The judges · 202627 names · 6 sectors · 1 cheque

The people who decide where the million goes.

Every name on this page reads every application. Eight vote in the room. Six fight for one company each. Seven more sit behind glass and write the diligence memos no one else will. There is no honorary judge.

8 Panel12 Leadership6 Sector7 Observer· Rubric

01 /Panel

Eight votes. One room. No proxies.

The panel sits live for both pitch days. They deliberate behind closed doors that night. The cheque is signed by morning. None of these eight delegates their vote.

01 / 08New York, NY

Provider · Strategy  ·  Co-chair · 2nd year

Malak Atut

Co-chair, Venture Forum

Former Chief Strategy Officer at a large hospital network. Operator first; deep healthcare-systems expertise. Designs the program each cycle and recruits the panel. Reads every application.

“If a doctor in my system would have to click more than twice to get value, you've lost. The clinical floor is unforgiving.— Her threshold

Health-system rollouts she's led

Ambient DocumentationEnterprise · 14 hospitals
Hinge HealthMember benefit · 2024
Glass HealthPilot · differential dx

How Malak weights the rubric

Implementation
9.5
Buyer fit
8.8
Team
7.5
Unit economics
6.5
TAM & novelty
5.0

02 / 08Mumbai · NYC

Capital · Cross-border  ·  Co-chair · 2nd year

Gautam Bazaz

Co-chair, Venture Forum

Two healthcare exits. Active angel across U.S. and India. Sits on the panel, writes the cheque, decides which five companies make it to the stage. Sector strategist.

“Show me the chart that doesn't exist anywhere else. If three other GPs in this room could've drawn it from public data, I'm not interested.— On what makes a pitch memorable

Recent investments he's led

HealthifySeries C · digital health
Pristyn CareSeries E · care delivery
Ultra HumanSeries B · wearables

How Gautam weights the rubric

Team
9.5
TAM & novelty
8.8
Buyer fit
7.0
Unit economics
6.2
Implementation
5.0

03 / 08Los Angeles, CA

Operator · Consumer / Distribution  ·  Returning judge · 2nd year

Craig Cooper

Entrepreneur, Investor, Co-Founder, Boost Mobile

Built and sold one of the defining mobile brands of the 2000s as Co-Founder of Boost Mobile. Now an active operator-investor across consumer health, care delivery, and brand-led healthcare ventures.

“I'm looking for the founder who has already had the awkward call with their first ten customers. Distribution is decided in those calls — not in the deck.— On what wins his vote

Operator and investor track record

Boost MobileCo-founder · exit
Consumer-health betsActive angel
Care-delivery brandsOperator-investor

How Craig weights the rubric

Team
9.2
Buyer fit
8.5
Unit economics
7.8
TAM & novelty
6.5
Implementation
5.5

04 / 08Bay Area, CA

Provider · Specialty · Regenerative  ·  First-year judge

Dr. Annu Navani

Medical Director, Le Reve Regenerative Wellness

Practising clinician turned operator. Runs a regenerative-medicine practice on the floor and reads every application from the procurement side first. Won't greenlight a tool she wouldn't deploy in her own clinic.

“If your gross margin is below 35% you're not a tech company, you're a care company. That's fine. Just say it.— On founder honesty

Clinical decisions she's owned

Le Reve WellnessMedical Director
Specialty practice opsBuyer · operator
Regenerative protocolsClinical lead

How Annu Navani weights the rubric

Unit economics
9.6
Buyer fit
8.2
Implementation
7.5
TAM & novelty
5.0
Team
4.8

05 / 08New York, NY

Academia · Founder readiness  ·  First-year judge

Reima Shakeir

Clinical Professor, NYU Stern School of Business

Bridges academia, capital, and operating teams from the Stern faculty bench. Runs the founder-readiness lens on every finalist — team composition, governance, how the company would survive its first hard year.

“Most founders sell me on the curve. The ones who win the room sell me on the team that holds the curve when the chart breaks.— On founder readiness

Where she shows up in the room

NYU SternClinical professor
Founder coachingPre-Series B
Board observer rolesHealthcare operators

How Reima weights the rubric

Team
9.6
Implementation
8.2
Unit economics
7.5
Buyer fit
5.5
TAM & novelty
4.8

06 / 08New York, NY

Capital · Growth · Cross-sector  ·  Returning judge · 2nd year

Sava Kobilarov

Founder & Managing Partner, Vault Advisors

Founder and Managing Partner at Vault Advisors. Underwrites for clinical-outcome data, not headcount. Decisive — issues term sheets in the parking lot when the thesis lines up.

“I've watched four cohorts of 'fastest growing' companies disappear by year three. The boring company that's still here in 2030 is the one I want to fund today.— On the long view

Vault Advisors positioning

Vault AdvisorsFounder · MP
Healthcare growthSeries A–C
Cross-sector mandatesActive

How Sava weights the rubric

Team
8.8
Unit economics
8.5
Buyer fit
8.0
Implementation
7.2
TAM & novelty
5.8

07 / 08Grand Rapids, MI

Provider · Specialty · Pain  ·  Returning judge · 2nd year

Dr. Girish Juneja

Co-Founder, Grand Rapids Pain Center

Co-Founder of Grand Rapids Pain Center. Built a specialty practice from the procurement side in. Decides whether software ships on the clinical floor or stays in a pilot — and asks the unit-economics question first.

“Most pitches answer 'why now.' Almost none answer 'why not us.' That's the more dangerous question — and it's the one I'm asking.— On the danger of competitors

Practice and operating decisions

Grand Rapids Pain CenterCo-founder
Specialty practice opsBuyer · operator
Clinical-tool adoptionProcurement lead

How Girish Juneja weights the rubric

Implementation
9.5
Buyer fit
8.8
Team
6.5
Unit economics
6.0
TAM & novelty
3.8

08 / 08Mumbai · NYC

Capital · Growth · Series B+  ·  Returning judge · 2nd year

Kamal Singh

Investment Professional, WestBridge Capital

Sources, underwrites, and closes growth-stage healthcare investments for WestBridge Capital. Owns the $100K–$10M Venture Forum cheque on behalf of the firm and drives the four-week diligence sprint that follows finals day.

“I'm not buying the slide deck. I'm buying the founder's first three customer meetings. Show me who already said yes.— On what wins his vote

WestBridge healthcare positions

Healthcare growthWestBridge · multi-stage
Cross-border platformsSeries B–IPO
Provider-tech betsStrategic capital

How Kamal weights the rubric

Team
9.2
Buyer fit
8.5
Unit economics
8.0
TAM & novelty
7.0
Implementation
5.5

·Investment Leadership Panel

The leadership writing the cheque.

Co-chairs, the executive director, investment professionals, and operator-investors. They set the thesis, approve the diligence, and put their names on the term sheet.

Venture Forum

Gautam Bazaz

Co-Chair

Venture Forum

Malak Atut

Co-Chair

Global Health Forum

Dr. Nikki Bajaj

Executive Director

GHF Ventures

Abhishek Shankar

Technical Co-founder

GHF Network

Dr. AJ Rastogi

Sector Lead · Care Delivery

Independent

Dr. Aviral Roy

Clinical Lead

GHF Network

Edward Chan

Operator

WestBridge Capital

Kamal Singh

Investment Professional

Mount Sinai

Dr. Annapoorna Kini

Director, Cardiac Catheterization

GHF Network

Shub Bhowmick

Investment Professional

GHF Network

Michael Kopko

Operator-Investor

GHF Network

Sashi Reddi

Investor & Operator

02 /Sector judges

Six operators. One champion each.

Sector judges run the first interview, score the materials, and lobby the panel for one company. They don’t vote — but they’re the reason a vote happens.

Digital Health · Health IT

Dr. Anil Joshi

EHR architecture & clinical workflow

“Show me the workflow before you show me the model. The model is the easy part.”

Champions companies likeAbridgeSukiAmbience
Healthcare Services · Care Delivery

Dr. AJ Rastogi

Vertically-integrated care models

“If your gross margin is below 35% you're not a tech company, you're a care company. Just say it.”

Champions companies likeCarbon HealthTiaGalileo
Medical Groups · AI / Analytics

Dr. Shyam Visweswaran

Operational AI for hospitals

“Engagement is a vanity metric. Adherence is a real one. Don't show me the first.”

Champions companies likeHinge HealthOmadaBig Health
Bio · Pharma · Medtech

Hitesh Vachharajani

Regulatory & clinical evidence

“I want platforms that produced one product, then a second. Not platforms that promise both.”

Champions companies likeRecursionTempusPathAI
Health Insurance · Payor Tech

Anshul Debuka

Prior auth, utilization, plan design

“Everyone says they take risk. Show me your reserves. Show me your stop-loss.”

Champions companies likeAledadeDevoted HealthOak Street
Consumer Health · Distribution

Craig Cooper

Co-Founder, Boost Mobile · Operator-investor

“Distribution decides healthcare. The product is the price of admission — the channel is the moat.”

Champions companies likeBoost MobileConsumer-health betsBrand-led care

03 /Observers

Seven more in the back of the room.

Observer judges write the diligence memos no one else will. They don’t speak during the panel — they file 600-word reports the morning after, which the panel reads before the final vote. The room is quieter because of them.

Dr. Achintya Moulick

GHF Trustee

Global Health Forum

Aloke Nandy

Strategic Capital

GHF Network

Girish Navani

Founder & CEO

Healthcare IT

Sashi Reddi

Investor & Operator

GHF Network

Dr. Aman Mahajan

Health-System Executive

Multi-State Network

Sandeep Sinha

Strategic Operator

Cross-Border

Dr. Nikki Bajaj

Executive Director

Global Health Forum

Scoring rubric · 2026

The five questions, and what they’re worth.

Each judge scores 0–10 on each criterion. Weighted average across the panel. The cohort of five companies that advance to Day Two are the top five by total score, full stop.

01

Buyer fit

Is there a real, named buyer with budget authority who has already said yes — or has been pushed hard enough that a no is informative?

What we want to see A signed LOI, a paying pilot, or a CFO email.
25%Weighting
02

Unit economics

Does each customer make the next customer cheaper to land, or more expensive? Is there a believable path to gross margin above 50% within 24 months?

What we want to see A cohort chart with at least two real cohorts.
25%Weighting
03

Team

Have these specific founders done this specific thing before? If not — have they earned the right to do it now?

What we want to see A founder who is the obvious answer to the question.
20%Weighting
04

Implementation reality

What happens between the LOI and the first dollar? Have you sold into procurement, security, IT, and a clinical sponsor — or just the CMO over coffee?

What we want to see A 90-day deployment plan that has actually been executed once.
15%Weighting
05

TAM & novelty

Is this a real market, and are you doing something here that the next three best-funded competitors fundamentally can’t?

What we want to see A defensible insight that’s hard to copy in 18 months.
15%Weighting
·

The veto

Any single judge can veto a finalist with a written 200-word memo to the chair, even after voting. The veto has been used exactly twice in five years. We’re proud of both.

What we want to see That you’d survive the veto.
—Override
Total weighted score100