Board Member

Distinguished Professor & Founding Director Social Innovation and Urban Opportunity Lab (SOULLAB.co), University of California, San Francisco & SFSU
Co-Founder Streetwyze.com
Co-Founder ISEEED.org

Dr. Antwi Akom is an urban technologist with an extensive background in collaborative, community-facing technology projects, designing for the public good, human center design, and developing new models of urban innovation in the 21st century that make cities smarter, more equitable, just and sustainable.

Currently, Dr. Akom is a Distinguished Professor and Founding Director of the Social Innovation and Urban Opportunity Lab (SOUL) a joint research lab between the University of California, San Francisco and SFSU that focuses on demystifying planning processes and integrating Community driven-data with Big Data, participatory technologies, data visualization, and addressing equity mapping, metrics, and stories that are relevant to local communities.  Dr. Akom is also a faculty affiliate with the Center for Vulnerable Population located at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, where he researches and deploys new health information communication technologies that improve data literacy, health care delivery, and promote equitable community development with vulnerable populations.

Prior to joining UCSF/CVP in 2016, Dr. Akom Co-founded and launched a series of technology startups in the San Francisco Bay area, including Streetwyze, which has been recognized and/or collaborated with Google, Aclima, The Obama administration, Race Forward/The Center for Social Inclusion, PolicyLink, EcoDistricts, Mithun, Perkins + Will, the Movement Strategies Center, Iron Bound Community Corp, Enterprise Community partners, Countless grassroots organizations, and the Rockefeller Foundations 100 Resilient Cities to name a few.  

Dr. Akom’s work has also been featured in award winning publications such as: the Atlantic’s City lab, The Root, Tech Republic, Green Biz, Tech Crunch, and was recently named by PolicyLink as one of the top new health equity tools and mobile platforms designed to build power and self-determination with vulnerable populations.  His most recent TEDx Talk is called Innovation Out of Poverty.

He holds a B.A. from U.C. Berkeley, M.A. from Stanford University, and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.