It’s Your Life’s Work,
but it’s Also Your Life.

The Canvas 

Leadership Team

United by a shared vision to humanize the EMR experience.

• Andrew Hines

  Chief Executive Officer

  Andrew is a data scientist, software engineer and entrepreneur. He holds a BS in Mathematical Statistics and Business Administration from SFSU and an MS in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University.

  Read more

  Andrew’s entrepreneurial spirit started young. As a teenager, he launched a disruptive technology-powered surfboard company, one of the first in the world to design surfboards with 3D parametric modeling software and manufacture them with robots. He sold the company at 19 and convinced San Francisco State University to admit him despite weak grades from spending most of his high school years building a business.  Andrew excelled at SFSU and moved on to Stanford to pursue a PhD in Management Science. It was there that he met Art Norins, founder of a Nor1, a technology company for the travel industry, when he spoke as a guest lecturer. Andrew was captivated by Art’s vision, and soon left Stanford to became the company’s first analytics employee, where he led large-scale data science teams in developing Nor1’s core technology for the travel industry. After several years, Andrew was ready to address a more complicated phenomenon—human health. He co-founded a food and healthcare technology company and then was a Senior Software Engineer at Practice Fusion, where he built one of the largest real-time analytics tools in healthcare. He quickly realized that in order to build a data model that enabled a better user experience for clinicians, he needed to start from scratch with a new company. In developing Canvas Medical, Andrew is driven by the human connection, the immediate and forceful impact his work provides, and the continuous improvement in emotional intelligence it requires. Andrew enjoys free time with his wife and son, surfing, trail running and traveling to anywhere the waves provide a challenge.

  Linkedin
• Michael Zimmerman, M.D.

  Chief Medical Officer

  Dr. Zimmerman, Chief Medical Director of Canvas and co-owner of Temescal Creek Medicine, a family practice in Oakland, California, is a board-certified family physician and healthcare leader driven by his desire to improve the healthcare system for both providers and the patients they serve. He is dedicated to providing personalized, community-based, and affordable healthcare that helps adults and children realize their capacity to live, grow and be vital.

  Read more

  An alumnus of the UCSF/California Health Care Foundation Health Care Leadership Program, Michael has been actively involved in defining, articulating and leading the quality care imperative for medical group leadership and for community physicians. He was formerly Chief Medical Officer at Affinity Medical Group, a Northern California IPA that cares for nearly 30,000 patients. Michael received his M.D. from Case Western Reserve University and completed training at Ventura County Medical Center Family Practice Residency. He lives in Oakland with his wife and two children and enjoys cycling, baseball and travel with his family.

  Linkedin
• Beau Gunderson

  Chief Technology Officer

  Beau, Canvas Medical’s Chief Technology Officer, is a data engineer with a focus on health and genetic data. He likens his role at Canvas to that of a gardener, planting the seeds for new technology that helps clinicians and their patients thrive, nurturing its growth, and judiciously pruning any processes that complicate the platform as needed.

  Read more

  Beau believes that empathy should be a core competency of anyone making software. He is passionate about writing software that helps people and about supporting and motivating his team towards excellence.   Before Canvas, Beau worked with Andrew Hines at Practice Fusion and helped move science forward at Open Humans Foundation, a platform where anyone can upload, connect, and store personal data and join and contribute to diverse research projects. He currently serves on the Board of Directors at Open Humans and has been a contributor to nearly 300 open source projects. Beau lives in the Pacific Northwest and enjoys motorcycle touring, photography, and making music in his free time.

  Linkedin
• Mel van Londen

  VP of Product Management

  Mel, Canvas Medical’s VP of Product Management, is a technically-minded product manager with RCM subject matter expertise. He is a strong proponent of value-based care delivery models to align patient-outcomes with financial incentives.

  Read more

  Mel practices a user-centered approach to building products. He is passionate about building process that promotes ownership and fosters cross-disciplinary collaboration. Previously, Mel worked at IDEO as an interaction designer and prototype developer. Before his time at IDEO, Mel worked as a software engineer in financial tech. He lives in Palo Alto with his wife and enjoys cycling, sailing, and backpacking.

  Linkedin
• Saharsh Patel, M.D.

  VP of Strategy and Operations

  Saharsh joined Canvas in 2020 as a VP of Strategy and Operations. As a physician, he felt the agonizing pain inflicted by incumbent EHR software. He saw the weight EHRs were placing on his teams, its contribution to burnout, and the barriers it put up to providing meaningful care. He heard the many reasons other entrepreneurs and investors were avoiding building EHR software, but his personal experience convinced him that reinventing the EHR was foundational for a better healthcare system. The EHR touches patients, providers, and payors, but serves none of them effectively.

  Read more

  At Canvas, Saharsh is excited to build a modern operating system that equips primary care providers to deliver evidence-based care efficiently. Since studying public health at Johns Hopkins, he has hoped to restore the value of preventive care and longitudinal outcomes in our healthcare system. He believes the most effective way to influence systemic change is through understanding and acting based on the motivations of the various stakeholders in the healthcare industry. Prior to Canvas, Saharsh spent time exploring innovation at the bench (biotech public equities), the bedside (UCSF pediatrics residency), and building (VC, home health startup, Grand Rounds). Saharsh lives in San Francisco, and enjoys getting outdoors (basketball, skiing) as a set up to indulge in the plethora of food throughout the Bay Area.

  Linkedin