Center for Health Equity in Surgery and Anesthesia (CHESA)

Name

Center for Health Equity in Surgery and Anesthesia (CHESA)

Legal name

Center for Health Equity in Surgery and Anesthesia

Website

https://globalsurgery.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Global Health Education and Research Services

NAICS

Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (6113), Offices of Physicians (62111)

SIC

Services-Offices & Clinics Of Doctors Of Medicine (8011)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEDAAALAC

Healthcare Clinical Professions (CME/CE for Nurses, Allied Health, Pharmacy)

Education/Adult & Continuing Education/Professional Licensure & Continuing Professional Education (CE/CPE)

Keywords

• Global health equity
• Surgical training programs
• Anesthesia workforce
• Perioperative care education
• Medical fellowship programs

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Fundraising: CHESA operates as a non-profit organization that relies on charitable donations, tax-deductible contributions, and crowdfunding campaigns. Donations can be made online through UCSF's giving portal, by mail, phone, or wire transfer. The UCSF Foundation tax ID is 94-2829914.
2. Grant Funding: CHESA receives grant funding from multiple departments at UCSF as well as external funding agencies and foundations including USAID, WFSA, and other global health partners.
3. Program Management: CHESA employs staff for program management and operations coordination, indicating institutional funding for program administration.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

CHESA is a UCSF-affiliated academic center that delivers research, education, and advocacy programs to improve access to safe surgical, anesthesia, and perioperative care in resource-denied settings. Its core offering is an 18-month flagship CHESA Fellowship (up to 25 fellows per year), supplemented by a Health Equity Curriculum, laparoscopic simulation training, open-access clinical resources, and policy engagement with global health bodies.

Product overview

CHESA offers a portfolio of education and training programs focused on health equity in surgery and anesthesia. The core offering is the 18-month CHESA Fellowship, supplemented by the Health Equity Curriculum (5 modules), the CHESA Fellowship program accepts up to 25 fellows annually, and includes various training pathways for residents, medical students, and faculty. Additionally, CHESA provides digital resources including the OpenCriticalCare.org portal with job aid tools, the OxygenCalculator.org clinical tool, multilingual anesthesia informed consent videos, a projects database, and publications library. The organization also hosts the East Africa LAPP Lab Initiative for laparoscopic training and contributes to the Lancet Global Health Oxygen Commission research initiative.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• CHESA Fellowship An 18-month flagship training experience for individuals committed to careers in health equity in perioperative care, providing training, mentorship, and support for research, education, and policy projects.
• Health Equity Curriculum A standardized curriculum with five modules for surgery and anesthesia trainees covering global health equity, structural racism, cultural humility, safety net health systems, and anesthesia care in resource-constrained settings.
• OpenCriticalCare.org An open-access repository for critical care education materials including job aid builder tools and quick reference cards for respiratory care, anesthesia, and obstetric anesthesia, built to support providers in resource-variable settings.
• OxygenCalculator.org An open-source oxygen calculator tool developed as a critical care resource for resource-variable settings, created with support from USAID and STAR.
• East Africa LAPP Lab Initiative A laparoscopic simulation training program partnership between UCSF, Muhimbili University for Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), and Pontificia Universidad Católica, using the LAPP platform for asynchronous learning and video-based feedback to train surgeons in East Africa.
• CHESA Visiting Scholars Program A pathway program designed for undergraduates, graduate and post-graduate trainees, and faculty to engage with CHESA training opportunities and global health equity work.

Quantifiable outcome

• 20,541 DALYs averted through pediatric surgical infrastructure program in Ethiopia
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences (IGHS)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020CHESA is based at UCSF IGHS. The center leverages the institute's infrastructure and networks for fellowship programs, research collaborations, and advocacy initiatives. IGHS provides administrative support and strategic direction.
• Makerere University (Uganda)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCHESA has extensive collaborations with Makerere University including fellowship training, joint research projects, and faculty exchanges. Multiple CHESA fellows and faculty are based at or trained through Makerere, including Dr. Cathy Kilyewala and Dr. Mary Nabukenya.
• Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS, Tanzania)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMUHAS is a key partner in the East Africa LAPP Lab Initiative for laparoscopic simulation training. The partnership has established a simulation lab in Dar es Salaam and trained over 40 surgeons with 1,400+ training hours.
• World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCHESA collaborates with WFSA on the Global Anesthesia Workforce Survey, simulation fellowship programs, and advocacy at the World Health Assembly. WFSA has 137 societies across 150+ countries.
• Lifebox FoundationmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLifebox Foundation collaborates with CHESA on surgical safety initiatives including Clean Cut program for reducing surgical site infections and COVID-19 response including PPE education materials.
• KidsORmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerKidsOR partners with CHESA on pediatric surgical infrastructure projects including cost-effectiveness analyses of pediatric operating rooms in LMICs and training programs.
• Pontificia Universidad Católica de ChilecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Universidad Católica provides the proven LAPP simulation training platform for the East Africa LAPP Lab Initiative. Dr. Julián Varas leads the training curriculum development and has trained 800+ trainees across Latin America.
• Association of Anesthesiologists of UgandamajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with AAU on developing anesthesia quick reference cards, respiratory care guidelines, and capacity building for anesthesia providers in Uganda.
• College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCOSECSA collaborates on surgical training and fellowship pathways, with CHESA fellows often conducting COSECSA-aligned training in Uganda and other countries.
• UCSF Hypoxia Research LaboratorycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCHESA and the Hypoxia Lab collaborate on OpenOximetry.org project to improve access to accurate pulse oximeters worldwide by sharing data and developing new standards for oximeter validation.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Program in Global Surgery and Social Change (Harvard): Harvard's PGSSC is a leading academic global surgery program conducting research, training, and advocacy to improve surgical care access. Directly comparable as a US academic institution's global surgery center with a similar mission and target beneficiaries.
• Seed Global Health: Seed Global Health places physician-educators in LMIC teaching institutions to build workforce capacity. Operates a comparable model of long-term physician placement and training in resource-limited settings, including partnerships with East African institutions.
• Lifebox Foundation: Lifebox is a global nonprofit focused on surgical and anesthesia safety in low-resource settings. They are an active CHESA partner on Clean Cut and PPE initiatives, making them a directly comparable global surgery safety nonprofit.
• KidsOR: KidsOR is a nonprofit that funds and builds pediatric surgical operating rooms in LMICs. An active CHESA partner on pediatric surgical infrastructure, sharing overlapping mission and partner institutions.

Broad incumbents

• Operation Smile: Operation Smile provides free cleft surgery and builds surgical capacity in LMICs. A larger, more established nonprofit with a long-standing focus on surgical workforce development in CHESA's target geographies.
• World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA): WFSA is the global umbrella body for anesthesiology societies spanning 150+ countries. CHESA is a close partner on workforce surveys and advocacy, but WFSA operates at a much broader, federation level rather than a single center.
• Smile Train: Smile Train is a large nonprofit focused on cleft and pediatric surgical capacity building in LMICs. Operates in an overlapping space with CHESA's pediatric surgery work, with a much larger scale and established brand.
• Mercy Ships: Mercy Ships operates hospital ships providing surgical care in resource-limited settings. A larger, more established global surgery nonprofit with overlapping mission of expanding access to safe surgery in LMICs.

Regional players

• College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA): COSECSA is a regional surgical training college across Eastern and Southern Africa. CHESA partners with COSECSA on surgical training pathways, making it a directly comparable training-focused entity in the same geography.

Emerging players

• G4 Alliance: G4 Alliance is a coalition advocating for surgical, obstetric, trauma, and anesthesia care as part of global health. Comparable to CHESA's advocacy function but operates as a coalition rather than a training and research center.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ucsfchesa

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Center for Health Equity in Surgery and Anesthesia (CHESA)