Ann Barnes is a native of Houston, Texas. She is currently the president and CEO of Episcopal Health Foundation. Previously, Barnes served as the senior vice president of health system integration for Harris Health System, the largest safety-net healthcare system in the greater Houston area. Barnes was tasked with facilitating the integration of services across healthcare settings, providers, and community-based agencies. Barnes is an associate professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and maintains a voluntary clinical faculty position there. She is a board-certified internist.

Prior to her current role, Barnes was the chief medical officer at Legacy Community Health, a large federally qualified health center system that served over 170,000 patients. She oversaw clinical services (adult medicine, pediatrics, behavioral health, OB/GYN, dental, vision, and specialty care), nursing, quality improvement, and public health. In addition, she was the executive sponsor for an innovative and nationally recognized, clinic-based program, Health Leads, which addresses social determinants of health in patients. Previously, Barnes was involved in research, including being the principal investigator of a National Institutes of Health project which sought to understand factors that lead to successful weight loss maintenance in African Americans.

Beyond her work in medicine and research, Barnes is involved in a variety of community efforts. She is a senior fellow of the American Leadership Forum Houston/Gulf Coast Chapter. She writes and speaks to a wide variety of community and faith-based groups about health and wellness and serves on several boards (Good Reason Houston, Texas Medical Center Health Policy Institute, Healthy Living Matters, Houston Endowment, and the Kinder Institute).