Walt Cooper is CEO of Defiant Health, a partnership with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute with a mission of democratizing access to world-class cancer care. Previously, Walt held a variety of leadership roles in the healthcare sector, including as co-founder and president of Cortica Healthcare, the country’s leading provider of value-based autism services.

Walt spent the first chapter of his career as a Special Forces officer in the US Army. During his 14 years on active duty, Walt led troops during multiple combat deployments, taught as an Assistant Professor of Social Sciences at West Point, and worked as a speechwriter for General David Petraeus. He continues to serve as a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves. Walt graduated from West Point in 1999, studied at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, and earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard.

Walt lives in Bentonville, Arkansas, with his wife Joy, also a healthcare entrepreneur, and their two children.