About

Physicians see the problem first.
We help them build what solves it.

Startup Physicians trains physicians to work in venture-backed companies as advisors and founders, and connects them with the investors who back them.

Join the communityOur story

Mission

Empowering physicians
to build the future of healthcare.

Every physician carries insight that healthcare companies need: how care works, where it breaks, and what patients and payers value. We turn that insight into advisory roles, companies and investments.

Our aim is to become the partner every clinician with a venture idea works with before they build or raise.

Alison Curfman, MD, outside a children's emergency department

Our story

It started in an emergency department.

In 2014, Alison Curfman, MD, a pediatric emergency physician, saw a problem she could not ignore. By 2020 she had built one of the first virtual care programs for children with special needs; it cut hospitalizations by 35% and ER visits by 50%.

To scale it, she turned the program into a company. She co-founded Imagine Pediatrics, which grew from concept to a multi-nine-figure valuation in about two years and now serves nearly 100,000 children. She still sees patients.

She learned the path to building a company on her own. She started Startup Physicians so the next physician starts with it.

Read Alison's full story →

Our new look

Same name. A clear direction.

Left: the previous logo, an italic serif “Startup” above “Physicians” in teal capitals. Right: the new logo, “Startup” in DM Sans with the North Star Arrow as its A, above “Physicians” in Garamond.

Slide to explore our new look.

Our new identity brings startup ambition and medical heritage together. The North Star Arrow represents direction for physicians turning clinical insight into entrepreneurial action.

What we believe

Four convictions
behind everything we build.

  1. You can practice medicine and still build.

    Advisory work, startups and investing sit alongside clinical work. They add to a career in medicine; they do not replace it.

  2. Clinical judgment is the rarest ingredient.

    Physicians see the problem first and understand the system around it. That insight is the part of a company no one else can bring.

  3. The playbook is learnable.

    Capital strategy, business models and pitching are skills. With the right structure and the right people, a physician learns them fast.

  4. Nobody should build alone.

    Peers at the same stage, operators who have scaled companies, and investors who know healthcare make every step shorter.

83

podcast episodes with physicians who build

950+

physicians in the community

10

incubated physician-founded startups

What we do

Three paths,
one community.

Advisor

Start advising startups

Turn your clinical expertise into paid advisory work, without leaving practice.

Startup Advisor Toolkit →

Founder

Build a venture-scale company

Six months from clinical insight to an investor-ready company, with a cohort beside you.

The Incubator →

Investor

Invest and mentor

Meet physician-founded companies early and open doors for the physicians coming up behind you.

Ventures →

Team

The people
behind Startup Physicians.

Tomasz Rudolf

Tomasz Rudolf — Partner

Serial entrepreneur and venture builder, on a mission to innovate healthcare. Leads growth and partnerships.

Book a call with Tomasz →

Get involved

Build the future of healthcare
with us.

Join a verified community of physicians who advise, build and invest. Free, and open to practicing clinicians.

Join for freeContact the team