The Early Hires: Clinicians in Startups

What happens after a clinician lands a health tech job? Most advice about moving from clinical practice into health tech stops at the offer letter. This conversation picks up where that advice ends: a startup acquisition, a new manager, a role that changes under you, and the question of whether you are still a clinician.Host Helen Tanner talks with Lauren Curtis, PharmD, a pharmacist turned product manager and the founder of Hey Health Tech, the newsletter and community helping clinicians understand health tech and explore non-clinical careers. Lauren left community pharmacy for PillPack with a cold email, stayed through its 2018 acquisition by Amazon, moved from program management into product management at Amazon Pharmacy, and now works in product in the durable medical equipment space. She has now spent as long in health tech as she did in traditional pharmacy practice.In this episode:How a cold email and steady follow-up landed Lauren her first startup role at PillPackWhy the same title is a different job at a 35-person startup than at a large companyHow to set boundaries in an early-stage startup, and why it is okay if they shift over timeUsing a simple priorities spreadsheet to get aligned with your CEO or managerWhat changes overnight, and what changes slowly, when your startup is acquired by AmazonHow to protect your non-clinical career progress through an acquisition or a manager changeWhy Lauren still introduces herself as a pharmacist after more than a decade in techHow to build a side project like Hey Health Tech while working full timeLauren’s four lessons for clinicians entering health tech, plus the non-healthcare book that shaped how she thinks about patients and customersResources mentioned:Hey Health Tech: https://www.heyhealthtech.com/Hey Health Tech newsletter: https://heyhealthtech.beehiiv.com/Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh: https://link.amazon/B0c4PkodOConnect with Lauren Curtis, PharmD:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-curtis/Hey Health Tech: https://www.heyhealthtech.com/Thank you to our founding sponsor, Hey Health Tech: a newsletter and community helping healthcare professionals understand the industry, discover new career opportunities, and connect with people working in tech. Learn more at https://www.heyhealthtech.com/Get the free Field Guide: The Early Hires Clinician Startup Field Guide, 10 Things Every Clinician Should Know Before and After Joining a Startup, is free when you sign up at https://www.theearlyhires.com/. You will also be signed up for The Early Hires monthly newsletter.Please rate and share the podcast so more clinicians can find this show: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-early-hires-clinicians-in-startups/id1882293752Edited by Steve Woodward at podcastingeditor.comSupport the showConnect with The Early HiresWebsite: https://theearlyhires.com/The Early Hires on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-early-hires/The Early Hires on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theearlyhires/The Early Hires on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theearlyhiresHelen Tanner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenltannerJoin The Early Hires CommunityAre you a clinician navigating startup life? Visit www.theearlyhires.com to sign up for the monthly newsletter aimed at supporting clinicians who are building, leading, and navigating the realities of early-stage healthcare companies.Start at www.theearlyhires.com.The conversation continues there.

What does a clinician actually do inside a startup building AI for mental health? In psychiatry, the most important clinical data is not a lab value. It is a patient’s story, told across long sessions and many visits, and that changes what a good clinical tool has to do.Host Helen Tanner talks with Sophie Klarskov Petersen, a psychologist and the clinical product manager at Aisel Health, a Copenhagen startup building an operating system for psychiatric care. Sophie explains how she turns clinical workflows into product decisions, why she sometimes has to be the one who asks “should we?” when the tech team has already shown "we can,” and what she has learned about earning the trust of clinicians who are cautious about AI.This is the show’s first conversation with a psychologist, and its first with a guest building outside the US.In this episode:What a clinical product manager does, and why workflow knowledge is the core of the jobWhy mental health data arrives as a story, and what that means for AI built for psychiatryHow AI can take on documentation without taking over clinical judgmentLearning to stay in the problem before jumping to a solutionBeing the voice of patient safety when an idea is technically possible but clinically questionableHow to earn trust from clinicians who are curious about AI, and from those who are skepticalSophie’s one piece of advice for clinicians joining a team building mental health AIResources mentioned:Aisel Health: https://www.aisel.co/General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/679/ojConnect with Sophie Klarskov Petersen:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophieklarskov/Aisel Health: https://www.aisel.co/Get the free Field Guide: The Early Hires Clinician Startup Field Guide, 10 Things Every Clinician Should Know Before and After Joining a Startup, is free when you sign up at https://www.theearlyhires.com/. You will also be signed up for The Early Hires monthly newsletter.Please rate and share the podcast so more clinicians can find this show: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-early-hires-clinicians-in-startups/id1882293752Edited by Steve Woodward at podcastingeditor.comSupport the showConnect with The Early HiresWebsite: https://theearlyhires.com/The Early Hires on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-early-hires/The Early Hires on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theearlyhires/The Early Hires on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theearlyhiresHelen Tanner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenltannerJoin The Early Hires CommunityAre you a clinician navigating startup life? Visit www.theearlyhires.com to sign up for the monthly newsletter aimed at supporting clinicians who are building, leading, and navigating the realities of early-stage healthcare companies.Start at www.theearlyhires.com.The conversation continues there.

How do you know a healthcare startup is built well before you join? Clinicians are trained to be careful, but inside a startup much of the risk sits where we cannot see it: how the company is structured, who actually holds authority, and what a clinical license is being used for.Host Helen Tanner talks with Rebecca Gwilt, JD, co-founder and managing partner of Elevare Law, who has spent more than fifteen years helping build healthcare and health tech companies after working on Affordable Care Act implementation at HHS. Rebecca is usually the one posting about what went wrong. Here, Helen asks her to name the green flags instead, so clinicians can recognize a well-built company from the inside.In this episode:Why clinical governance should be built early, and which "businessy" decisions often fall under clinical purviewThe difference between a clinical title and real authorityA plain-language explainer of the MSO-PC model behind most telehealth companiesHow contracts should separate your clinical and non-clinical rolesWhy a written path for clinical disagreement protects both the clinician and the companyWhy the best time to have your own attorney review an equity package is before you signRebecca's top three green flags, plus the community she has leaned on for yearsThis episode is for general education and is not legal advice.Resources mentioned:Elevare Law: https://www.elevarelaw.com/Elevare Law article, "CPOM Isn't Your Only MSO-PC Risk. It's Not Even the Scariest One.": https://www.elevarelaw.com/blog-articles/cpom-isnt-your-only-mso-pc-risk-its-not-even-the-scariest-oneHealth Tech Nerds: https://www.healthtechnerds.com/Search terms for further reading: "MSO-PC" and "corporate practice of medicine"Connect with Rebecca Gwilt:Elevare Law: https://www.elevarelaw.com/team/rebecca-gwiltLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccagwilt/Get the free Field Guide: The Early Hires Clinician Startup Field Guide, 10 Things Every Clinician Should Know Before and After Joining a Startup, is free when you sign up at https://www.theearlyhires.com/. You will also be signed up for The Early Hires monthly newsletter.Please rate and share the podcast so more clinicians can find this show: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-early-hires-clinicians-in-startups/id1882293752Edited by Steve Woodward at podcastingeditor.comSupport the showConnect with The Early HiresWebsite: https://theearlyhires.com/The Early Hires on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-early-hires/The Early Hires on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theearlyhires/The Early Hires on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theearlyhiresHelen Tanner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenltannerJoin The Early Hires CommunityAre you a clinician navigating startup life? Visit www.theearlyhires.com to sign up for the monthly newsletter aimed at supporting clinicians who are building, leading, and navigating the realities of early-stage healthcare companies.Start at www.theearlyhires.com.The conversation continues there.

What does it actually mean when a clinician "works in product" at a healthcare startup? Product is where a lot of clinicians land once they are inside a startup, and it can mean a lot of different jobs: content and claims review, evidence checks, running a medical advisory team, sitting with designers, and translating between the clinical team and the engineers.Host Helen Tanner talks with Caitlyn Tivy, PT, DPT, a pelvic and women's health physical therapist who went from telehealth care delivery inside a large startup to helping build a new product line, and who now works as a fractional clinical leader across several health tech companies at once. Caitlyn breaks down biotech vs. medtech vs. health tech, why the line between a wellness product and a regulated product shapes everything a clinician can say, and how one advisor's offhand comment became a feature that was never on the roadmap.She also explains the difference between slowing down for safety (the job) and slowing down for logistics, and why she will not budge on clinical advisors being paid for their expertise.In this episode:What product work can mean for a clinician, and the range of jobs behind the titleBiotech vs. medtech vs. health tech, explained in plain languageWhy the wellness vs. regulated product line matters for every claim a product makesWhat a fractional head of clinical affairs actually does week to weekHow to hold patient safety first while staying useful on the engineers' timelineHow clinical input turned into a new feature that was never on the roadmapWhy unpaid clinical advisors are slow advisors, and why that is a structural problemThree things that make clinicians successful in product roles, including upskilling as "CME by another name"Resources mentioned:In Women's Health (formerly FemHealth Insights), founded by Jodi Neuhauser: https://www.inwomenshealth.com/Health Tech Nerds: https://www.healthtechnerds.com/TechSpeak for Entrepreneurs, AI Agents course with Nelly Yusupova: https://www.techspeakforentrepreneurs.com/ai-agents-6-week-live-training/LinkedIn Learning: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/Figma: https://www.figma.com/Women's Health Innovation Summit (WHIS): https://www.whisusa.com/Women's Health Horizons: https://whhwomenshealthhorizons.com/HLTH: https://hlth.com/That's Gynomite! podcast: https://thatsgynomite.com/Connect with Caitlyn Tivy:C Tivy Consulting: https://www.ctivyconsulting.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caitlyn-tivy-dpt/Get the free Field Guide: The Early Hires Clinician Startup Field Guide, 10 Things Every Clinician Should Know Before and After Joining a Startup, is free when you sign up at https://www.theearlyhires.com/. You will also be signed up for The Early Hires monthly newsletter.Please rate and share the podcast so more clinicians can find this show: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-early-hires-clinicians-in-startups/id1882293752Edited by Steve Woodward at podcastingeditor.comSupport the showConnect with The Early HiresWebsite: https://theearlyhires.com/The Early Hires on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-early-hires/The Early Hires on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theearlyhires/The Early Hires on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theearlyhiresHelen Tanner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenltannerJoin The Early Hires CommunityAre you a clinician navigating startup life? Visit www.theearlyhires.com to sign up for the monthly newsletter aimed at supporting clinicians who are building, leading, and navigating the realities of early-stage healthcare companies.Start at www.theearlyhires.com.The conversation continues there.

What do clinician leaders in healthcare startups need to navigate once the offer is signed? In part two of this solo mini series, host and startup leader Helen Tanner walks through the five things that matter after you join: the first weeks, the first six months, and the first year inside a healthcare startup.She explains how to figure out whether you were hired to build or to learn, how to size clinical infrastructure to the company's stage instead of rebuilding your old health system, why your license is a separate entity from the company and how to protect it, how to navigate the built-in tension between the mission and the money, and why maintaining your professional identity outside the company is the smartest career protection there is.For each of the five topics, Helen shares a practical next step, a question to ask, or a resource to use.Together with part one, this completes the full list: 10 Things Every Clinician Should Know Before and After Joining a Startup.Get the complete list in The Early Hires Clinician Startup Field Guide, free when you sign up at www.theearlyhires.com. You will also be signed up for The Early Hires monthly newsletter, with insights, updates, and best practices for leading inside healthcare startups.In this episode:How to know whether your job is to build the first version or learn the existing machineWhy matching your speed to the company's stage protects your runway and your credibilityThe clinical infrastructure floor no company should operate without, for care delivery and for product companiesHow to protect your license when the company's risk tolerance is not yoursWhat tail coverage is and why one question about it can be worth tens of thousands of dollarsHow to hold the safety baseline when mission and money pull in different directionsFive ways to keep your career bigger than any one companyResources mentioned:The Early Hires Clinician Startup Field Guide: 10 Things Every Clinician Should Know Before and After Joining a Startup, free at https://www.theearlyhires.com/Part one of this series, Five Things Every Clinician Should Know Before Joining a Healthcare Startup: https://www.theearlyhires.com/post/five-things-every-clinician-should-know-before-joining-a-healthcare-startup-with-helen-tanner-pa-cDig Your Well Before You Are Thirsty by Harvey MackayPlease rate and share the podcast so more clinicians can find this show: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-early-hires-clinicians-in-startups/id1882293752Edited by Steve Woodward at podcastingeditor.comSupport the showConnect with The Early HiresWebsite: https://theearlyhires.com/The Early Hires on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-early-hires/The Early Hires on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theearlyhires/The Early Hires on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theearlyhiresHelen Tanner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenltannerJoin The Early Hires CommunityAre you a clinician navigating startup life? Visit www.theearlyhires.com to sign up for the monthly newsletter aimed at supporting clinicians who are building, leading, and navigating the realities of early-stage healthcare companies.Start at www.theearlyhires.com.The conversation continues there.

Before You Sign: 5 Things Clinician Leaders Need to KnowIn part one of this two-part solo mini-series, host and startup leader Helen Tanner walks through the five things every clinician leader should work through before signing an offer. She explains why startup stage matters, why you need to understand who owns and governs the company, how to become equity literate, why your clinical credentials don't automatically translate in startup environments, and how to define the clinical versus administrative split before it defines your role.For each of the five topics, Helen shares a practical next step, a question to ask during the interview process, or a resource to help you make a more informed decision. You will also find a free downloadable question guide linked in the show notes to help you evaluate startup opportunities with confidence.Stay tuned as the part 2 of this episode, Helen explores the five things every clinician leader should expect once they're on the inside of a startup.Must-Hear Insights and Key MomentsRevenue model dictates whether clinical or administrative work dominates depends less on the offer letter and more on how the company earns money.Four equity numbers matter: Options granted, total shares, strike price, and valuation are the minimum data to demand before signing.Stock options look like wealth but the denominator of total shares tells the real story.The same title means radically different responsibilities at seed versus Series B, and misalignment burns clinicians fast.Clinical versus administrative expectations shift constantly in startups; formal review dates protect against misalignment.Many postings are written by non‑clinicians; red flags in scope and reporting lines can define your first six months.Mentioned in the episode:Get the Before You Sign guide, the questions to ask before you accept a startup offer or at www.theearlyhires.comSupport the showConnect with The Early HiresWebsite: https://theearlyhires.com/The Early Hires on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-early-hires/The Early Hires on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theearlyhires/The Early Hires on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theearlyhiresHelen Tanner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenltannerJoin The Early Hires CommunityAre you a clinician navigating startup life? Visit www.theearlyhires.com to sign up for the monthly newsletter aimed at supporting clinicians who are building, leading, and navigating the realities of early-stage healthcare companies.Start at www.theearlyhires.com.The conversation continues there.

Hannah Lowe, NP, RD, CDCES, is a nurse practitioner, registered dietitian, and Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist whose career spans both frontline clinical care and digital health startups. After joining one startup as its first nurse practitioner and growing into the Director of Advanced Practice role, she stepped into a clinical leadership position at another company just before it was acquired by a larger healthcare organization.In this conversation, Hannah and Helen reflect on two very different startup endings: walking away from a company she helped build and leading a team through the uncertainty of an acquisition. She shares what those transitions felt like from the inside, how she supported her team when answers were limited, and why career resilience comes from more than your job title. Along the way, she offers thoughtful perspectives on networking, maintaining clinical expertise, and building a career that can adapt to change. This episode offers practical insights into leading with confidence when the future is uncertain.Must-Hear Insights and Key MomentsStartup careers require embracing uncertainty while staying grounded in transferable clinical skills.Clinicians can build startup leadership paths by expanding beyond patient care into cross-functional collaboration.Early startup roles often evolve faster than job descriptions, creating opportunities to discover new strengths.Formal titles matter when clinicians take on leadership responsibilities because they validate expanded scope and career growth.Acquisition transitions require rebuilding trust as teams adjust to new structures, processes, and expectations.Small startup cultures often shift toward more established systems after acquisition, requiring new leadership approachesNetworking should happen continuously before uncertainty appears, not only when career changes become urgent.About HannahHannah Lowe, DNP, FNP‑C, RDN, CDCES, is a nurse practitioner, registered dietitian, and certified diabetes care and education specialist whose career bridges direct patient care and the unpredictable world of healthcare startups. She has lived through two very different endings: choosing to leave one company she helped build, and stepping into another as a clinical leader while an acquisition was already underway. In both, she carried the responsibility of guiding clinicians and patients through change, balancing honesty about uncertainty with steadiness for her teamFollow HannahLinkedInSupport the showConnect with The Early HiresWebsite: https://theearlyhires.com/The Early Hires on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-early-hires/The Early Hires on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theearlyhires/The Early Hires on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theearlyhiresHelen Tanner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenltannerJoin The Early Hires CommunityAre you a clinician navigating startup life? Visit www.theearlyhires.com to sign up for the monthly newsletter aimed at supporting clinicians who are building, leading, and navigating the realities of early-stage healthcare companies.Start at www.theearlyhires.com.The conversation continues there.

What Gets You Promoted: A Health Tech SVP on Leadership, Red Flags, and the Leaders Who Rise - with Laura Demuth, MSN, NP-BCLaura Demuth, MSN, NP-BC, joined Curology, then known as Pocket Derm, as employee number 12 nearly a decade ago. Today, she serves on the executive team as Senior Vice President of People and Patients, helping lead an organization that serves millions of patients while overseeing teams across people operations, patient experience, and clinical functions.In this episode, Laura shares the leadership lessons she has learned through years of building teams in a high-growth startup. At the center of the conversation is her philosophy of "servant leadership, with an asterisk." She explains why supporting your team should never come at the expense of your own voice as a leader and how that perspective has evolved throughout her career.Helen and Laura discuss the importance of building trust before difficult conversations, why "clear is kind" has become one of Laura's guiding leadership principles, and the five qualities she believes every leader should develop: trust, humility, accountability, curiosity, and courage. They also explore what distinguishes clinicians who grow into effective leaders, from demonstrating mission alignment and informal leadership to becoming a student of the business and adapting through change.This episode offers practical insights for leading people, developing culture, and helping others grow without losing yourself in the process.Must-Hear Insights and Key MomentsServant leadership, with an asterisk. Laura explains why the best leaders support their teams without removing themselves from the table.Why "clear is kind." Learn how trust makes difficult conversations more effective and why avoiding conflict is not the same as being compassionate.The five leadership non-negotiables. Laura shares the values that shape her leadership approach: trust, humility, accountability, curiosity, and courage.What separates clinicians who become great leaders. Mission alignment, informal leadership, business curiosity, and adaptability are often stronger predictors than clinical expertise alone.Become a student of the business. Understanding finance, operations, product, and strategy helps clinicians become more influential leaders.Give away your Legos. Laura explains how letting go of responsibilities creates opportunities for others to grow and allows leaders to scale their impact.About LauraLaura Demuth, MSN, NP-BC, is a nurse practitioner and healthcare executive with experience spanning inpatient care, outpatient medicine, and high-growth healthcare startups. She began her clinical career at Albany Medical Center before becoming a nurse practitioner in internal medicine.She joined early-stage telehealth company Pocket Derm, now Curology, as employee number 12, where she worked across clinical care, recruiting, and team building as the organization scaled. Over time, she moved into senior leadership roles spanning clinical operations, licensing, customer experience, and people functions.She currently serves as Senior Vice President of People and Patients at Curology and sits on the executive team, supporting both clinician and patient-facing organizations within a large-scale telehealth company.Curology is a direct-to-consumer telehealth dermatology company on a mission to make effective skincare accessible, connecting patients with licensed medical providers for personalized prescription treatments. Patients complete a quick assessment, receive custom-formulated skincare shipped straight to their door, and get expert care and ongoing follow-up from their dedicated medical provider.Follow LauraLinkedInSubstackMighty As A MotherSupport the showConnect with The Early HiresWebsite: https://theearlyhires.com/The Early Hires on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-early-hires/The Early Hires on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theearlyhires/The Early Hires on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theearlyhiresHelen Tanner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenltannerJoin The Early Hires CommunityAre you a clinician navigating startup life? Visit www.theearlyhires.com to sign up for the monthly newsletter aimed at supporting clinicians who are building, leading, and navigating the realities of early-stage healthcare companies.Start at www.theearlyhires.com.The conversation continues there.

Clinical Onboarding as Infrastructure in Healthcare Startups  with Anna Ballard, PA-CAnna Ballard, PA-C builds clinical onboarding and learning systems inside healthcare startups that are scaling quickly. Her work sits at the intersection of training, operations, and clinical quality, where new clinicians must become productive in environments that are still being defined. In this conversation, Anna and Helen discuss what it takes to design onboarding without an established system, and playbook. They look at how early-stage teams translate clinical expectations into repeatable systems, why onboarding functions as operational infrastructure, and how time to productivity becomes a defining constraint in scaling care delivery. They also discuss the transition clinicians make into operator roles. This includes moving from individual care delivery to shaping workflows, competency expectations, and cross-functional execution with product, engineering, and finance teams. Further looking at competency framework development in high-growth environments, support structures for new graduate clinicians inside startups, and how onboarding design shapes clinician readiness.This episode is relevant for clinicians working in healthcare startups with early operator roles, onboarding and training, and for leaders building systems from the ground up. Must-Hear Insights and Key MomentsAnna Ballard draws a distinction between medical education and operational readiness in fast-scaling digital health environments.Onboarding challenges reflect workflow and systems design decisions rather than gaps in clinician knowledge or performance Training design in startups sits at the intersection of clinical education and operational execution, requiring both clinical and business fluencyClinicians in early operator roles benefit from developing communication and influence skills to align clinical priorities with organizational constraintsNew graduate clinicians require structured support models such as transition-to-practice programs and mentorship systems in fast-changing care settingsCross-functional collaboration with product, engineering, and finance becomes a core part of clinical leadership in healthcare startups Effective onboarding design prioritizes what clinicians need to do in day-to-day workflows Clinical competency must move from checklist completion to structured, stepwise behaviors that ensure clinicians can consistently deliver quality care under pressure in real startup environments. About AnnaAnna Ballard is a PA-C and strategic Clinical Systems Builder with 11 years in clinical practice and 7+ years leading training, quality, and process improvement in growth-stage healthcare organizations. As a former Director of Medical Learning and Development at Curology, she understands both the clinical realities and the L&D systems needed to support scaling teams. Through Process to Practice, she partners with Clinical Operations and People leaders at Series A, B, and post-M&A healthcare companies — from telemedicine platforms to care coordination services — to build onboarding, training, and quality systems that reduce time-to-productivity while supporting consistent care delivery and clinician retention. She also coaches internal clinical leaders to become strategic training leaders who can speak the language of business and partner effectively with operations and cross-functional teams.Follow AnnaLinkedInSupport the showConnect with The Early HiresWebsite: https://theearlyhires.com/The Early Hires on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-early-hires/The Early Hires on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theearlyhires/The Early Hires on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theearlyhiresHelen Tanner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenltannerJoin The Early Hires CommunityAre you a clinician navigating startup life? Visit www.theearlyhires.com to sign up for the monthly newsletter aimed at supporting clinicians who are building, leading, and navigating the realities of early-stage healthcare companies.Start at www.theearlyhires.com.The conversation continues there.

How a Founding Dean Is Rethinking Clinical Education at the Edge of Silicon Valley — with Dr. Amy Bronson, Pepperdine University Most episodes of The Early Hires feature clinicians who stepped inside a startup. This one takes a different angle. Dr. Amy Bronson is the founding dean of Pepperdine University’s brand-new School of Physician Assistant Studies — designing a clinical program from a blank page, at the edge of Silicon Valley, at the exact moment AI is rewriting what clinical competency means. She and Helen talk about what a clinician actually needs to know for the world they’re entering: how to teach critical thinking and AI literacy as real competencies, why business fundamentals belong in clinical training, and what startup clinical leaders can do on Monday with the new grads they’re hiring. A builder’s view from the architect’s seat.Dr. Amy Bronson has spent more than fifteen years as a physician assistant specializing in ENT, plastics, and reconstructive surgery. She is also a researcher, TEDx speaker, educator, and multi‑time founding program leader. Today she serves as the founding dean of Pepperdine University’s new Physician Assistant program in Malibu, California, where she is designing curriculum, culture, and competencies from a blank page. This episode is for clinicians working inside startups, educators rethinking healthcare training, and leaders preparing teams for a healthcare system that is changing faster than traditional models can support.Join the AIMed Conference! Code:  ABPA15  (15% off of the conference price)* Pepperdine University, Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies (MSPAS) has applied for Accreditation - Provisional from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA). The MSPAS program anticipates matriculating its first class in September 2027 pending achieving Accreditation - Provisional status at the April 2027 ARC-PA meeting.  Accreditation - Provisional is an accreditation status granted when the plans and resource allocation, if fully implemented as planned, of a proposed program that has not yet enrolled students appear to demonstrate the program's ability to meet the ARC-PA Standards or when a program holding Accreditation-Provisional status appears to demonstrate continued progress in complying with the Standards as it prepares for the graduation of the first class (cohort) of students. If the MSPAS program does not achieve Accreditation - Provisional status, the program will not commence, and students will not matriculate. Accepted students will be refunded for any deposits or tuition paid. Application fees are not refundable.The MSPAS program at Pepperdine University has been approved by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) Senior College & University Commission (WSCUC).Must-Hear Insights and Key MomentsBuilding without a playbook is becoming a core leadership skill in modern healthcare educationClinicians do not need to feel fully prepared before stepping into innovation and leadership rolesDr. Amy Bronson has served as a founding faculty member, founding program director, and now founding dean building PA programs from the ground up.AI literacy is now part of clinical literacy, not a separate technical specialtyCuriosity and systems thinking help clinicians bridge gaps between healthcare, technology, and businessThe future of medical education depends on embedding AI and systems thinking across curriculum, not isolating it into one courseClinical reasoning skills matter more, not less, in an AI-enabled healthcare environmentHealthcare organizations need clinicians involved early in technology design, governance, and implementationNew graduates thrive in environments that provide mentorship, support, leadership development, and space to continue learningAmy is designing Pepperdine’s first PA program with AI literacy, systems thinking, and clinical reasoning embedded throughout the curriculumMentioned in the episode:Pepperdine University’s School of Physician Assistant Studies - https://healthscience.pepperdine.edu/school-of-physician-assistant-studies/Join the AIMed Conference! Code:  ABPA15  (15% off of the conference price)About Dr. Amy BronsonDr. Amy Bronson, EdD, PA-C with more than fifteen years of clinical experience in ENT, plastics, and reconstructive surgery. Beyond practice, she has built a career as a researcher, TEDx speaker, educator, and multi‑time founding program director. She holds a doctorate in educational leadership and an advanced certification in AI and medicine from the American Board of Artificial Intelligence and Medicine.Her leadership includes serving as principal investigator on federally funded research totaling more than $2.5 million and directing new PA programs that bridged care gaps in rural Colorado. Today, she is the founding dean of Pepperdine University’s School of Physician Assistant Studies in Malibu, California.Dr. Amy Bronson’s work centers on designing curriculum, and competencies from a blank page, preparing clinicians for a rapidly evolving healthcare landscape. She emphasizes system literacy and interprofessional collaboration that extends beyond medicine. Her philosophy is rooted in education advocacy and equipping clinicians to thrive in any environment.Follow Dr. Amy BronsonLinkedInSupport the showConnect with The Early HiresWebsite: https://theearlyhires.com/The Early Hires on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-early-hires/The Early Hires on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theearlyhires/The Early Hires on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theearlyhiresHelen Tanner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenltannerJoin The Early Hires CommunityAre you a clinician navigating startup life? Visit www.theearlyhires.com to sign up for the monthly newsletter aimed at supporting clinicians who are building, leading, and navigating the realities of early-stage healthcare companies.Start at www.theearlyhires.com.The conversation continues there.