EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc., an independent medical group in the United States and global provider of kidney care services, announced that Amar Desai, M.D., has returned to the company assuming the role of president for HealthCare Partners’ California Coastal region.

Amar Desai, M.D
Amar Desai, M.D

Desai returns to DaVita HealthCare Partners after more than two years serving as CEO of the University of Southern California (USC) Medical Group and Ambulatory Services.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Amar back to the DaVita HealthCare Partners Village,” said Jim Rechtin, HealthCare Partners’ California market president. “He brings a wealth of knowledge and leadership experience in driving growth and clinical innovation in health care organizations, including a successful previous tenure with DaVita Kidney Care leading the corporate strategy team.”

In his new role, Desai has oversight over group and independent physician association operations in the South Bay, Long Beach and Orange County communities. He also oversees national clinician recruitment efforts.

“I am delighted to be back. This is clearly a dynamic time in health care and few organizations have redefined the platform for delivering compassionate, highly coordinated care in the way HealthCare Partners has,” said Desai. “It is an incredible privilege to join this team. I look forward to building the leading medical group in America and making HealthCare Partners the practice of choice for physicians.”

Desai earned his bachelor’s and medical degrees at Brown University and his master’s degree in public health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He completed an internal medicine residency and nephrology fellowship at the University of California San Francisco.

Desai has held faculty appointments at the Stanford School of Medicine and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He currently serves as associate clinical professor of medicine at Keck School of Medicine at USC.