Pharma
Dr. Shiv Rao discovered his passion in the high-pressure world of intensive care units, where life-or-death choices are made in a matter of seconds. As a resident working long nights in the ICU, Rao discovered a special talent to flourish under duress. "I loved the intensity, the acuity of those situations," he says. "It's where I felt most alive." This fondness for high-stakes situations eventually led him to cardiology, a field that combines the urgency of life-saving interventions with the deep connections that are formed during patient care.
Years later, Rao is using the same enthusiasm to address one of healthcare's most chronic issues: the burden of clinical paperwork. Rao is the founder and CEO of Abridge, a healthcare AI company, which has just raised $250 million in a Series D fundraising round led by Internet entrepreneur Elad Gil and venture capital firm IVP.
Rao’s journey to founding Abridge was shaped by his dual roles as a cardiologist and a problem-solver. Even as he built his career in medicine, he couldn’t ignore the inefficiencies that plagued the system. One of the most glaring issues was the time-consuming process of clinical documentation. “Every evening, I’d spend hours dictating notes about the patients I’d seen that day,” Rao explains. “It was exhausting, and it took away from the time I could spend with my family or simply recharging.”
