After a short hiatus, the Scrub Capital newsletter is back as “The Differential”.
As part of our relaunch, alongside firm updates we will begin amplifying the diverse perspectives within the now 1,000+ member community of portfolio companies, clinicians, and builders that make up the Scrub Collaborative. This quarter, we profiled Dr. Quinn Wang, Founder and CEO of Doctors in Network.
We have big plans for The Differential. This isn’t going to be another industry roundup. We want this to become one of the most impactful newsletters in digital health, and the reason it will get there is because of all of you. We’re looking for writers for the next edition. We’re interested in your best writing on digital health, healthcare transformation, workflow redesign, care delivery reengineering, and topics you’re passionate about in this dynamic and exciting time in healthcare innovation.
Andrew Schutzbank is already lined up with a piece on his digital twin creation, the Schutzduck, which is live now. Right now, The Differential is small and growing, and one day it will be mighty because of contributions from our incredible community.
We wish you all a warm and rejuvenating Thanksgiving holiday, thank you for being part of Scrub Capital!
Scrub Capital CoFounders and GPs Dr. Rebecca Mitchell, Christina Farr, and Dr. Jon Slotkin
Scrub Capital Updates
A big Scrub Capital thank you to Doximity
We’re excited to share a new strategic sponsorship from Doximity to expand opportunities for clinicians to build, invest, and lead in this era of human x machine in medicine. The partnership will fund a Scrub Capital–Doximity Venture Fellow, community tools for scale, and expanded programming to upskill clinicians as investors and builders. It will also support more in-person gatherings, starting with the co-hosted walk at HLTH (see below). As Doximity CEO Jeff Tangney shared, “Scrub Capital is mobilizing clinician expertise at scale, and we’re proud to support it.” Announcement here.
HLTH
It was a joy to see so many of you in person at HLTH! Scrub Capital took a prominent place on stage and in side events.
→ Scrub Capital and Offcall hosted an intimate breakfast celebrating the power of clinician storytelling. Christina Farr, Scrub Capital GP and author of The Storyteller’s Advantage, and Dr. Graham Walker, founder of Offcall, led a conversation on how clinician narratives can shape innovation, trust, and connection in healthcare.
→ Dr. Rebecca Mitchell, Scrub Capital’s Managing Partner, took to a main stage and answered questions about building a new fund model and working with VCs. Later she joined top VCs from General Catalyst, Atlantic Health Systems, and HealthX Ventures on a panel and shared our bias for mission driven, gritty founders focused on long term impact.
→ Scrub Capital and Doximity launched our relationship with a co-hosted networking walk. Over 100 participants showed up this year to start the day with friendly faces and sunshine.
Scrub Capital x Pear VC Unconference
Scrub Capital and Pear VC hosted an invite-only unconference for 60 clinicians, founders, operators, and investors passionate about building in healthcare. Highlights included an inspiring clinician-founder panel, attendee-led breakout sessions on a variety of tech and G2M topics, and the organic connections made between members of this passionate community. Special thanks to Pear VC for co-hosting with us, Google and Thatch for their sponsorship, and to Matt Williams, Marianne Berkovich, Byron Crowe, Rebecca Mitchell, Vivien Ho, and Andrew Parambath for your leadership.
Based on demand we will have an East Coast Unconference this spring - contact Matt@scrubcapital.com if you are interested in participating as a sponsor, space host, or on the planning team!
What is Scrub Collaborative?
We recently rebranded this community of clinicians, builders, and leaders the Scrub Collaborative.
By the Numbers
The 1000+ member community is packed with seasoned operators and proven leaders.
→ C-Suite Leadership: (63%) have held C-Suite roles across the industry including health systems, plans, employers, life sciences
→ Startup Warriors: 43% of our community have been in the startup trenches
→ Founders at Heart: 33% are or recently were founders
→ Investing Acumen: 31% have formal experience as VCs or angel investors.
→ Clinically diverse: the whole care team and > 40 specialties are represented, including nurses, physicians, psychologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and more.
Our Reach
Members are affiliated with some of the most prestigious institutions and startups in the world, including organizations like Stanford, Harvard, UCSF, Geisinger, Google, Aetna, Walgreens, Abridge, Sword, and McKinsey among others.
What This Means
These numbers aren’t just statistics; they represent the incredible potential for collaboration within Scrub Capital. Whether we are evaluating investment or a community member is seeking tactical advice, the right person is likely right here in our community. Stay tuned as we are developing tools to facilitate this kind of internal community connectivity and support.
Scrub Capital Fund 1 Updates
Last chance to participate in Fund 1
We’ve raised to >$8M of our $10M Fund 1 goal from a diverse base of clinicians, founders, industry executives, family offices, and strategic partners. Our final close is February 27th, 2026, and then we will not be taking any new investors until 2027. This is a unique opportunity to get into the last close at cost with 12 of the 30 investments already made, 2 investment mark ups, and the low Fund 1 minimum! To learn more, join our AMA December 15th at 9PT/12ET, or email Rebecca@scrubcapital.com.
Recent Investments
RevBio, Clarity Pediatrics, still confidential pre-seed, still confidential Series A, follow on reserve investment in still confidential Series B
Coming soon! A community pitch status dashboard and deal level summaries to stay better informed and learn.
Portfolio Company Milestones & News
Elion — Announced closure of its seed round with investment by Scrub Capital, and published an AI governance playbook.
Conceivable Life Sciences — Profile of a family able to have a child via technology from Conceivable.
Posterity Health - now available in all 50 states!
Scrub Capital in the Media
Earlier this fall, Scrub Co-Founder and GP Dr. Jon Slotkin published a post on X about striking new safety data from Waymo’s autonomous vehicle program. It resonated, crossing 1 million views and getting amplified by Google’s Jeff Dean and others. Next week, barring any major news cycle disruption, Jon will have a guest essay in a major national news outlet writing about why autonomous vehicles should be treated as a public health intervention, not just a tech story. He’s going to make the case that we have the opportunity to eliminate car crashes as a leading cause of death in the United States. Keep an eye out!
Chrissy Farr, Scrub Capital CoFounder and GP, published a book! Titled A Storyteller’s Advantage: How Powerful Narratives Make Businesses Thrive, it is full of practical tips for clinicians and builders to find their voice. Excerpt here.
Dr. Rebecca Mitchell, Scrub’s Managing Partner, discussed the mission and unique firm model of Scrub Capital on Offcall and The Surgeons Record
Lisa Collins, CEO of Optum Advisory Services, joined the Scrub Capital community for our monthly fireside chat with Scrub GP, Dr. Jon Slotkin
Community Founder Spotlight
Dr. Quinn Wang, MD
Founder and CEO of Doctors in Network
Q&A
Tell us a little about your background and what you’re currently building.
I’m a Duke- and UCSF-trained ophthalmologist who has spent the past five years building and funding startups. In that time, I’ve founded two venture-backed companies, launched a micro VC fund, and worked on a bunch of cool projects helping build a community for women in tech.
My first company, Quadrant Eye (QE), had the classic startup trajectory—backed by Y Combinator and Khosla Ventures, tested by co-founder challenges, shaped by hiring missteps, and ultimately leading me to a reckoning with my personal values. My current company, Doctors in Network (DIN), is a workforce innovation platform that enables surgeons to practice when and where they want. It draws on everything I learned from building QE and from my surgical training and practice, and it aligns fully with my core passions: expanding access to care, empowering surgeons both clinically and financially, and protecting the integrity of the surgical profession.
I believe the solution to our surgical access crisis begins with keeping surgeons in the workforce. That means creating flexible, fractional practice models that respect their time, skills, and evolving needs. A well-supported surgical workforce leads to broader access and better outcomes, which is why I’m focused on building the infrastructure to make Rotating Surgeons a sustainable, scalable model.
What was the event or “straw that broke the camel’s back” that prompted you to become a founder?
During shelter-in-place, I was on a video call with a patient complaining of blurry vision. I found myself instructing him to google a Snellen chart, stand the right distance from the screen, and cover one eye at a time. At some point we both just started laughing at how ridiculous the situation was.
In that call, I was right back in all those late nights on call during residency, triaging similar issues with far too few tools. The absurdity and frustration of how inefficient our care delivery systems were came into sharp focus, and this became the “YOLO” moment that pushed me to launch QE.
What problem are you obsessed with fixing and why you?
I’ve always been an efficiency nerd with a love for logistics. From the start of medical school, I was struck by how much systemic frustration there was—not just among students, but also among residents and attendings. Burnout was everywhere, and it wasn’t just about long hours. It came from rules and workflows that consistently wasted physicians’ time and energy.
After QE, I became focused on two interconnected problems: physician and surgeon burnout, and the unequal distribution of surgical resources. As more surgeons leave the workforce prematurely, patients in underserved areas face increasingly long waits for essential care.
My background as a surgeon, founder, and operator gives me a unique vantage point. I’ve experienced the clinical pressures firsthand, seen the systemic inefficiencies, and know which logistical levers can drive real change. I really believe that when surgeons are supported and their time is used effectively, access expands and outcomes improve.
What are the traits that you think are important in a founder? Why?
-Ability to zoom out. Your first instinct is almost never right. Everyone has biases that can trap them in one way of thinking. The best founders check in with themselves and their team, take a step back, and shift direction when it makes sense.
-Humility. No one expects you to have all the answers. Being comfortable saying “I don’t know” or “I’m not sure” actually makes people trust you more.
-Knowing when and who to ask for help. Asking for help isn’t weakness. The key is knowing whose advice matters and how to use it.
-Willingness to get in the weeds. No task is beneath you. Early on, the unglamorous stuff often teaches you the most about your customers.
-Love for the work. Startups are hard. You need to love at least one part of it—the problem space, the act of building, or just having more agency in your life—if you’re going to keep going.
How has your role as a clinician impacted your founder journey?
I’ll never forget how scared, frustrated, and burned out I felt in training and practice. The systems I worked in seemed to penalize the very people keeping them running. Patient volumes were dictated and constantly rising. Pay was cutthroat. Time off was treated like a privilege instead of a right. Attendance at low-yield, time-consuming meetings was mandatory. Even our social media presence was tightly policed.
I often hear people in tech criticize clinicians for tolerating these conditions, sometimes even calling them doormats. What they don’t see—and will never fully understand—is that most clinicians are too overwhelmed to push back. They’re barely getting enough sleep, trying to find some work-life balance, and doing their best to show up for family and friends outside of work. And so at work, they do what they need to do just to keep going.
Those years of being underestimated and mistreated as a clinician fuel me every single day. And it’s clear to me that changing the fabric of clinical practice has to be led by someone who’s lived it from the inside.
What’s a piece of media (book, podcast, video, etc) that you’d recommend for an aspiring clinician-founder?
Many books and articles have shaped how I think about being a founder, but the real turning point was understanding what it means to believe in something enough to put your ego on the line.
For that reason, I recommend the Founders podcast by David Senra. It’s industry-agnostic, distilling lessons from some of the greatest founders in history. For busy clinicians, it’s a far easier lift than a dense book.
With nearly 400 episodes, the library can be overwhelming, so I suggest starting with Episode 393: The Marketing Genius of the Michelin Brothers. It’s a great entry point—showing how two people created new markets again and again without any obvious advantage—and it’s very inspiring for anyone building at any stage.
Lightning round! Do you think the following are under-hyped, over-hyped, or just “hyped”?
Generative-AI clinical scribes and note summarizers
Previously hyped, now Overhyped. Clinicians already have plenty of tools. The difference maker now is integration into the daily workflow. Even the most accurate scribe isn’t useful if it requires opening another tab and copy-pasting into the EHR.
Virtual-first specialty clinics
Underhyped. A well-run virtual-first GI or urology clinic could make a big impact by triaging low- vs. high-acuity problems. The biggest bottleneck in specialty care is knowing where and when to send patients.
Capitated, value-based primary-care contracts
Overhyped. I love the concept, but I don’t see it integrating well into our current system. Right now, it creates a tiered setup where fee-for-service and value-based care run in parallel rather than working together.
GLP-1-centered digital obesity programs
Hyped. My dad is an endocrinologist, so I’ve seen how much GLP-1 medications can improve lives. I fully support pairing them with personalized regimens. My concern is that too many programs risk becoming “pill mills” in disguise.
Clinician-burnout solutions (async messaging, AI inbox triage)
Overhyped. Same issue as AI scribes—the tools sound great but often miss the mark on integration. Async messaging is a perfect example. It sounds like it should reduce load, but it’s increased patient expectations for direct access, which often adds to clinician workload and burnout.
Do you have any asks from the community? And how can people get in touch with you?
If you know surgeons—especially in ophthalmology—who might be interested in exploring a Rotating Surgeon practice model, I’d love to connect. You can reach me at quinn@drs-network.com.
Jobs and Other Portfolio Company Opportunities
Head of Product at Clarity Pediatrics
Product Lead, Patient Experience at Photon
Medical Director at RevBio
RevBio, developer of a novel bone adhesive, is looking for a Medical Director for Orthopaedics. The company is in two first-in-human clinical trials and needs a physician leader to plan, execute, and direct clinical studies assessing the safety and efficacy of this technology across orthopaedic indications. MD required. Part-time, remote acceptable, with some travel. Interested? Reach out to CEO Brian Hess at bhess@revbio.com
Get Involved
Apply to join Scrub Collaborative → [Link]
Submit a pitch to Scrub Capital → [Link]
Learn about investing with Scrub Capital → [Link]
Already a member? Reconnect with us on Slack → [Link]
Interested in writing a piece or editing The Differential? Email Matt Williams → [Link]
This newsletter is intended for Scrub Capital LPs and Scrub Collaborative members.
Scrub Capital is a 506(c) VC fund, which allows us to openly discuss fund progress and the portfolio while actively fundraising.
End of Q4 Issue
Great newsletter- I’m excited for The Differential 🎯