Michael K. Hole, M.D., MBA

Michael Hole, M.D., MBA, FAAP, is a physician, professor, author and serial entrepreneur at the intersection of public policy, public health and business for the public good. A native of rural Indiana and the son of an undercover police officer who worked to bring down the KKK, Hole is passionate about bridging racial, political and socioeconomic divides in the United States.

Hole is an assistant professor of pediatrics, population health and public policy at The University of Texas at Austin, where he is founder and inaugural executive director at The Impact Factory, a cross-sector hub for social innovation, entrepreneurship and service learning. He is faculty at Dell Medical School and the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, where he teaches undergraduate- and graduate-level courses on U.S. health and social policy, civic participation, human-centered design and entrepreneurship.

Board-certified in pediatrics, Hole is a “street doctor” onboard Children’s Health Express, a mobile medical clinic serving families without health insurance experiencing poverty and homelessness. Cited over 10,000 times, he has co-authored over 60 peer-reviewed articles on health financing and innovation, education disparities, food insecurity, emergency preparedness and response, economic mobility and more.

In 2016, Forbes named Hole to America’s “30 Under 30” list after starting StreetCred, a national organization helping low-income families file taxes and build wealth while they wait in hospitals and clinics. He is founding advisor of Good Apple, a grocery delivery company fighting food insecurity, and he co-founded Early Bird, a scholarship fund for babies born into families experiencing poverty. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Hole co-launched Main Street Relief, a nationwide volunteer corps helping small businesses survive and move forward from economic crises, and helped scale Big & Mini, a technology platform battling loneliness and mental illness in seniors and teens globally.

Hole began his career as a case manager fighting child trafficking and domestic violence in Middle America before leading campaigns to help fund a new elementary school in post-conflict Uganda; the distribution of a new food product fighting malnutrition; and an orphanage for abandoned children with disabilities in post-earthquake Haiti.

A product of public schools and first-generation college graduate, Hole earned his M.D. and MBA from Stanford University with concentrations in public management, community health and social innovation. He completed pediatrics residency at Harvard Medical School. Hole received a B.S. in Spanish and biological sciences from Butler University, where he was top student and now serves on the board of trustees.

In 2019, Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush named Hole a Presidential Leadership Scholar. He is a member of Mensa and former Global Shaper of the World Economic Forum. Hole lives in Austin, Texas, with his daughter and wife, who is an associate commissioner of the Texas Education Agency.