E117: Dr. Pankaj Jethwani (EVP, W Health Ventures)

The Desi VC with Akash Bhat

Dr. Pankaj Jethwani is the Executive Vice President at W Health Ventures, a Boston-based venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs build the future of healthcare delivery in the US and India. Over the last ten years, Dr. Jethwani has been involved in improving care delivery in several care settings in the US and India as a physician leader, operator, management consultant, and investor.
Dr. Jethwani started his career as a Primary Care Physician in Mumbai, India. Through this experience, he witnessed first-hand the gaps in health care delivery in both the public and private sectors. Motivated to bring about reform in this system, he joined The Boston Consulting Group in India where he helped shape BCG’s work with Government agencies to improve delivery of healthcare at scale. He later co-founded The Breakfast Revolution (TBR), a social enterprise fighting the malnutrition epidemic in India. TBR has served 220,000+ children over 20 million fortified meals.
More recently, Pankaj worked at Iora Health, a Boston-based innovative primary care company that serves seniors on Medicare. This experience helped shape his perspective on building and scaling a technology-enabled value-based care organization, taking global risk, and creating a delightful model of care for patients and providers. At W Health Ventures, Dr. Jethwani leads investments in disruptive technology-enabled healthcare services companies in the US and India. Pankaj holds an MBBS (MD-equivalent) degree from MUHS (India) and received an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Episode Notes:

1. Introduction (2:30)
2. How did Pankaj venture into the world of VC following his career as a doctor? (3:05)
3. Which is more challenging: transitioning into VC or practicing medicine? (6:12)
4. Insights gained from Pankaj's experience as an operator (8:44)
5. The healthcare industry in India: an in-depth analysis (17:48)
6. The transformative impact of VC in healthcare: an exploration (31:11)
7. Valuable lessons derived from high-performing portfolios (36:47)
8. W Health Ventures' investment strategy and approach (44:53)
9. The pivotal role of capital in shaping India's healthcare landscape (51:20)
10. Unlocking growth and fortifying the Indian healthcare industry (55:40)
11. Words of wisdom Pankaj would impart to his younger self (58:25)