Diaspora Star | Toyin Ajayi : The Nigerian Disrupting American Healthcare with Compassion and Innovation

Bold. Brilliant. Unapologetically people-first. That’s Dr. Toyin Ajayi, the Nigerian-American physician and CEO of Cityblock Health, who is redefining what healthcare should look like especially for those society tends to forget.

With roots tracing back to Nigeria and a childhood spent in Nairobi, Kenya, Dr. Ajayi was destined to think beyond borders. Her early exposure to the brutal inequities of healthcare thanks to her father, a physician on the frontlines of the AIDS epidemic inspired her lifelong mission: to build care systems that don’t just treat, but truly heal underserved communities.

Her educational journey is as impressive as her impact. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Human Biology from Stanford University, where she began developing a systems-thinking approach to human health. She then moved to the UK to pursue a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) at the University of Cambridge, sharpening her research skills and global health perspective. Driven by a desire to gain clinical depth, she proceeded to King’s College London School of Medicine, earning her Doctor of Medicine (MD).

But her training didn’t stop there. She returned to the United States and completed a Family Medicine residency at Boston Medical Center, a hospital known for serving low-income, underserved communities. It was the perfect environment to refine her patient-first approach one that would later shape her career.

In 2009, during a mission to Freetown, Sierra Leone where only 50 doctors served a population of over 7 million—Ajayi experienced firsthand the devastating impact of weak health systems. She led efforts to restore trust between a community and its hospital, and that’s when her purpose crystallized: "I realized I didn’t just want to be a great doctor. I wanted to design better systems for everyone.".

That vision came to life in 2017 when she co-founded Cityblock Health, a tech-enabled care provider tailored to low-income communities reliant on Medicaid and Medicare. Born out of Sidewalk Labs, a Google-affiliated incubator, Cityblock aimed to repair a healthcare system that routinely overlooks the poor and marginalized. Under Ajayi’s leadership, first as President and now as CEO since 2022 Cityblock has grown from startup status to a company valued at nearly $6 billion.

Her approach? Build trust first. “Healthcare disparities didn’t begin with COVID, but the pandemic exposed how deep the cracks are,” she noted. Cityblock tackles those cracks by focusing on primary care, mental health, chronic disease management, and social support offered directly in patients’ neighborhoods and homes.

Dr. Ajayi’s leadership is transforming not just healthcare delivery, but healthcare philosophy. “We must acknowledge the trauma many communities carry when they interact with medical systems,” she explains. “Without trust, there can be no care.”

Her work has not gone unnoticed. She has received numerous accolades, including:

• TIME100 Next (2023) – Honoring rising global leaders

• Entrepreneur Magazine’s 100 Women of Impact (2021)

• Modern Healthcare’s Women to Watch (2023)

• Founding 50 by Black Business Ventures Association (BBVA)

• Member, U.S. National Academy of Medicine (2024)—one of the highest honors in medical science

Beyond medicine, Ajayi has served on the board of the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center, further showing her commitment to justice, equity, and human dignity in all its forms.

Though born in Boston and raised in Kenya, Toyin Ajayi proudly represents Nigerian brilliance on a global stage. Her life’s work is a bold reminder that when diasporans lead with both vision and heart, they don’t just break barriers they build systems that change lives.