Dr. Rishi Khakhkhar is the Chief Medical Officer of Counsel Health, a physician-led, AI-native, asynchronous care platform. He is a practicing emergency physician and founding team member of Counsel Health. He leads their clinical team in building best-in-class asynchronous care models. In his previous role, he served as the medical director of Mount Sinai's Virtual Urgent Care, the largest telemedicine service in the health system. He also led emergency department operations for Hospital-at-Home and supported mobile integrated health efforts across the care continuum. He is deeply interested in patient-centric, tech-forward, and clinically sound approaches to improve healthcare access and affordability.
Dr. David Whitehead works on the Clinical Product team at Counsel Health, a physician-led, AI-native, asynchronous care platform. He is a practicing emergency physician who, at Counsel, is dedicated to developing innovative clinical tools that empower clinicians to deliver the highest quality asynchronous care. Prior to joining Counsel, Dr. Whitehead advised digital health start-ups helping set new standards in care delivery, assisting them in navigating clinical, operational, and strategic challenges. He also spearheaded the development of an asynchronous care program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, focused on optimizing care transitions for patients after emergency department discharge.Dr. Whitehead is passionate about collaborating with mission-driven teams committed to enhancing healthcare accessibility and quality.
Dr. Muthu Alagappan is an AI researcher turned physician at the forefront of healthcare innovation. As the CEO and Founder of Counsel Health, he is pioneering a new paradigm in asynchronous, AI-powered healthcare, aiming to make high-quality medical advice accessible to all. Before founding Counsel, Muthu was the Chief Medical Officer of Notable Health and was an Attending Physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and UCSF Medical Center. He graduated with his MD from Stanford Medical School, where he published several papers at the intersection of healthcare and AI. Currently, he practices at Counsel Health.
The growing use of AI chatbots for medical questions should not be seen as a threat to the healthcare system, but as a signal that patients aren’t trying to replace their physicians; they’re trying to find them.