Brenda Spriggs

Brenda B. Spriggs, M.D., FACP, FACR MPH, MBA, Clinical Professor Emerita at the University of California San Francisco, is board certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology. She has a proven ability to lead physician organizations in achieving competitive advantage and promoting physician/hospital alignment. Her commitment to improving access to timely, quality medical care for health care consumers goes beyond the institutions she has served during her professional clinical and administrative career. She has demonstrated leadership skills and her passion for quality health care by serving as trustee/member of health care related boards and organizations and on an international level, as a Citizen Ambassador of the People-to-People Program (Gore/Mbeki) prototype delegation, charged with documenting the status of health care delivery in post-apartheid South Africa.

Dr. Spriggs has served on the medical review board of a leading online health information resource with a readership of over 1,000,000 visitors every day. The reference library is now distributed on over 120 million computers worldwide in 17 languages. She currently serves as a telemedicine Rheumatology consultant in underserved areas and as an asynchronous consultant to an enterprise whose mission is to “democratize medical expertise” and remove barriers to specialty care.

Dr. Spriggs has modeled a consistent commitment to health, environmental, and economic justice, as evidenced by her service as a Board Director of the Women’s Foundation of California and as a Founding Director of Beneficial State Bank, organizations that are effectively addressing these issues. She was co-founder of the educational arm of Newell & Spriggs Consulting, LLC, dedicated to closing health literacy gaps and empowering health care consumers by teaching the tools to decode medical jargon, decipher medical information, and enhance medical encounters through effective communication, savvy navigation, and appropriate advocacy. She is the co-author of Focus on Your Best Health: Smart Guide to The Health Care You Deserve.

Dr. Spriggs has co-authored published scientific papers on systemic lupus erythematosus and Reiter’s Syndrome and has been a highly sought-after lecturer for health and scientific forums. She is the recipient of numerous awards for teaching excellence and many notable academic honors: Mortar Board, Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Omega Alpha, and Beta Gamma Sigma. Dr. Spriggs has been recognized by Directors and Boards as a “Director to Watch” and is the recipient of U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer’s 2013 Women Making History Award.

Dr. Spriggs graduated summa cum laude from Fisk University and with highest honors from Meharry Medical College. She received her rheumatology training as an N.I.H. Fellow at the University of California, San Francisco, her MPH for health care professionals at UCLA, and her MBA at the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Graduate School of Management. She is an alum of the Women’s Director Development Program at the Kellogg School of Management and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a founding Fellow of the American College of Rheumatology.