Summer Wright Collins

Summer Wright Collins ('06, MPH)

Divisional Vice President, Design and Innovation
C1 Innovation Lab 
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas  

Summer Wright Collins ('06, MPH) serves as Divisional Vice President of Design and Innovation at the C1 Innovation Lab in the West End area of Dallas, Texas.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas launched the C1 Innovation Lab in August 2017 with a focus to build on the company’s customer-first culture and generating new opportunities for solutions that improve health outcomes and drive down expenses for their largest national customers.

As a trained epidemiologist, Summer joined the C1 Innovation Lab to lead daily operations at this newly designed collaboration facility. She holds a wide range of experience in research, innovation management, quality improvement, early childhood education, and community outreach.

Summer’s role at the C1 Innovation Lab is to oversee a multi-disciplinary team of strategists, design thinkers, creators, behavioral health clinicians, customer service specialists, medical doctors, and nurses who collaborate and work on-site to consisetently improve the customer experience, complement existing processes, make health care more affordable, and infuse innovation into daily functions.

Prior to joining the C1 Innovation Lab, Summer served as Vice President of Population Health at Children’s Health System of Texas, in which she was responsible for the population health informatics platform, analytics team, and the virtual health function.

Beyond health care innovation and design, Summer is particularly committed to eliminating health disparities, specifically within maternal and child health. Additionally, she has a passion for growing a talented and diverse pipeline of future leaders in the health care space.

Summer has served on numerous boards and committees for the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Women’s Health, The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She currently serves as a board member of Concilio Dallas and sits on the Dallas/Fort Worth Economic Leadership Counsel.  

Summer holds a bachelor of Science from Northwestern University, a masters degree from Columbia University and a Social Innovation Executive Certificate from Standford University Graduate School of Business. In her personal time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and three children.