Do you want to be like Sachin?

Sachin Jain has done it all.

No, really.

MD, MBA, CEO, deputy director, policy advisor, faculty, board member, and more.

The physician-executive is reshaping what leadership looks like in healthcare, bringing a rare mix of policy insight, clinical expertise, and visionary operational experience.

Sachin’s Work:

• Academic Rigor: MD and MBA from Harvard, magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College.
• Executive Leader: Former CEO of CareMore and Aspire Health—scaled to 180,000 patients across 32 states and $1.6B in revenue.
• Innovation Operator: First Deputy Director of the CMS Innovation Center (CMMI); led major loneliness and home-based care programs.
• Policy Perspective: Senior advisor in the Obama Administration during the CMS transformation era.
• Thought Leader: Published 100+ peer-reviewed articles; Contributor to Forbes; Editor of The Soul of a Doctor.
• ‍Teacher & Mentor: Faculty roles at Stanford, Harvard Med, and HBS.
• Current Focus: CEO of SCAN Group; Board Member at Omada Health and Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship.

Sachin isn’t just reimagining care delivery—he’s showing what’s possible when clinical integrity meets systems leadership.

So, do you want to be like Sachin? Read below to find out how you can develop the decision-making and leadership skills to create a diverse non-clinical career so someday people will say, “you’ve done it all.”

How did you learn to expand your view of what a career in medicine could be?

The big challenge for most physicians who are looking to branch out is their expectation of linearity. And what I mean by that is I think most medical professional careers are quite linear and quite predictable. You're a biology major at undergrad, and then you apply to medical school after taking the MCAT, and then you take the MCAT, then you do a residency, then you do a fellowship, and then you get a job.

The expectation is that there is a clearly laid out path when physicians extend themselves into nonclinical careers. And I would say that no such thing exists.

That's scary for a lot of people who end up in medicine because people who end up in medicine are often those who want a certain kind of linearity in their lives.

Traditional clinical practice is great; it's worthy, and we have a serious need for people who continue to take care of patients. Some of what we need from practicing doctors is their leadership to make clinical practice more sustainable. But if you're looking to extend outside of clinical practice. I think just getting comfortable with being uncomfortable is going to be a critical success factor for people.

The expectation is that there is a clearly laid out path when physicians extend themselves into nonclinical careers. And I would say that no such thing exists.

When did you learn that there's not a straight linear career path in non-clinical medicine?

It was actually my work with David Blumenthal, who was the national coordinator for Health Information Technology under President Obama, and he made a comment to me that I'll paraphrase.

He said, "People's biographies seem super linear in retrospect. Essentially, when you read someone's bio, you're like, 'Well, of course they ended up where they ended up.' And that is false because people write bios so that they sound and seem logical. But in fact, the real underlying stories are far more idiosyncratic and unexpected than I think most people will acknowledge."

My career has been a series of accidents and coincidences. And, you know, to pretend otherwise usually means somebody's not telling you the truth.

For physicians who want to stretch themselves and take that next step, what advice would you have for them to make those decisions? What should they be looking for?

They shouldn't think that hard. You just have to dive in and start learning. It's a "see one, do one, teach one" kind of mentality applied to this other part of your career.

You'll learn way more by actually doing and getting into the arena than you will by thinking and talking to people about the arena. If somebody asks you to advise a startup, get started. Just dive in there. If somebody asks you to serve on an advisory board, just join the advisory board and start to learn a new language.

One of the biggest things that intimidates people is the different language used in business and nonclinical careers. And that can make things seem inaccessible. That can be intimidating. So, push yourself to get immersed in the language in the same way that you might take a trip to another country where you don't know the culture.

The best way to learn the culture is just to spend a couple of weeks there. You'll start to use all five of your senses as opposed to just using the logical part of your brain that just wants to learn about something.

One of the biggest things that intimidates people is the different language used in business and nonclinical careers. And that can make things seem inaccessible. That can be intimidating.

Out of the many experiences you've had, which one did you learn the most?

It's undoubtedly probably my time at Merck, which I would chalk up as a failure.

I spent three years at Merck. I was the global Chief Medical Information and Innovation Officer right out of residency, a job no one should have ever given me.

But I was lucky to find my way into that role. And I think I had all of the IQ to do that job. I had the knowledge of what needed to be done. However, I didn't necessarily have the organizational sophistication required to achieve success in a large, publicly traded Fortune 50 company.

I struggled to create the kind of impact that I wanted to. It wasn't that we weren't successful in accomplishing our goals, but what I would say is that to get things done and have them be sustainable and durable within a corporation, you have to sometimes go slow to go fast.

You have to build relationships. You have to understand the ecosystem at a level of depth that allows you to be maximally impactful. And I came in and I was like, "Hey, this is a job I'm going to do for a period of time, and then I'll do something else." And, so I was in a rush to get things done, and I didn't have the organizational sensitivity that I've since developed to really understand that to be successful, sometimes you have to go slow to go fast.

That experience set me up for greater success in my subsequent leadership role at CareMore, where I led the organization for nearly six years, initially as its Chief Medical Officer and then as CEO. And more recently, at SCAN, where I've been CEO for five years now.

If a physician were jumping into a leadership role, like the one you just described, and maybe they don't have the experience in a large organization. What pep talk would you give to them before their first day?

I've given this pep talk to a number of people, and some of them listened to what I had to say, and others ended up working at their company for only seven months because they didn't listen to what I had to say.

However, the reality is that you are walking into a completely different ecosystem and environment. I think having that humility, curiosity, and the right sense of time is crucial. So, not feeling like you have to have an impact from day one, and being fully in learning mode for a period of time.

Also, ask a lot of people for help. The same way that a resident or intern who's scariest is the one who doesn't know and is out of their depth. The same thing applies to physician executives.

There are many people around who are willing to help. A lot of people have helped me over the years. Pick up the phone, call them. Many people have seen the exact same situation before. So, a lot of the learning agility that you demonstrate as a physician in medical school and residency and fellowship is going to serve you well, provided you apply it.

Often, when people have been in practice for several years, they tend to leave their learning agility at the door. And they kind of get into a routine. And what you're going to be doing if you're shocking yourself out of that and getting into a non-clinical space, is you're going to have to learn a lot of new things.

And so getting yourself back into a learner's mindset will be critical.

The same way that a resident or intern who's scariest is the one who doesn't know and is out of their depth. The same thing applies to physician executives.

What do you usually tell younger physicians or physicians in leadership when they come to you for advice?

I say focus on being a great doctor first. Because everyone knows that person who is a doctor in name only, you must lead with your clinical credibility, clinical sensibility, and professionalism.

The other thing I tell them is to "dig in" for a while. We have a lot of journeyman physician executives, people who hold one job for a year, another job for another year, and another job for yet another year. And early in your career, you might be doing that because like opportunities are presented to you.

But eventually, a gap develops where you haven't seen enough things through. So your judgment as a physician executive doesn't really develop. I've seen that several times. You have to see through several business cycles to really get to the max of your powers as a physician executive.

When you're bouncing around a lot because you don't like your boss, you don't like your company, you don't like your job, or you don't like your compensation. You're sub-optimizing your long-term career potential because you aren't seeing enough business cycles through, and you're not getting enough judgment.

It's a lot like being a physician. You're a much better doctor five years into practice than you are right after graduating from residency because you've seen it a lot. Your diagnostic acumen and your therapeutic acumen just go through the roof. The same thing can be said for executives.

Don't stay in toxic situations, but "digging in" for four or five years is when you can learn a lot. I also oftentimes tell people to run towards problems.

Many times, people want to go from one safe situation, safe clinical practice, to, you know, a safe business situation, but you, again, are going to suboptimize your learning.

I think going to organizations that are going through a lot of change and turmoil ends up being wildly accretive for people in terms of their learning and professional development.

Focus on being a great doctor first. Because everyone knows that person who is a doctor in name only, you must lead with your clinical credibility, clinical sensibility, and professionalism.

‍