Why Health Tech Needs More Clinicians at the Table, And on the Cap Table! With Scrub Capital's Rebecca Mitchell

Dr. Rebecca Mitchell is a physician, product strategist, and co-founder of Scrub Capital, a venture firm built on a radical premise: if we want to fix healthcare, clinicians need more power. Not just at the bedside, but in the boardroom and on the cap table. Alongside her partners, Rebecca has brought together a community of over 800 physicians, nurses, and frontline clinicians who are shaping the future of healthcare from the inside out. Scrub isn’t chasing unicorns or hype cycles. They’re focused on funding companies solving real, often unsexy problems that clinicians actually care about.

On this episode of How I Doctor, Dr. Graham Walker talks with Rebecca about what’s broken in health tech investing, and how Scrub Capital is building a new model that puts clinician insight at the heart of every decision. They dig into what Rebecca looks for in founders, why most hospitals fail at innovation, and how to make the leap into early-stage investing without quitting your day job. Plus, a rapid-fire hype check on everything from AI documentation and wearables to GLP-1s and psychedelics. If you’ve ever wanted to build something better - or back the people who are - this episode will show you how.

Here are three key takeaways from their conversation about investing, innovation, and why clinicians should stop waiting for a seat at the table.

Clinicians Belong on Cap Tables, Not Just in Focus Groups

“We really believe that people that understand both the problem and can imagine new possibilities… are the best people to be building these businesses.”

Too often, health tech is built for doctors without ever truly involving them. Scrub Capital flips that script by putting clinicians at the center of decision-making—as investors, collaborators, and early testers. Rebecca makes the case that real innovation happens when physicians have both a voice and a stake in what gets built.

The Secret to Building Better Startups Is Don’t Chase Hype - Fix Real Problems

“We’re not trying to chase hype… We really started from first principles, like any good product person would, and said, what does everybody need? And can we build a sustainable business giving them what they need?”

Unlike many venture firms chasing the next AI buzzword, Scrub Capital is focused on solving unglamorous, deeply human problems in healthcare. From pharmacy infrastructure to workplace safety, their investments are grounded in frontline realities—not flashy pitch decks.

You Don’t Have to Quit Medicine to Shape the Future of Healthcare

“We have a whole initiative to put really incredible opportunities in front of these clinicians… most of them fractional candidly, because we don’t want to pull people away from their practice. That’s not something that they’re looking to do.”

One of Scrub’s most powerful insights is that clinicians don’t need to go full-time into startups to make an impact. Whether as part-time advisors, LPs, or community contributors, Rebecca encourages doctors to get involved—and explains exactly how.

Scrub Capital isn’t just funding startups—it’s building a movement to put clinicians at the heart of healthcare innovation. If you’re a physician who’s ever wanted to shape the tools you use (or ditch the ones that don’t work), now’s the time to get involved.

Follow Rebecca Mitchell on LinkedIn and learn more about Scrub Capital at https://scrubcapital.com/

Apply to join their clinician community here

Submit an investment opportunity here

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