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.