Alice Zheng was once skeptical of business

The course of Alice Zheng’s life changed when she audited a class at the U-M Ross School of Business during her first year of medical school. Before taking the class, Zheng was skeptical of business.

“I was highly skeptical of the private sector and thought corporations were malevolent,” she says. “But that class changed my perspective completely.” She remembers one example that particularly hit home: malaria nets. They’re inexpensive and save lives. Even though it would be possible to give the nets away for free, Zheng learned that people were more likely to use them when they paid a nominal fee. “That opened my eyes — you can create a business that’s financially stable and able to deliver social impact.”

It was the idea of making a broad impact that made Zheng first think about a career in business. She did a summer internship at a hospital in India that had an interesting business model. Women giving birth could pay more for a luxurious private room, which allowed the hospital to subsidize care for poor women. The sustainable, yet altruistic, business model appealed to Zheng.

“I didn’t want to be the doctor on the team; I wanted to lead the organization,” she says. That’s when she decided to go to business school.

Zheng earned an MBA from Harvard Business School before graduating from the U-M Medical School in 2015.

Zheng’s main career goal has always been to improve the health care and lives of those who are underserved. She originally thought she would bean obstetrician and gynecologist, and women’s health remains important in her career. She gives credit to two OB/GYN mentors at Michigan Medicine who helped shape her career: Tim Johnson, M.D. (Residency 1979), and Frank Anderson, M.D. Zheng was also grateful to have a Dean’s Scholarship, which allowed her to pursue her career goals without the pressure of having to pay off medical school loans.

Although Zheng knew she was not going to end up working as a physician, she still decided to do a year of residency to get some experience with patient care. Now she’s using that experience to improve women’s health.

“Alice Zheng is an exemplar of the medical student who easily crosses disciplinary borders to do innovative and important things,” says Johnson, who is an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor as well as professor of obstetrics and gynecology. “Her contributions, and contributions yet to be made, to women’s health in the venture capital domain more than justify the medical education that helped her achieve these career goals and aspirations.”

As an early-stage venture capital investor at RH Capital in San Francisco, Zheng helps new companies that have the potential to change treatment paradigms. For example, RH Capital is currently supporting AOA Dx, a company that has developed a test for early detection of ovarian cancer.

“It was amazing that I was able to explore an interest in business while I was in medical school,” Zheng says. “Going from anatomy class, smelling like formaldehyde, over to the business school — that was only possible because there was support and openness all around.”