Featuring physicians and health care leaders who have built and led successful health care businesses, practices and ventures, the AMA Physician Entrepreneur Forum will provide participants practical insight into how physicians create, grow and partner in health care organizations, while building relationships with peers, collaborators and experienced leaders from across the country.
Alan Cheng, MD, MBA
CMO, cardiac rhythm management, Medtronic
A practicing cardiac electrophysiologist, Dr. Cheng is an associate professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and currently serves as the chief medical officer for the cardiac rhythm management unit at Medtronic, a global medical device company.
He earned an MBA at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and has extensive experience managing large global teams in clinical research, medical science, medical affairs and medical education.
Dr. Cheng attended Yale University School of Medicine and completed his postgraduate training in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease and clinical cardiac electrophysiology at Johns Hopkins, where his research focus was on sudden cardiac death and atrial fibrillation.
Natalie Davis, MD
Co-founder and CMO, PreventScripts
A Washington University trained pediatrician, seasoned entrepreneur and digital health pioneer, Dr. Davis is the co-founder and chief medical officer of PreventScripts. With 25 years of clinical experience, she is dedicated to transforming ambulatory care and combating chronic lifestyle disease by leveraging artificial intelligence and behavior change technology to drive disruptive cost reductions in the U.S. health care system.
Dubbed the “first iPhone doctor” by Bryan Dolan of MobiHealthNews for her early mobile technology adoption, Dr. Davis has a track record of building successful products and served as an advisor for Doximity and Healthtap.
Under her leadership, PreventScripts—an award-winning digital platform—has achieved significant clinical outcomes across a cohort of over 60,000 patients, including clinically significant weight reduction, BP reduction of 12% and A1C reduction of 1.4 points. Her passion for solving the Metabolic Syndrome problem is rooted in her experience practicing pediatric medicine in Western Kentucky.
Rushika Fernandopulle, MD, MPP
CEO, Liza Health
Dr. Fernandopulle is a practicing physician and the CEO of Liza Health, a startup building a new AI-enabled platform for primary care. He co-founded and served as CEO of Iora Health, an early innovator in primary care redesign that was acquired by Amazon in 2023.
Previously, Dr. Fernandopulle was the first executive director of the Harvard Interfaculty Program for Health Systems Improvement and managing director of the Clinical Initiatives Center at the Advisory Board Company. He is a member of the Schweitzer, Ashoka, Aspen and Salzburg Global fellowships and on the faculty of Harvard Medical School. Dr. Fernandopulle serves on the boards of the Asian American Foundation, Families USA and Premera Blue Cross. He is also a member of the Lancet Commission for Person Centered Care.
Dr. Fernandopulle earned his MD and MPP from Harvard University and completed his clinical training at the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts General Hospital.
Dan Gebremedhin, MD, MBA
Partner, Flare Capital Partners
Dr. Gebremedhin is a partner at Flare Capital Partners. He previously was an internal medicine physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he also served as a faculty instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School for nearly a decade.
Dr. Gebremedhin was also a medical director at Harvard Pilgrim Health Plan, leading population health analytics, value-based purchasing and corporate strategy. He co-founded and managed two companies in the electronic health records and online medical education industries.
He served on former Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker’s Board of Nursing Home Administrators. Dr. Gebremedhin also was a senior health policy advisor to Gov. Baker, former U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III, and U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss. He has worked to expand health care infrastructure in developing countries, consulting for the Clinton Health Access Initiative in Ethiopia.
Dr. Gebremedhin earned his MD from Morehouse School of Medicine and his MBA from Harvard Business School. He completed his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Michael Jerkins, MD, MEd
President and co-founder, Panacea Financial
A practicing physician in Little Rock, Ark., Dr. Jerkins is the president and co-founder of Panacea Financial. He also hosts The Podcast for Doctors (by Doctors) and speaks nationally educating doctors on the intersection of practice and finance.
After earning his BBA in economics, Dr. Jerkins deferred his medical school acceptance to teach middle school science in the Phoenix area while earning his master’s in education from Arizona State University. He later completed medical school at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and finished his residency at University of Cincinnati Medical Center and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
Vasanth Kainkaryam, MD, MBA, MS
Founder, 4 Elements® Direct Primary Care & Wellness Space
Dr. Kainkaryam is the founder of 4 Elements® Direct Primary Care & Wellness Space and chief medical officer of Bastion Health, a national men’s digital health clinic delivering evidence-based screening and urologic care.
He is a dual board-certified internist and pediatrician, a diplomate of the American Board of Obesity Medicine, a certified physician executive and entrepreneur.
A TEDx speaker, keynote presenter, children’s book author and host of the podcast 4 Elements® of Health Care, Dr. Kainkaryam blends allopathic and integrative philosophies to deliver high-quality, affordable preventive care. He champions physician entrepreneurship and scalable care models while advancing grassroots innovation in direct patient care. Dr. Kainkaryam, who holds a master’s in health informatics and an executive MBA, is the recipient of the 2022 Health Care Heroes Award for Advancement in Healthcare – Innovation from the “Hartford Business Journal.”
Danish Nagda, MD
Founder and CEO, Rezilient
A physician-turned-entrepreneur, Dr. Nagda is the co-founder and CEO of Rezilient Health. Rezilient Health combines the best of telehealth with in-person care through their innovative CloudClinic model, enabling same day access to both primary and specialty care at the same clinic.
In addition to Rezilient, he co-founded Schoology and has served as an advisor to Doximity, Inventr, and Enterprise Bank and Trust.
Dr. Nagda pursued his medical education at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and his residency training in otolaryngology—head and neck surgery at Washington University in St. Louis.
M. Christine Stock, MD
Managing director, medical affairs, Health2047
Dr. Stock is the managing director of medical affairs at Health2047. She ensures that all Health2047 solutions and ventures include physician input and practical frame of reference. She also leads the company’s productivity investment pillar.
Dr. Stock provides extensive subject matter expertise and draws on her perspective as a physician with 40 years of experience across clinical practice, operations and management, innovation and team building. Before joining Health2047 full-time in September 2020, she served as an advisor to the company.
In her previous clinical and academic work, Dr. Stock was a respected and effective leader in clinical practice, hospital and academic settings. She served for 15 years at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine as a professor and chair of anesthesiology. Prior to her position at Northwestern University, Dr. Stock spent 15 years at Emory University’s School of Medicine, where she earned tenure.
Dr. Stock received her MD from Northwestern, where she also completed her anesthesiology residency, and critical care medicine and research fellowships.
Jack Stockert, MD, MBA
Managing director, Health2047
Serving as a managing director at Health2047, Dr. Stockert assumes the leadership role in thesis development, investment and deal structuring, and portfolio management. He is passionate about driving system-level change through collaboration and innovation to improve the way people live and the way physicians practice in the health care system. Dr. Stockert’s experience as a physician, combined with his strong analytic capabilities and a health care system view, which was refined at McKinsey & Company, delivers a broad skillset and contextual depth of understanding of the challenges and opportunities in health care. Jack also has entrepreneurial experience building a venture-backed company, HealthEngine, global health exposure working at the WHO, and financial and investment experience at Morgan Stanley. He received his medical degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and an AB, with honors, from the University of Chicago.
Brad S. Sutton, MD, MBA
CMO, AF Solutions, Boston Scientific
Dr. Sutton is the chief medical officer of Boston Scientific’s AF Solutions division. In this role he oversees the Electrophysiology and Watchman clinical enterprises. Prior to joining Boston Scientific, Dr. Sutton served as an associate professor of medicine and clinical vice chair of the Department of Medicine, as well as an assistant dean for health strategy and innovation at the University of Louisville. He is board certified in cardiovascular medicine and clinical cardiac electrophysiology. Dr. Sutton completed his medical training at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins Hospital. He also received an MBA in medical services management at the Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business.
Sharif Vakili, MD, MBA, MS
Co-founder and CEO, UpDoc
Dr. Vakili is a cofounder and the CEO of UpDoc. He has over a decade of company-building experience as a serial entrepreneur and former investor at Polaris Partners, where he supported and served on the boards of companies across digital health and biotechnology.
He is also an AI researcher, a practicing primary care physician and a clinical assistant professor at Stanford University, where he lectures at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Dr. Vakili completed his internal medicine residency at Stanford. He earned his MD from Johns Hopkins, an MBA from Harvard and an MS from Yale.
