Duke's first undergraduate student-led initiative dedicated to reshaping how students understand and engage with the health economy. Connect with industry experts, explore vast opportunities, and discover your perfect career match.
300+
Members
2
Annual Conferences
500+
People Brought Together
196
Networking Conversations
With support from Goldman Sachs · Google · Medtronic · Apple · Pfizer · and more
Health Tech·Venture Capital·Strategy Consulting·Biotech·Health Policy·Entrepreneurship·Digital Health·AI in Medicine·MedTech·Health Tech·Venture Capital·Strategy Consulting·Biotech·Health Policy·Entrepreneurship·Digital Health·AI in Medicine·MedTech·
Who We Are
Healthcare reimagined
Duke Business Behind Health (DBBH) is Duke's first undergraduate student-led initiative dedicated to reshaping how students understand and engage with the health economy.
So many students come into Duke thinking pre-med is the only way to make an impact in health. DBBH is a space for students interested in health to learn, explore, and find their career, as well as build a community of like-minded peers and mentors along the way. We want to show you the diversity in health and empower you to build solutions in or out of a traditional career path.
We're reimagining healthcare not just as a field of medicine, but as a space for builders, thinkers, creators, and innovators from all disciplines.
What We Offer
How we support students
Flagship
Conference
Our annual spring conference at Fuqua: two years of putting students in the room with the people building the future of health.
2025 & 2026 →
Build
Incubator
A year-long program matching Duke undergrads with real-world health innovation projects and experienced mentors.
Explore →
Career
Corporate
Corporate partnerships, recruiting prep, and career workshops give you structured exposure to the roles that run the health economy.
Explore →
Network
Industry Speed Networking
Algorithm-matched, one-on-one conversations with professionals from Goldman Sachs, Novartis, KPMG, Lilly, Pfizer, and more.
Explore →
Listen
Podcast
Watch the Commerce of Care, where you'll hear real conversations about building, pivoting, and finding your path in health. For some, the pivot is the point.
Explore →
Belong
Community
The membership portal, social events, and a network of students to help you demystify the black box around healthcare.
Explore →
The Team Behind It
Built by students, for students
A cross-disciplinary team of students passionate about building something new, and moving health beyond its traditional boundaries.
"What future are we responsible for shaping?"
The defining question of The New Health Order · Spring Conference 2026
Our goal is to not just talk about the future of health, but put students in the room with the people building it.
dBBH
Fueling Ambitions Advancing Health Together
Whether you're headed toward medicine, policy, business, or something entirely your own, you belong here.
Events & Calendar
Upcoming panels, workshops, fireside chats, and past event recaps.
April 2026
GBMs
Corporate
Alumni
Conference
Incubator
Recruiting & Deadlines
The dBBH Event Blog
Event Blog Posts
Recaps from our past events, written by the dBBH team. Click any post to read the full story.
📅
Click any event on the calendar to see details and RSVP.
Active MembersBuilt on consistent participation, starting with our GBMs each semesterGBMsOpen EventsNewsletter
Co-Presidents
Ella Etchandy
Co-President
Senior · BME
Co-Founder
Sanjana Sankholkar
Co-President
Senior · BME
Founding Member
Vice Presidents
Isabella Fauber
Executive Vice President
Senior · Biology & Global Health
Founding Member
Ryan Froeb
VP of Alumni & Industry Relations
Class of 2027 · BME & Chemistry
Founding Member
Jeffery Bohrer
Founding Co-VP of Impact
Senior · Statistics & Chemistry
Founding Member
Cali Carr
Co-VP of Impact
Sophomore · Chemistry & Math
Kat Zhang
Co-VP of Corporate
Class of 2027 · Chemistry & Economics
Alex Chin
Co-VP of Corporate
Class of 2029 · Financial Economics & Biology
Noah Onyewu
VP of Finance
Sophomore · Economics & Biology
Manoela Hirata
VP of Logistics
Class of 2029 · Biology
Ann Lee
VP of Marketing
Junior · Biology & Chemistry
Aanya Gupta
VP of Conference
Class of 2029 · Neuroscience & Econ
Directors
Membership & Recruitment
Nandini Gopalakrishnan
Communications
Tanys Mayman
Alumni & Industry Relations
Kate Reiniche · Danny Kriegel · Ariella Rukhlin · Jake Fernandez
Impact
Haynes Lewis · Coleson Kovacs
Corporate Relations
Srilakshi Venkatesan · Anushka Aggarwal · Allison Hollander · Julia Morgan
Conference
Lauren Shin · Gia Jimenez Hueman · Shrihaan Chaudhary
Finance
Griffin Bramwit · Shreyan Singha
Logistics
Amelia Smith
Marketing
Joseph Song (Photography) · Jazmin Ross (Instagram & TikTok) · Julia Karsner (Podcast)
What We Offer
Our programs, events, and community. Click any of them to learn more.
Buddy ProgramNewGet paired with an exec mentor this fall · sign-ups close Sept 12Sign Up →▾
This fall, we're excited to launch the DBBH Buddy Program. New DBBH members are paired with an exec member to learn more about the club, explore our opportunities, and build meaningful connections within the DBBH community.
Once sign-ups close, we'll release buddy pairings.
Our short-term goal is to maximize engagement and help you learn about DBBH before applications open for our Membership Pathways programs. Long-term, we want to foster a welcoming community where new members feel supported and have a mentor they can turn to for guidance and advice.
Flagship
Conference
Our annual spring conference at Fuqua: 500+ people across two years.
Learn more →
Build
Incubator
Year-long. Real health innovation projects. Real mentors.
Learn more →
Career
Corporate
Workshops, coffee chats, and recruiting prep across the health economy.
Learn more →
Network
Industry Speed Networking
Algorithm-matched, one-on-one conversations with industry professionals.
Learn more →
Listen
Podcast
Commerce of Care. For some, the pivot is the point.
Learn more →
Belong
Community
The portal, social events, and students who get it.
Learn more →
Conference · Our FlagshipOpen to All
Every spring, DBBH takes over Fuqua for a full day with healthcare's most forward-thinking leaders: keynotes, panels, workshops, and industry speed networking, all in one room.
2
Conferences
500+
People brought together
300+
Members
Spring Conference 2026 · April 11 · Fuqua School of Business
The New Health Order
Our second annual conference was built around three questions: Where is the healthcare system being redesigned? Where is there room to build? What future are we responsible for shaping?
Keynote
Ricky Bloomfield · Chief Medical Officer, Öura, on wearables shifting from consumer devices to clinical-grade tools
Panel 1 · Who Designs the Health Economy? Innovation in a Regulated Market
Mark McClellan · Former FDA Commissioner & CMS Administrator · Director, Duke-Margolis
Julia Pugachevsky · Moderator · Senior Health Reporter, Business Insider
Panel 2 · AI, Data & the Reinvention of Care
Jim Sinclair · Global Co-Head of Healthcare Investment Banking, Goldman Sachs
Naciima Mohamed · Founder, Agate Health
Dylan Gambardella · Founder & CEO, Different Health
Nilesh Mistry · VP of Digital Innovation, GE HealthCare
Christina Eaton · Moderator · Robotic Systems Test Engineer, Intuitive Surgical
Breakouts & Workshops
Morning Yoga · 8:00 AM
Hands-On AI Workshop · Dylan Gambardella vibe-coded an app live on a student's health goals
Fireside Chat · Matt Zemon, bestselling author on psychedelic science and mental health
Industry Speed Networking
196 one-on-one conversations with 49 industry professionals · structured 13-minute rotations, running in parallel
Spring Conference 2025 · April 12 · Fuqua School of Business
The Inaugural Conference
The one that started it. Our first conference brought together over 100 undergraduate students, 30 industry professionals, a keynote speaker, and 5 panelists for a full day of discussion across the health economy.
Keynote
Lisa Scott Carnell · Director of NASA's Biological and Physical Sciences Division
Panel 1 · Holistic Health: Eat Well, Feel Well
Nicole Cannon · CEO, FlowCorps
Tyler Helikson · Happy + Hale
Panel 2 · Capitalizing on Care: Innovation in Health
Charles Mathews · Partner, ClearView Healthcare Partners
Dr. Elizabeth Clayborne · Founder/CEO, NasaClip, and Emergency Medicine Physician
Christy Fernandez · Founder/CEO, DaVinci Wearables, and Deep Technology Advisor, MIT Adjunct Professor
Breakouts & Workshops
Morning Yoga · Hosted by FlowCorps
Industry Speed Networking · The Debut
30 simultaneous conversations and 120 total pairings, algorithm-matched · lunch by Happy + Hale
IncubatorApplication-Based
Current program · 2026–2027
A year-long program that matches Duke undergraduates with real-world health innovation projects, supported by experienced mentors from academia, industry, and nonprofits. Interdisciplinary teams of 5–6 work across three tracks: Data Science, Consulting, and Technology (biotech and devices), running from project brief through a showcase where fellows present their work to a live audience and guest judges.
Year-long
Duration
3
Mentored projects
5–6
Students per team
This semester: the Health Challenge
Work in interdisciplinary teams to tackle a real challenge in the health economy
Receive mentorship from industry leaders and builders
Present your work in front of industry leaders in healthcare
Built for students who want to move beyond ideas and into action. Applications open in early September.
Last year · Fall 2025
The inaugural Fall 2025 cohort ran as a 10–12 week program, putting interdisciplinary teams of 5–6 on 7 curated, mentor-supported projects across biotech, healthcare delivery, and health equity, running from project brief to the November Incubator Showcase, where Fellows presented their work to a live audience and guest judges, then stuck around for the DBBH Social.
CorporateApplication-Based
Not a one-off panel but a professional development ecosystem. Corporate gives students repeated, hands-on exposure to the people, pathways, and skills shaping healthcare: candid career conversations with leaders across medicine and industry, recruiting insights from students headed to major health companies, practical workshops with the Duke Career Center, and immersive looks inside fields like sports medicine.
Recent corporate programming
Beyond the White Coat: 75+ students. Two leaders shaping healthcare from completely different angles. Duke medtech founder Dr. Bruce Klitzman and UNC Health Chief Medical Informatics Officer Dr. David McSwain offered a candid look at the careers in the intersection of business and health nobody tells you about early enough.
How to Land Your Internship: 80+ attendees and a panel of five upperclassmen headed to Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, Merck, Medtronic, Mount Sinai Medical School, and ClearView Healthcare Partners broke down how they turned STEM backgrounds into careers, sharing recruiting strategies and the paths that got them there.
Resume Workshop with the Duke Career Center: a hands-on session led by Assistant Directors Michael Rudisill and Grace Athy, followed by small-group breakouts to dissect successful resumes across consulting, life sciences, biotech, engineering, healthcare, and research, then apply those insights to students' own resumes.
Play Smart: Inside Sports Medicine: an inside look at how elite athletes get back in the game with Carolina Hurricanes physical therapist Nick Mahaffey and Duke Athletics orthopedic surgeon Dr. Brian Lau, featuring a live knee-wrapping demo and review of famous basketball injury footage to unpack how professionals diagnose, treat, and prevent injuries at the highest level.
Coffee Chat series: 1–2 times per month, 4–5 students sit down with an industry leader. Our most recent highlight: Meg Powell, Managing Director of 501 Ventures, founder of Target RWE, and board director at Blue Cross NC.
Industry Speed NetworkingApplication-Based
Our speed networking pairs students with professionals through algorithmic matching: structured 13-minute, one-on-one conversations matched to each student's interests and goals, with 100+ individualized schedules. Students leave with strong relationships and opportunities.
196
Conversations · Spring '26
49
Industry professionals
120
Conversations · 2025 debut
Where our professionals come from
Goldman Sachs · Novartis · KPMG · Lilly · Pfizer, plus dBBH alumni across VC, med tech, policy, and medicine
And it runs all year: our Fall 2025 event matched 28 students with 20 professionals from Grifols, Labcorp, GSK, Duke Health, and Fuqua for 80 one-on-one conversations across four 15-minute rounds
The conversations continue afterward: coffee chats, mentorship, and relationships that extend far beyond DBBH
Applications for our 2026 Fall Networking Event open in early September.
CommunityOpen to All Students
DBBH does not just provide events, we foster a community of students across every major talking openly about their paths and demystifying the black box around healthcare together.
The membership portal: your profile, your event history, and career guides, all in one place
Social events and GBMs throughout the year
A network of students across pre-med, business, engineering, and more to talk with about your path
The newsletter and podcast keep the conversation going between events
Commerce of CarePodcast
Where DBBH conversations continue. Commerce of Care is our platform exploring every corner of the health economy: digital health, biotech, policy, finance, wellness, and more. A new episode every month, featuring students, alumni, and industry professionals.
Recent episodes
The pivot is the point: Isabella Fauber & Nishant Namboothiry on pivoting from pre-med to consulting, and treating uncertainty as information, not weakness
What building actually looks like: DBBH co-founder Gabrielle Perry on growing a question in Silicon Valley into a 300+ member community, and leading a 20-person cross-disciplinary exec team
Dr. Joshua Rosenberg: the Chief of Facial Plastic Surgery at Mount Sinai on technical mastery, translating research into clinical impact, and leading within complex hospital systems
Dishita Agarwal: a diagnosis with just 21 cases worldwide, and why accountability in healthcare must include compassion
Julie Rice: the co-founder of SoulCycle on building communities people actively want to be part of
Duke's first undergraduate student-led initiative dedicated to reshaping how students understand and engage with the health economy.
DBBH was founded after noticing a gap at Duke: there were many clubs focused on business and many clubs focused on pre-health, but none focused on the intersection of the two, or the breadth of careers inside the healthcare economy. Two years later, that gap became a community: 300+ members, over 500 people brought together through two conferences, multiple professional development programs, a podcast, and an industry network that keeps growing.
– Gabrielle Perry and Ella Etchandy
Our Growth
2
Founded
May 2024
7
Founding Team
Fall 2024
100+
First Conference
April 2025
150
New Programs
Fall 2025
300+
Year Three
Fall 2026
2024–2026
May
2024
DBBH is founded
Ella Etchandy and Gabrielle Perry develop the vision: a community of open-minded students, diverse industry professionals, and forward-thinkers who want to shape the future of health: Duke's first undergraduate initiative at the intersection of business and health.
Founding
Fall
2024
The founding team assembles
Through the summer and school year, Ella and Gabrielle bring together the first executive team, including Sanjana Sankholkar, Isabella Fauber, Samantha Strasser, Ryan Froeb, and Anthony Metayer, standing up finance, corporate, alumni, marketing, and conference roles from scratch.
Team
Apr
2025
The Inaugural Business Behind Health Conference
A keynote and three panels at Fuqua, headlined by Dr. Lisa Carnell, Director of NASA's Biological and Physical Sciences Division, plus the debut of our algorithm-matched Industry Speed Networking.
ConferenceSpeed Networking
Fall
2025
The programs multiply
The inaugural Incubator cohort launches: interdisciplinary teams of 5–6 on 7 mentor-supported projects, capped by a November Showcase in front of guest judges. The Blueprints for Impact career series kicks off with 75+ students. The Commerce of Care podcast goes live with guests like Julie Rice, co-founder of SoulCycle. The weekly newsletter reaches hundreds of subscribers.
IncubatorPodcastNewsletter
Spr
2026
Corporate goes monthly
Career Vision Board Night kicks off the semester, The Guide workshop series launches, How to Land Your Internship packs a lecture hall, and monthly coffee chats bring leaders like Meg Powell (501 Ventures) to engaged students.
Corporate
Apr
2026
The New Health Order
Our second annual conference: a keynote from the CMO of Öura, panels with a former FDA Commissioner and Goldman Sachs's healthcare leadership, a hands-on AI workshop, and 196 speed-networking conversations with 49 professionals. Over 500 people brought together across two conferences.
ConferenceSpeed Networking
Fall
2026
Year 3: clear pathways in
More opportunities in our incubator, corporate, and alumni engagement pathways. Look out for program specific applications and join a community 300+ strong.
PathwaysWe are here
dBBH
Be part of what's next
Whether you're pre-med, business, CS, policy, or undecided, your path in health starts here.
Career Resources
Guides, timelines, and frameworks for breaking into health's most competitive roles.
📊Consulting
🧬Biotech
💰Venture Capital
⚙️Engineering
🗓TimelineNEW
dBBH
Your home in the health economy
Access exclusive career guides, RSVP for events, connect with alumni, and track your dBBH journey.
Interactive event calendar with one-click RSVP
Your event history and membership status, in one place
Exclusive career guides & recruiting resourcesComing Soon
In return: exclusive pathways, alumni coffee chats, and curated opportunities in the health economy.
Please agree to the member agreement to join.
🎉
Welcome to dBBH.
You're in. Your member portal is ready: explore your pathways, the member agreement, and what's coming up.
Welcome, member
Welcome to your portal — this is where you can see upcoming events, your RSVPs and event history, and your automatic membership status, with more features rolling out soon.
Questions or feedback on the website or portal? Email dukebusinessbehindhealth@gmail.com.
Your Profile
Coming Up
Your RSVPs
When you RSVP for an upcoming event, it shows up here. RSVPing isn't the same as attending, so scan the QR at the event to get attendance credit.
Quick Links
Events & Calendar
See what's coming and plan your semester.
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Member Agreement
What we ask of you, and what you get back.
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Applications Open
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Your attendance history will appear here once event check-ins begin this fall. Scan the QR code at any event and it shows up automatically.
Member Agreement
Active member · agreement signed
◆Attend our monthly GBMs to stay an active member.
◆Uplift other members and give back to the community.
◆Engage with resources, and ask when you need help.
