I recently agreed to be a mentor for Blueprint Health, a NYC residential program that helps very early stage health technology companies get started. With everything I have going on, why this new role?

One, I get to hang out with the other healthcare mentors. And two, I get to teach.

Teaching is not just a way to share what I know, but a way to learn. It helps me find out what I really think about new subjects, and make the next leaps to help my business.

Teaching is one of the most overlooked roles at a start-up. Medicine revolves around the concept of continual investigation and teaching.

Every day, residents and attending physicians do “rounds” on patients, which are both teaching and modeling sessions.

Imagine if at your business, your managers at your company spent 10 minutes presenting a new concept or recent article to employees.

In medicine, everyone is expected to teach, from medical students to attending physicians. I still look at most of my own roles that way.

My first love in medicine is medical ethics, and my most important mentor is Mark Siegler, MD. Mark recently accepted the leadership of the newly endowed, with a $43 million gift, University of Chicago’s Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence, which focuses on the MD-Patient relationship. Mark is a superb teacher.

Companies at the intersection of health and technology that can provide a blueprint for the next generation to do it better will be leaders.  Blueprint will provide teams with $20,000, office space and mentorship for 3 months. The program begins January 9.  Apply now.