Ryan Darke has worked in healthcare for over 25 years, including over 15 leading improvement science. He has worked at Stanford Medicine, Kaiser Permanente (KP), The Permanente Medical Group, University of Missouri School of Medicine and Saddleback Family Medicine. Ryan coached, taught & facilitated teams across all levels and entities within hospitals, health systems & medical groups. He is the Director for Stanford Medicine’s Lean Six Sigma Black Belt & Master Black Belt Certification Programs, and Director of Education for the Stanford Medicine Center for Improvement (SMCI) where he leads the Advanced Course on Improvement Science, Teamwork Advisory Council and the Stanford Community of Improvement Professionals.

Ryan was a contributor to KP’s CoDesign and Video Ethnography methods of incorporating voice of the patient. He has acted as faculty or presenter at local, national and international conferences and trainings. Ryan is a published author in multiple journals and was selected to represent KP as the Black Belt Lead for two TJC Center for Transforming Healthcare projects.

Ryan received a BS in Physiology from UC Davis, a MHA from University of Missouri, and two Lean Certificates from University of Michigan. He is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and SMCI Fellow.