Physician Innovator Series

Physician Innovator Series featuring Dr. Saumitra Thakur and Dr. Neal Kinariwala

Thursday, Jul 09, 2026 | 12:00 PM-1:00 PM

The next installment of the Science Center's Physician Innovator Series will feature Dr. Saumitra Thakur and Dr. Neal Kinariwala for a discussion at the intersection of medicine, startups, and investment.

About Dr. Neal Kinariwala

Neal Kinariwala, MD, BE is a physician executive, emergency physician, and clinical informaticist focused on healthcare AI and digital transformation. He currently serves as a Physician Clinical Executive at Elsevier and previously was the Entity Chief Medical Informatics Officer at Pennsylvania Hospital within Penn Medicine. A hallmark of his career is the application of human-centered design to drive equitable health outcomes, having played a key role in implementing COVID Watch, a program that successfully reduced COVID-19 mortality by 68%. Recently he spoke as the Keynote speaker for his alma mater's White Coat ceremony on the intersection of clinical practice and the informatics quadruple aim.

He also continues to practice emergency medicine at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Dr. Kinariwala co-leads the Science Center’s Physician Innovator Series to provide Philadelphia’s clinicians with a roadmap into health-tech, venture capital, and strategic advisory roles.

Learn more about Dr. Kinariwala

About Dr. Saumitra Thakur

Saumitra Thakur, MD, MBA is a physician-investor at MedMountain Ventures who splits his time between working as a hospitalist in San Francisco every other week and investing the rest of the time, maintaining active patient care while evaluating healthcare startups. He has hands-on experience as a director at healthcare companies like Epitel and Inherent Biosciences, and regularly mentors Stanford GSB students and clinician-founders on venture capital and non-traditional medical career paths.

Learn more about Dr. Thakur

Who this Event is for:

You must be a licensed physicians (MD or DO) with an active interest in entrepreneurship, startups, innovation, consulting, or executive leadership.

The Series is free to attend, but registration is limited and required.

register now


About our Physician Innovator Series

The Physician Innovator Series is a peer community and forum for physicians interested in engaging with medtech startups as clinical advisors, CMOs, or as investors. We gather quarterly to exchange hard-won insights and build relationships that accelerate healthcare innovation.