We are excited to announce Dr. Mitesh Kothari has joined our Clinical Advisory Board. A physician, entrepreneur, and healthcare consultant, Dr. Kothari brings a unique perspective shaped by decades of experience in both clinical medicine and practice growth.

Dr. Kothari is bringing his wealth of knowledge to Seed Healthcare. His insights into operational excellence and strategic expansion will be invaluable as we continue our mission to transform healthcare through innovation and early disease detection.

We sat down with Dr. Kothari to discuss his career, his passion for healthcare innovation, and what excites him most about joining Seed Healthcare’s Clinical Advisory Board.

You’ve had a unique career path, studying finance in college before becoming a physician and later growing one of the largest OB/GYN practices in the country. How has this diverse experience shaped your perspective on healthcare and business?

I started college like many aspiring physicians and majored in Biology.  I had no interest in being a Biologist. I came to the realization that there was no guarantee that I would be admitted to medical school, so I concentrated on taking as many business classes as I could.  It is during college that I discovered finance and entrepreneurship are my true passions.  Once I graduated from medical school and finished my residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology, I started my own private practice, a small business, in my hometown of Hagerstown, MD.  I learned the business of medicine out of necessity, much of this is never taught in medical school and most physicians that start out their careers as employees never really learn about billing and collections, HR, accounting, use of various software, business efficiency, marketing, etc. In my 25 years of practice, I sat with patients every day and talked with them about their condition, their options, and learned what was important to them in the course of their treatment.  It is this experience that I feel will enable me to bring knowledge of how patients make decisions and want to receive care to the discussions regarding which technologies, equipment, tests, and medications will succeed in the Venture Capital world as an advisor to Seed.

Being entrepreneurial, I enjoyed the business side of medicine and quickly focused on efficiency, profitability, and growth.  Through various partnerships and mergers, my partners and I eventually became one of the largest Women’s Health practices in the United States.  We eventually sold the practice to private equity backed Unified Women’s Healthcare which is now by far the largest Women’s Health organization in the US.

These experiences allowed me to learn about our healthcare system from the viewpoint of the patient, business owner, employer, and physician.  Over the course of time, I was able to learn what works well and what doesn’t.

Building a thriving medical practice from the ground up is no small feat. What were the key drivers behind your practice’s growth, and what lessons did you learn along the way?

Fortunately, good customer service (bedside manner) came naturally to me.  I learned what a competitive advantage this can be.  I learned that I needed good advisors in terms of accounting, legal, and wealth management; it was important to pick worthy people for these jobs and place trust in them so I can focus on my business.  I learned that partnership is like a marriage and it must be nurtured with honesty, equity, and trust.  I learned how to be an effective and contributing board and committee member.  So much goes into the improbable run of success that my partners and I experienced, it is impossible to list all that was learned.

 

After retiring from clinical practice, you’ve focused on consulting in practice efficiency, growth, and medical real estate. What excites you most about this next chapter of your career?

We developed medical real estate over the years to accommodate our growing medical practice.  We didn’t really think of it as an investment at first as we felt we must build more space to allow growth the practice.  At the end of my career, we were able to sell our largest medical building to Montecito Medical Real Estate, one of the largest acquirers of such buildings.  This experience was excellent and our partnership with Montecito was rewarding and educational. Now, I am focusing on helping physicians develop real estate to accommodate their growing practices as this is a skill set very few of them possess.

I feel that I have learned so much in managing and growing a practice.  We made a few mistakes along the way that were lessons learned but overall, we focused on what was good for the patient, good for my doctors and staff, and profitability. Many physicians don’t like to talk about money and profits, but I believe that a profitable practice allows for all to be compensated well, allows us to offer additional value-added services, and maintains our competitiveness in our market.  I have had several occasions to help practices that are struggling with efficiency, profitability, and HR issues with physicians.  These are often health system owned practices but can be private practices as well.  It is rewarding to be able to help them improve in a meaningful way and I hope to continue to do this as more opportunities arise.

 

Healthcare is evolving rapidly, with technology playing a larger role in improving patient outcomes. From your experience, where do you see the biggest opportunities for innovation in medicine?

The application of AI into the medical field is likely to have the largest impact.  It will touch everything from documentation, billing, diagnosis of disease, treatment planning, drug development, and surgical techniques.  My hope is that there will be rapid adoption and accelerated results.  This is where developers may need Venture Capital to develop and bring products to market.  We have much room to design better diagnostic tests, detect disease earlier, make treatments better and more affordable, develop medications that have less side effects, and develop procedures that are safer and less invasive.  This will lead to a healthier and longer life for the human race. I think that more innovation will occur in the next 10 years than we have had in the last 100 years.

 

You’ve served on over 20 nonprofit boards, leading many of them. How has that experience shaped your approach to leadership and giving back in the healthcare space?

Working with a group of people to manage an organization takes interpersonal skills, the ability to speak freely, sincere respect for one another, and trust. I feel my experience on these boards helped shape me as a businessman because often I had the pleasure of serving with respected bankers, lawyers, accountants, and very successful businessman.  When I would struggle with a business dilemma in my practice, I would often call on these people and seek their advice.  I think to be a leader, you must have the respect of those that you are leading.  This involves first having respect for them, listening, compromise, and seeking collaborative solutions to problems at hand.

I have served on nonprofit boards that seek to help my community with various social issues.  Naturally, I have served on several healthcare related boards, and it has been a pleasure to give back to my community in this manner.

 

Seed Healthcare is committed to advancing healthcare through innovation and early disease detection. What inspired you to join the Clinical Advisory Board, and what about this mission resonates with you?

My mother died at an early age from a preventable condition. As an OB/GYN, much of what we do is preventive care, and I often shared this story with patients to make them understand the role of preventive care in early disease detection.  I have seen many advances over the years such as more accurate Pap testing, improved medications, robotic surgery, vaccination against HPV to prevent cervical cancer, and better imaging techniques in mammography that helps detect breast cancer earlier and more accurately to name a few.  As I said earlier, I think there will be more innovation in the next 10 years than I have seen in my entire career and the opportunity to evaluate up and coming innovations with Seed Healthcare is exciting.

 

As you step into this role with Seed Healthcare, what impact do you hope to make, and what excites you most about collaborating with the team?

I feel fortunate to be asked to join this esteemed team.  There is no doubt that the most exciting thing to me is getting to know the other advisors and learn from them and grow my knowledge base. My hope is that being able to see these innovations from the patient and physician prospective will lead to a meaningful contribution.  The Women’s Health field is so ripe for innovation in terms of early disease detection, and I feel that the experiences that I have had in my career will be valuable.