Startup Physicians

Dr. Mary Parman spent more than 20 years practicing OB/GYN before building a second path in health tech consulting and startup advisory work. In this episode, she joins Dr. Alison Curfman to talk about how physicians can use their clinical expertise with startups without necessarily leaving medicine or starting a company themselves. They discuss how Mary began meeting health tech founders, how she...

Many physicians know they have valuable clinical insight, but they struggle to name where that value fits outside traditional clinical practice. In this re-release episode, Dr. Alison Curfman walks through five common barriers physicians face when exploring startup advising, consulting, and industry work — from “I don’t have anything unique to offer” to “I’m just a doctor. I don’t know business.”...

Why would a healthcare startup pay for physician expertise? In this re-release episode of the Startup Physicians podcast, Dr. Alison Curfman breaks down the three ways physicians create measurable business value for startups: helping companies grow revenue, reduce costs, and mitigate risk. This episode is for physicians who know they have value outside of clinical practice but need a clearer way t...

Dr. Hilary Gallin is an obstetric anesthesiologist, medical device founder, and startup advisor who has built companies from problems she saw in clinical practice. In this episode of Startup Physicians, Dr. Gallin joins Dr. Alison Curfman to talk about the path from physician to founder, including how she started Fastline, a medical device company focused on making central line placement safer and...

What happens when physicians bring clinical insight into the startup world? In this episode of the Startup Physicians Podcast , Dr. Alison Curfman sits down with dermatologist, founder, and author Dr. David Lortscher , co-founder of a teledermatology company that scaled to hundreds of employees, served 5 million patients, and reached a billion-dollar valuation. They discuss why physicians are uniq...

In this episode of the Startup Physicians Podcast , Dr. Alison Curfman talks with Dr. Sarah Matt about building a nonlinear physician career and why doctors make powerful startup strategists. Dr. Matt shares her journey from burn surgery to healthcare strategy, startups, Oracle, remote robotic surgery, consulting, and authoring The Borderless Healthcare Revolution . Together, they explore how phys...

How do you know if your healthcare idea could become a scalable startup? In this episode, Dr. Alison Curfman talks with Tomasz Rudolf, entrepreneur, venture builder, digital health founder, and Startup Physicians advisor, about how physicians can validate ideas, identify who will pay, avoid building too soon, and choose between a lifestyle business and a venture-backed startup. They also discuss w...

What’s the difference between a healthcare startup and a physician-owned small business ? In this solo episode, Alison Curfman breaks down how physician founders can choose the right path before they build. She explains why startups and small businesses differ from day one in their growth strategy, funding needs, ownership structure, scalability, and long-term outcomes. Alison shares lessons from...

Physicians are trained to solve complex problems, but most are never taught how to turn a clinical insight into a scalable company. In this episode of the Startup Physicians Podcast , Dr. Alison Curfman sits down with Startup & Venture Advisor Kim Sharp to talk about the startup playbook physicians don’t learn in medical school. They discuss what physician founders need before they pitch, buil...

If you’ve ever felt called to build something beyond clinical medicine—but stopped yourself because of financial fear—this episode reframes everything. In this episode, Dr. Alison Curfman breaks down one of the biggest misconceptions holding physicians back: the idea that a W-2 job is the only “safe” path. This conversation walks through a practical, structured approach to transitioning into entre...

In this episode, I talk about how physicians can add real value to startups without leaving clinical practice. I break down seven core functions where we already have a competitive edge: product design, marketing, business development, clinical research, user insight, policy advocacy, and strategic advisory. Each of these roles taps into what we already know and do as physicians. You don’t need a...

Many physicians don’t fully understand the contracts they sign when starting their careers. In this episode of the Startup Physicians Podcast , Dr. Alison Curfman speaks with Dr. Daniella Dennis , an emergency medicine resident at the University of Connecticut and founder of Payscope MD , an AI platform designed to help physicians better understand employment contracts and salary benchmarks. Danie...

You already know what’s broken in healthcare. The question is—do you know how to build something that actually fixes it? In this solo episode, Dr. Alison Curfman breaks down the 5 foundations every physician founder needs to go from clinical insight → startup launch. After co-founding a company that scaled to 100,000 patients, raising over $100M across ventures, and working inside private equity e...

Physicians are increasingly exploring careers beyond traditional clinical practice , and venture capital is one path that allows doctors to help shape the future of healthcare innovation.  In this episode of the Startup Physicians Podcast , Dr. Alison Curfman sits down with radiologist and healthcare venture leader Dr. Daniel Dow to discuss how physicians can transition into the startup and ventur...

What happens when a physician decides not to follow the traditional path? In this episode of the Startup Physicians Podcast , Dr. Alison Curfman sits down with Dr. Payel Gupta , a board-certified allergist and immunologist who took a series of bold, intentional risks — from global health sabbaticals to becoming a health tech co-founder — ultimately leading to a successful startup acquisition. Dr....

What if the skills that made you a great physician are the exact skills that can launch your next career? In this episode of Startup Physicians , Dr. Alison Curfman sits down with emergency physician turned founder and startup executive, Dr. Alex Mohseni, to unpack how doctors can break into health tech, innovation, and leadership — without waiting for permission and without going back for another...

Career transitions are not failures — they’re expansion. In this episode of the Startup Physicians Podcast , Dr. Alison Curfman sits down with child psychiatrist turned tech founder Dr. Marissa Caudill , co-founder of SuperDoc Tech , to talk about career reinvention, physician entrepreneurship, and building scalable systems that actually work. Marissa shares her nonlinear journey: From MD-PhD and...

In this episode of Startup Physicians , Dr. Alison Curfman sits down with Dr. Michael Fang , a practicing geriatrician and serial entrepreneur, to explore how physicians can build impactful healthcare startups— without leaving clinical medicine . Michael shares his journey from traditional medical training to founding multiple healthcare technology companies, beginning with something deceptively s...

What does it really take for a physician to build a successful health tech company—without abandoning clinical medicine? In this episode of Startup Physicians , Dr. Alison Curfman sits down with Dr. Osama Hashmi , dermatologist, entrepreneur, and CEO of Empiricus , to unpack his unconventional journey from pre-med student to multi-time founder. Osama shares how early exposure to healthcare policy,...

In this episode of Startup Physicians , Dr. Alison Curfman sits down with renowned physician-scientist, entrepreneur, and futurist Dr. Daniel Kraft to explore what it truly means to build at the intersection of medicine, technology, and innovation. From launching an online medical bookstore as a resident during the early days of the internet, to co-founding Stanford Biodesign innovations, advising...

Physicians are trained to follow clear pathways—but innovation, advisory work, and startup leadership rarely come with a playbook. In this episode of Startup Physicians , Dr. Alison Curfman sits down with Dr. Jennifer Miles-Thomas , urologic surgeon, former private practice CEO, MIT MBA, and healthcare innovation leader at Northwestern Medicine. Jennifer shares how she navigated the transition fro...

In this episode of Startup Physicians , host Dr. Alison Curfman sits down with dermatologist, researcher, and inventor Dr. Adam Friedman to explore what happens when physicians lean into curiosity instead of rigid career plans. Dr. Friedman shares how an accidental discovery during medical school—creating nanoparticles in a basic science lab—ultimately reshaped his entire professional trajectory....

What does it actually take for a physician to break into startups or venture capital—and do you need an MBA to do it? In this episode of Startup Physicians , Dr. Alison Curfman talks with Dr. Zhen Chan , a practicing pediatrician and founder of Grapevyne . Zhen shares how he moved from a traditional training path to venture work, what “due diligence” looks like in the real world, and why clinical...

In this episode of Startup Physicians , Dr. Alison Curfman interviews Dr. Takashi Nakamura , an emergency physician whose search for a simple telemedicine side gig evolved into a fully remote, 50-state clinical career and a leadership role in digital health. Takashi shares how wanting to be more present for his young family in Hawaii led him to explore telemedicine, ultimately becoming licensed in...

In this episode of Startup Physicians , Dr. Alison Curfman interviews Dr. Jhonatan Bringas Dimitriades , a Peruvian physician whose global journey led him from clinical practice in Latin America to recertifying in the Netherlands and ultimately becoming a health tech CEO. Jhonatan shares how he navigated the challenge of learning Dutch, rebuilding his medical career abroad, and entering the world...