Some medical school graduates are bringing their expertise to the world of startup investing.
VCs with MDs have extra subject-matter expertise that can help them win big on healthtech bets.
Take a look at 17 doctors who are now investing at VC firms like GV and Khosla.
After four years in medical school — and, in some cases, years as a resident, fellow and practicing physician — a cohort of doctors are making a name for themselves in the world of healthtech investing.
For the most part, MDs remain a rarity in VC and the greater tech industry, which is quick to laud college-dropout success stories like Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, and Jack Dorsey.
But in healthcare — where many startup entrepreneurs are doctors themselves — having an MD or Ph.D. can give VC investors a competitive edge when it comes to sniffing out a new healthtech blockbuster.
The small-but-growing cohort of doctor-VCs is diverse. Some, like Chris Kager of the Global Health Impact Fund, are currently practicing medicine in addition to their investing careers. Others, like Robert Mittendorf of B Capital, used to practice medicine and are now investing full-time. And still others, including Khosla Ventures’ Alex Morgan and Galym Imanbayev of Lightspeed Venture Partners, jumped directly to a VC firm after graduating from medical school.
Even so, VCs with medical degrees all say they feel that their medical school training has been invaluable in terms of understanding a health startup’s business.
“Direct patient care gave me an intimate view of patient realities and all of the accompanying challenges and messiness that many start-ups are trying to solve,” Alice Zheng, a University of Michigan Medical School graduate now working at RH Capital, told Insider.
Take a look at Insider’s list of 17 medical doctors who are now VCs at top firms like GV, Khosla Ventures, and more. The investors are presented in alphabetical order.
17 Investors at VC Firms Like GV and Khosla Ventures Who Are Also Medical Doctors
