Bio & path.
Toyin Ajayi is a board-certified family physician and the co-founder/CEO of Cityblock Health, a Brooklyn-based, value-based care provider built expressly for Medicaid and dually eligible (Medicare + Medicaid) members — people who have historically been underserved and who shoulder a disproportionate share of complex medical, behavioral, and social needs. Before Cityblock, Ajayi served as Chief Medical Officer at Commonwealth Care Alliance, where she led clinical programs for some of the country’s most medically fragile patients. In 2022, Cityblock’s board named her CEO, formalizing the leadership role she had already been playing as president and co-founder.
What she’s building.
Cityblock’s model wraps primary care, behavioral health, and social care around each member — in clinics, at home, and virtually — and takes financial risk for outcomes. That means Cityblock is paid a fixed amount per member from Medicaid managed-care plans; the company succeeds only if it improves health and reduces avoidable hospital use. The thesis is simple but hard to execute: build long-trusted relationships and design care around real-world barriers — transportation, food, housing, trauma — while keeping quality and total cost of care in view. Ajayi has emphasized in interviews that trust is the most undervalued driver of health; the business therefore invests in community-based teams who can spend time with members and earn that trust.
Why now.
In 2021, Cityblock raised a $400M round led by SoftBank at a $5.7B valuation — unusual for a company focused on Medicaid populations — to scale its model nationally. Since then, the company has continued announcing growth moves and collaborations, including a November 2025 strategic alignment with Mercy Health to serve Medicaid members in Ohio, where Cityblock provides “care-extension” services to complement Mercy’s primary-care network. Industry trackers peg total funds raised near $900M as the company expands across states and health-plan partners.
Recent signals & impact.
In late 2025, Cityblock surfaced new survey data with Ipsos highlighting the challenges of “dual-eligible” beneficiaries — people covered by both Medicare and Medicaid — underscoring the care-coordination gaps Ajayi’s teams are built to close. And the company continues to appear on payer and provider radars as a partner for high-need populations, even amid policy volatility around Medicaid funding and eligibility. Ajayi’s ongoing media and conference presence keeps the focus on scale: how do you build a profitable business by delivering better care to the hardest-to-serve patients?
