Draft:Ruth Shaber

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Ruth Shaber is an American physician, philanthropist, and author. She is the founder and president of the Tara Health Foundation, a private foundation focused on gender, economic, and racial justice, and the co-founder and board chair of Rhia Ventures, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing reproductive and maternal health equity.[1][2] She was named to the Forbes Impact 50 list in 2020.[3]

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Early life and education

Shaber graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts in chemistry in 1982.[4] She received her MD from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 1986 and completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of California, San Francisco.[4][5]

Medical career

In 1990, Shaber joined Kaiser Permanente South San Francisco Medical Center as an obstetrician and gynecologist.[1] Over her 22-year career at Kaiser Permanente, she held several leadership positions, including chief of obstetrics and gynecology (1997–2003), director of women's health for the Northern California division, and founder of the Women's Health Research Institute in Kaiser Permanente's Northern California region.[4][6] From 2007 to 2012, she served as medical director of the Kaiser Permanente Care Management Institute, where she oversaw evidence-based medicine programs that translated medical research into clinical practice across Kaiser Permanente's regional and national systems.[6][7][8]

Philanthropy and impact investing

Tara Health Foundation

In 2014, Shaber founded the Tara Health Foundation, a private foundation initially focused on improving the health and well-being of women and girls through the creative use of philanthropic capital.[1][7] The foundation was structured as a spend-down, intending to distribute all of its assets by 2030 rather than operate in perpetuity.[1]

From the outset, the foundation committed to aligning 100 percent of its assets—including grants, direct investments, and public market investments—with its mission, applying a gender lens investing framework across all asset classes as part of a broader impact investing strategy.[1][7][9] To support this strategy, Tara Health funded research to develop new tools for gender lens investing, including collaborations with the University of Pennsylvania's Center for High Impact Philanthropy and the Wharton School Social Impact Initiative.[7]

In 2021, the foundation revised its mission to focus on health and economic justice at the intersection of race and gender.[10] As of 2025, the foundation had deployed over $100 million in grants, investments, and debt toward its mission and was on track to complete its planned spend-down by the end of the decade.[11]

Rhia Ventures

In 2018, Shaber co-founded the Reproductive Health Investors Alliance, later known as Rhia Ventures, as an initiative incubated within the Tara Health Foundation.[4][5] Rhia Ventures is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing reproductive and maternal health equity through research, corporate engagement, impact investment, and communications.[2] Its wholly owned investment subsidiary, RH Capital, was among the first venture capital funds focused on women's health. Tara Health contributed approximately $1.5 million to build organizational infrastructure and served as an anchor investor with $5 million; the first fund closed at $38 million.[5] RH Capital grew to a portfolio of more than 20 early-stage companies and $43.5 million in assets under management across two funds.[12] Shaber serves as board chair of Rhia Ventures.[4]

The XX Edge and Diverse Investing Collective

In 2022, Shaber co-authored The XX Edge: Unlocking Higher Returns and Lower Risk with Patience Marime-Ball, published by Simon & Schuster.[13] The book presents data and case studies arguing that including women in financial decision-making roles leads to stronger investment returns and reduced organizational risk.[13]

Following the book's publication, Shaber co-founded the Diverse Investing Collective in 2023, an initiative that aims to increase the proportion of assets under management overseen by gender-diverse and racially diverse teams to 33 percent by 2033.[8] The Collective published data showing that of $11.5 trillion in assets under management reviewed, only 17 percent was managed by teams with at least 33 percent women.[5]

Recognition

In 2020, Shaber was named to the Forbes Impact 50 list, which identifies investors in the United States who seek both financial returns and positive social or environmental impact. She was recognized in the categories of equality and health care.[3][4] In 2022, the Tara Health Foundation was honored by Women's eNews as one of its "21 Leaders for the 21st Century."[14]

In 2025, Shaber received the Elizabeth Kirk Rose Women in Medicine Award from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, which recognizes contributions to advancing the education and careers of women in academic medicine.[15] That same year, she was named the Lucretia Mott Honoree by Women's Way, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit organization dedicated to gender equity.[5] Also in 2025, a case study by the MIT Sloan School of Management Sustainability Initiative examined the Tara Health Foundation as an example of systemic investing in philanthropy.[11]

Publications

  • Marime-Ball, Patience and Ruth Shaber. The XX Edge: Unlocking Higher Returns and Lower Risk. Simon & Schuster, 2022. ISBN 978-1637630938.

External links

References

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