In June of 2005, just after completing my third year of medical school I sent a cold email to Ross Jaffe. I found him online while researching MD MBA’s working in healthcare venture capital. I must have sent a 100 cold emails and Ross was one of the few to respond. In bold are a few parts that stuck with me but the entire email is worth reading a few times. The exchange, unedited below.

From: Ross Jaffe
To: Amal Agarwal  
Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2005 5:05 PM
Subject: RE: meeting

Amal:

I received your message.  Given my schedule and dozens of similar requests that I receive from physicians and medical students, I am not able to speak to you in person or carry on a long e-mail correspondence.  I will offer you a few thoughts for what they are worth.

Not knowing you, I am hesitant to advise you on how to pursue your career.  It strikes me that the fundamental issue you have to decide whether you really want to be a physician or not.  That is a question that you alone can decide.

Although I had a long-standing and active interest in health policy, I completed my medical training and residency before going to business school.  Before and during business school, I had thought that I would pursue a career in running a health care organization, the public sector, or academic medicine, and that the business training would provide additional insight into the issues I found most interesting in medicine: the organization and delivery of healthcare.

The opportunity for me to go into venture capital was pure chance — one of my professors gave my name to a former colleague of his who was at a VC firm looking for someone with a healthcare background — I did not decide to pursue a career in venture capital. They made me the offer that I wanted, which was to work for them 4 days a week and practice medicine one day a week.  I took the job initially as a planned two-year “residency in business” since I felt that business school didn’t make me a business person more than medical school made me a doctor — it takes the experiential learning process of medical residency to make one a physician.  VC turned out to be a great job for me — allowed me to use both my medical knowledge and business training on a daily basis, is intellectually challenging and rewarding as the technologies that our companies develop make it into patient care — so it turned into a career, which is not what I expected to happen when I took the position originally.

I am not sure that my career path is easily replicable.  The venture capital world of today is very different than it was in when I joined Brentwood Venture Capital.  In 1990, there  were only a handful of people with medical training working in venture capital; today, almost every firm that is active in healthcare has a physician on its staff.  I joke that I would never hire me now — but would look for a physician with both real clinical experience and with some business experience — and those physicians are out there now.  I personally do not believe that an MD degree alone without clinical training is very valuable in investing — but a combination of both clinical experience and business experience is useful in an investor. 

I hope that these thoughts are helpful.  One piece of informed consent:  my thoughts are free to you, and may be worth what you paid for them (i.e., nothing).  You should discuss your career options with a number of people, and then triangulate on a path that you think will be best for you. Good luck!

Ross

Ross Jaffe, MD
Managing Director
Versant Ventures

From: Amal Agarwal
Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2005 9:14 PM
To: Ross Jaffe
Subject: meeting

Dear Dr. Jaffe,

I am writing to you because your career path is similar to what I would like to accomplish.  I am currently a 4th year medical student at Des Moines University.  Prior to medical school I attended Washington University Olin School of Business majoring in Finance and Accounting.  My goal is to enter the world of finance either doing private equity or venture capitalism. 

I wanted to ask you for some guidance about how to proceed.  While I value my medical degree, will other firms value it enough to consider me as an applicant?  Also do you feel it would be benefical for me to complete a residency prior to coming to wallstreet?  I know you are extremely busy and would very much appreciate any advice you have to give.  Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Amal Agarwal