risk contracts, and led profitability over a three-year period.
Dr. Rucker-Whitaker brings 30 years of healthcare experience spanning health services research, clinical and qualitative research, philanthropy, government, IT, and payer and provider operations. Her career has included clinical practice in internal medicine at an FQHC on Chicago’s South Side, serving as Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine at Rush University Medical Center, Senior Program Manager for Health at The Chicago Community Trust, and Chief Medical Officer at Merge Healthcare, a publicly traded imaging IT company.
Dr. Rucker-Whitaker is an active advisor and board member. She serves as an independent board member of Equality Health and Delta Dental of Arizona, Senior Clinical Advisor to BexaHealth, an innovative technology company expanding access to breast cancer screening, and advisor to Nest Health, a startup focused on maternal morbidity and mortality in high-need populations.
Dr. Rucker-Whitaker earned degrees from Emory University, Washington University School of Medicine, and the Harvard School of Public Health. She completed her internal medicine internship at Stanford University Medical Center and her primary care internal medicine residency at the University of California, San Francisco.
An entrepreneurial leader and operator, Dr. Rucker-Whitaker has helped launch several new ventures, including her current role as Regional President of CINQCARE, a national company delivering “care where you live” for high-need populations. In this role, she led growth and risk contract performance across Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Georgia, and Tennessee. She scaled the business from launch to $500 million, built and managed provider networks, negotiated risk contracts, and led profitability over a three-year period.
Dr. Rucker-Whitaker brings 30 years of healthcare experience spanning health services research, clinical and qualitative research, philanthropy, government, IT, and payer and provider operations. Her career has included clinical practice in internal medicine at an FQHC on Chicago’s South Side, serving as Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine at Rush University Medical Center, Senior Program Manager for Health at The Chicago Community Trust, and Chief Medical Officer at Merge Healthcare, a publicly traded imaging IT company.
Dr. Rucker-Whitaker is an active advisor and board member. She serves as an independent board member of Equality Health and Delta Dental of Arizona, Senior Clinical Advisor to BexaHealth, an innovative technology company expanding access to breast cancer screening, and advisor to Nest Health, a startup focused on maternal morbidity and mortality in high-need populations.
Dr. Rucker-Whitaker earned degrees from Emory University, Washington University School of Medicine, and the Harvard School of Public Health. She completed her internal medicine internship at Stanford University Medical Center and her primary care internal medicine residency at the University of California, San Francisco.
Speaking At
