LOS ANGELES – The California Endowment today announced the election of Kiah Williams, co-founder of SIRUM, a 501(c)3 social venture solving America’s high drug cost problem, and Michele Siqueiros, president for The Campaign for College Opportunity, which seeks to increase college going and completion rates in California, to its board of directors.

“We at The California Endowment are excited to have these two social justice leaders join the board,” said Robert K. Ross, MD, president and CEO of The California Endowment. “Both of these individuals’ creative approaches to help achieve equity in education and health care will further strengthen the guidance of the board as we prepare to embark on our next 10-year plan to build racial equity in health.”

As founder of SIRUM, Williams works to bring unused, surplus drugs and seamlessly deliver them to working poor families, using technology to democratize access. Since its founding, SIRUM has helped redistribute more than 750,000 prescriptions worth over $66 million to people across five states.

Williams has been recognized for her work at SIRUM as both a Forbes 30-Under-30 Social Entrepreneur standout and Outstanding Alumni, Silicon Valley Business Journal 40-Under-40, Draper Richards Kaplan Entrepreneur, Grinnell College Young Innovator for Social Justice Prize, and inaugural Westly Foundation Social Innovator.

As the President for The Campaign for College Opportunity, Siqueiros is an advocate who works to expand college access and success for California students by raising public attention to the critical challenges facing students in California’s community colleges and universities, mobilizing a broad coalition of supporters, and influencing policymakers.

Under her leadership in 2010, the Campaign led the effort for historic transfer reform that makes it easier for students to transfer from any California Community College to the California State University system through the Associate Degree for Transfer. Over 217,000 California students have earned the degree and in 2018 the University of California announced a formal MOU with the California Community College system to provide a UC guarantee for Associate Degree for Transfer earners.

The California Endowment, a private, statewide health foundation, was established in 1996 to expand access to, quality health care for underserved individuals and communities, and to promote fundamental affordable improvements in the health status of all Californians. The Endowment challenges the conventional wisdom that medical settings and individual choices are solely responsible for people’s health. At its core, The Endowment believes that health happens in neighborhoods, schools, and with prevention.