STARTUP PHYSICIANS

Incubator

You know what is broken in healthcare.

Now transform your vision into a real company.

A six-month program that takes a practicing physician’s idea to an investor-ready company. Cohort 2 starts January 2027

Start the application process by creating your Concept Pitch Builder

Start your Concept Pitch
No equityThe company stays yours.
6 monthsOf weekly online sessions.
3 retreatsIn person, with your cohort.
8–10 hoursA month. Evening sessions, all recorded.

Why The Incubator

Your Clinical Judgement is the rare part.

The playbook is learnable

You see the problem more clearly than anyone outside medicine. What comes next rarely comes with residency: which step to take first, who to call, how investors weigh risk, and how to move without burning savings. The Incubator gives you that path, the people who have walked it, and a room that funds companies.

The Physician founder frameowrk

Five Foundations

to establish before you build.

And the sequence that separates ideas that scale from ideas that stall.

1

Validate the right problem

  • Talk to many stakeholders before building anything
  • Distinguish clinical need from business opportunity
  • Hear “I would pay for that,” not just “That sounds cool”
2

Business models and unit economics

  • Define who pays and how much per unit
  • Build a financial model, get feedback, revise, repeat
  • Test your three riskiest assumptions first
3

Operations that scale

  • Choose your tech stack and set up systems from day one
  • Use AI as the backbone, not a bolt-on
  • Templates over custom builds at the early stage
4

Capital strategy

  • Don’t invest personal capital before validating Foundations 1 and 2
  • Know your options: pre-sales, partnerships, grants, angels, venture
  • Retain majority ownership through the early stages
5

Pitch, network and sell

  • Identify people whose feedback would change your trajectory
  • Build a pitch deck that improves with every conversation
  • Pre-sell to customers before seeking outside capital

What you get in 6 Months

You are building,

not guessing.

  • A business model that holds up to scrutiny
  • A financial model with sensitivity analysis
  • A capital strategy you can defend
  • A pitch refined in front of VCs and family offices
  • A network that knows your work
  • A place at Investor Demo Day in June 2027

What’s included

Six Months of structured work,

with the people who have built.

Program core

  • Weekly live sessions, same time every week: core curriculum with Alison, guest experts and small-group accountability
  • A curriculum that moves from validation to business model, capital strategy and pitch
  • Every session recorded

Coaching and accountability

  • Monthly sessions with a professional coach, to help you navigate the personal transformation from clinician to founder
  • Regular small group sessions for accountability & support

AI Operating System

  • A business brain that helps you build a lean, AI-native company
  • Prompts that guide you step by step through building your financial model or brand strategy

Expert access

  • Negotiated rates with a vetted bench across capital strategy, product, legal and operations
  • Operational help with pitch-deck design, marketing resources and project scoping

Cohort and network

  • Three in-person retreats with the cohort.
  • A live pitch event with VCs and family offices
  • A ticket to VIVE27 in Nashville, March 14-17, 2027, included
  • A small cohort of physician founders
Start your Concept Pitch
Start your Concept Pitch

In person

Three retreats.

Meet in person with your peers

Retreat 1 · January 14–16, 2027

TBD

Opening retreat

Meet your cohort and the faculty, and start the work in person.

Retreat 2 · March 12–14, 2027

Nashville

Market validation

Intensive market validation and business development, straight into VIVE27.

VIVE27, March 14–17 · ticket included
Retreat 3 · July 14–15, 2027

TBD

Graduation weekend

Close the program together, with the people who built alongside you.

Led by a physician who has done it,

Your guide

A woman with long, blonde hair smiling and standing with arms crossed in a hallway with glass walls.

and still practices.

Alison Curfman, MD, MBA - Founder, Startup Physicians

Alison is a practicing pediatric emergency physician, founder, and operator. She co-founded Imagine Pediatrics, which reached a multi-nine-figure valuation and now serves over 100,000 patients.

She has built companies, worked in private equity, and helped raise over $100M. She built StartUp Physicians to create a path that didn’t exist when she started.

expert mentors

The Expert Bench

of founders, operators and investors.

  • Kimberly Sharp

    Kimberly Sharp

    SENIOR ADVISOR, STARTUP PHYSICIANS
    Chief Capital Officer, Thinkhat Venture Studio. 30 years in healthcare and life sciences capital strategy, investor pipeline development, and deal structuring.

  • David Strickler

    David Strickler

    Operating Partner, Chicago Pacific Founders. CEO, Qoros Health. Former CEO of Imagine Pediatrics, HarmonyCares, and Evergreen Nephrology. Healthcare operator and growth strategist.

  • Ann Wu, MD MPH

    Ann Wu, MD MPH

    Founder, GeneSprout. Pediatrician and former Harvard Medical School professor building solutions to deliver accessible, actionable genetic insights for families.

  • Michael Fang, MD

    Michael Fang,, MD

    Founder, Ryze Health. Physician entrepreneur and former CEO of BASE10 building innovative health plan solutions for independent practices.

  • Kyle Lavin

    Kyle Lavin MD, MPH

    Co-Founder, Cerula Care. Palliative care psychiatrist and psycho-oncologist building scalable behavioral health integration within cancer care.

  • David Johnson

    David Johnson, MD

    Chief Physician Executive, Atlas Oncology Partners. Urologic oncologist and physician operator building value-based care models and oncology platforms.

  • Michael Vincent Smith

    Michael V. Smith, MD

    Founder & CEO, Marti Health. Physician entrepreneur building value-based care models for adults with sickle cell disease.

  • Sipra Laddha

    Sipra Laddha, MD

    Co-Founder & CEO, LunaJoy Health. Psychiatrist and entrepreneur building modern mental health care solutions for women.

  • Zhen Chan

    Zhen Chan, MD MBA

    Founder, Grapevyne. Pediatrician building community-driven platforms to connect physicians and improve career growth and wellbeing.

  • Dagmara Witek-Kuśmider

    Dagmara Witek-Kuśmider

    Creative Director, Publicis. Co-Founder & Vice President, K.I.D.S. Foundation. Brand and innovation leader advancing technology-driven improvements in pediatric hospital care.

  • Jennifer Miles-Thomas

    Jennifer Miles-Thomas, MD, MBA

    Vice Chair of Integration & Innovation, Northwestern Medicine. Physician executive and former CEO of Urology of Virginia leading healthcare innovation, digital transformation, and enterprise strategy.

  • Mary Minno

    Mary Minno

    Founder, Treehub by AI Health Fund. Former operator at Google, Meta, and venture-backed startups focused on helping AI and healthcare founders scale impactful companies.

  • Ty Gabriel

    Ty Gabriel

    Investment strategist and biotech operator with a background spanning venture, diagnostics, and life sciences startups. Retired naval officer and STEM education founder supporting healthcare innovation, commercialization, and investment strategy.

  • Nate Akers

    Nate Akers

    Healthcare strategy and digital transformation leader with expertise across payer, provider, and value-based care models. Experienced in strategic planning, medical economics, and leading teams that solve complex healthcare operational challenges.

  • Mary Wynne

    Mary Wynne

    President, Cardiac Life. Healthcare leader advancing public access defibrillation, CPR education, and emergency preparedness through AED program management and technology solutions.

  • Alex Dummett

    Alex Dummett, MD, FACP, ABPM-CI, CPPS, CPHFH

    CEO, Socratic AI. Physician educator, clinical informaticist, and former Kaiser Permanente Associate Program Director advancing AI-driven medical education and patient safety innovation.

  • Lyndsey Garbi

    Lyndsey Garbi, MD

    Chief Medical Officer, Blueberry Pediatrics. Neonatologist and healthcare leader building AI-enabled pediatric care models that expand access and support modern families.

  • Varun Bajaj

    Varun Bajaj, MHA

    Chief of Staff, Pinta Capital Partners. Healthcare operator and digital transformation leader with experience spanning AI, digital health, and healthcare innovation strategy.

Participant testimonials

From Idea to plan.

What our founders say.

★★★★★
Direction, momentum, and clarity on next steps — all of which gave our team real confidence. Just as importantly, we now know the right people to be meeting with to move our platform toward a realistic next stage. Everyone has great ideas; the Incubator is what turned ours into a plan.
TW
Todd Walker, MDCo-Founder, TurnKey AI Practice
★★★★★
It has been great to be part of a like-minded community, feel supported in a relatively lonely journey, learn business development from a variety of experts and set structure and timeline to launching the product.
DK
Divya Krishnamoorthy, MD, FAPA
★★★★★
The program helped me gain more clarity and confidence on where to go next and how to move forward.
MK
Marcin Kuzma, MD, FACCFounder, HeartspanMD
★★★★★
Being guided by business experts who have seen diverse companies walk the path has been invaluable. Having a roadmap helps you transition from an idea to actually taking action.
MH
Mason Henehan, MD
As told to the AMA · American Medical Association · 23 September 2026
“She’s taken us under her wing and helped build and refine our ideas.”
TW
Todd Walker, MDCo-Founder, TurnKey AI Practice

The AMA on how Alison guided three orthopaedic surgeons from a first concept to a company: refining the idea, planning the go-to-market and making the connections.

Read the article at the AMA ↗

Built for physicians

Is this for you?

ready to build a company.

Built for you if

  • You are a practicing physician with a clear healthcare concept
  • You want to build a company, not only explore one
  • You can commit 8–10 hours a month and three in-person retreats

A better fit elsewhere if

  • You want a credential or self-paced learning
  • You want someone else to build the company for you

How to apply

Three steps

from idea to cohort.

1

Concept Pitch

Tell us the problem and what you want to build.

2

Interview

A conversation about fit, for both sides.

3

Decision

Acceptance on a rolling basis, within 7 days of your interview. Places are limited.

Start your Concept Pitch
Start your Concept Pitch

FAQ

Questions physicians ask

before they apply.

  • Most accelerators take equity. This one does not. Most are designed for companies that already have funding or a team; this one starts with the idea and a physician still in practice.

  • No. You need a clear problem and the conviction that you should solve it. Month 1 sharpens the concept.

  • Yes. Sessions run at the same time every week, the three retreats are dated ahead, and we record every session.

  • No. The program covers grants, angels, seed funds, strategics and venture capital, and how to raise without giving the company away.

  • You pitch to VCs and family offices, then join the alumni community.

  • Yes, at a reduced rate. Co-founders take part in everything.

Cohort 2 starts January 2027.

Tell us what you are building.

Start your Concept Pitch
Start your Concept Pitch