Society of Physician Entrepreneurs (SoPE) Arizona Chapter is the regional chapter for the non-profit global biomedical and healthcare innovation network SoPE. Membership is open to medical professionals and other stakeholders in healthcare. Members include doctors, nurses, dentists, healthcare entrepreneurs, investors, engineers, IT professionals, and industry representatives. SoPE is here to provide the network to encourage, educate, and connect biomedical and healthcare entrepreneurs so that new ideas get a chance—The Society operates in the very early stages of innovation commercialization; encouraging physicians and other medical professional entrepreneurs with ideas about how to improve healthcare to explore the possibilities and empowering them should they decide to take those initial steps in the “go to market” process. SoPE is unique in its make-up, leadership and mission – The Society is the only known organization founded and led by physicians with the specific purpose of providing support to those physicians and other medical professionals on the front lines of delivering healthcare that need help in bringing their ideas, inventions and innovations for improving healthcare to life.
We have a very eclectic group of individuals who attend our meetings, a key component in nurturing the healthcare/life science innovation ecosystem in Arizona. We meet at various locations. Please join us!
Bill Sobers, MBA, AIF
Chapter Co-Leader
Bill has spent his career serving as an advocate for business owners, institutions and healthcare professionals. He specializes in the complexities of qualified and non-qualified retirement plans, cash management, foundation and endowment management, and investment banking services. As an accredited institutional retirement advisor, Bill focuses on designing and implementing corporate retirement plans that improve the financial lives of employees and enhance an organization’s value. With a deep understanding for the mechanics behind the development and management of corporate retirement plans, Bill works closely with his institutional clients to design a disciplined approach and then implement and monitor their plans. He takes great pride in helping retirement plan participants relieve some of their work-related stress, offering one-on-one financial coaching sessions on a regular basis. Prior to joining UBS in 2006, Bill served as a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch and as a manager for a nonprofit corporation.
John Shufeldt, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP
Chapter Co-Leader
John Shufeldt has nearly three decades of experience leading high performing teams and being a thought leader and agent of change in the delivery of healthcare, entrepreneurism and leadership.
John received his BA from Drake University in 1982 and his MD from the University of Health Sciences/ The Chicago Medical School in 1986. He completed his Emergency Medicine Residency at Christ Hospital and Medical Center in 1989 where he spent his final year as Chief Resident. John received his MBA in 1995, and his Juris Doctorate in 2005, both from Arizona State University. He is admitted to the State Bar in Arizona, the Federal District Court and Supreme Court of the United States. His certifications include Fellow, American Board of Emergency Medicine, College of Legal Medicine and American College of Emergency Physicians. In 2015, he completed his Six Sigma Black Belt from the Fulton School of Engineering at Arizona State University. In 2019 he completed a certificate program in Artificial Intelligence at MIT’s Sloan School of Management.
John founded NextCare Inc. in 1993 as well as numerous other health and non-health care businesses over the course of his career. He served as NextCare’s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board until 2010. Under John’s leadership, NextCare grew from a single clinic to 60 clinics in six states with revenue of nearly $100 million. He is the business manager and one of the founding partners of Empower Emergency Physicians and continues to practice emergency medicine at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center.
In 2010, John left NextCare and founded MeMD, LLC. At present, MeMD is used by more than 300 medical and mental health providers in 50 states to virtually treat patients on-demand and in the comfort of their home or place of work. At present, MeMD has nearly 5 million subscribers enrolled. John is the CEO of Tribal EM, an emergency department management and staffing company which works exclusively with Tribal facilities across the county.
John has authored 11 books on leadership, self-improvement, business, entrepreneurism and urgent care management and urgent care medicine.
Sudhen Desai, MD
Chapter Co-Leader
Dr. Desai earned his Doctorate of Medicine with Distinction in Research and Alpha Omega Alpha honors from Albany Medical College, after completing the six-year BS/MD program in conjunction with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. During his latter years of medical school, he was a scholar in the Clinical Research Training Program at the NCI/NIH, a clinical fellowship geared towards the development of translational researchers. He then went on to residency at Stanford University (General Surgery) and UCSF (view site), followed by fellowship in Vascular and Interventional Radiology at Northwestern University. He has practiced Interventional and Diagnostic Radiology for over eight years. He consults with multiple early-stage life sciences companies, venture capital firms and business schools. He has been appointed to multiple committees for the Society of Interventional Radiology and has lectured at the SIR annual meetings. As leader of the Houston chapter of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs (SoPE), Dr. Desai works to engage physicians interested in innovation and idea development, as well as to provide mechanisms and insights to assist ideas seeing the light of day.
Five Top Reasons You Should Attend Arizona SoPE Chapter events
- Learn by Example & perfect your own!
- Understand what seasoned investors expect in real life terms
- Networking with like-minded professionals
- Create your own Due Diligence process
- Be Part of It!