2017-up-and-comers-kevin-kumler

Kevin Kumler has been around healthcare his whole life. His mom was a dental hygienist and his dad was an orthopedic surgeon whom Kumler would sometimes accompany on hospital rounds. Kumler also gained the patient perspective from a young age since he grew up with asthma. "I was drawn to the business side of it," Kumler said of his interest in the industry. After graduating from business school--around the time the first iPhone came out, he noted--he spent nearly a decade in McKinsey & Co.'s healthcare practice in the U.S., the U.K., and India. "I was seeing consumer technology starting to transform backward industries," he said. "I love jigsaw puzzles and I can't walk away until the problem's done." Aiming to put that experience to use in healthcare, in 2013 Kumler joined Zocdoc , a company focused on the importance of putting patients--that is, consumers--at the center. Zocdoc has successfully rethought one of the most critical interactions between patients and providers: scheduling an appointment. As head of Zocdoc's health systems business, he helped the company grow its footprint; the firm boasts nearly 6 million patient users every month. Now president of health systems for the 10-year-old company, Kumler is in frequent contact with healthcare leaders across the country. He's expanded the unit from five clients to about 80. Working with them, he can see that the pace of innovation is picking up. "It's an exciting time to be in this space," he said, but technology developers have to make sure that their solutions, however innovative, are in the best interest of the patient. Every day, Kumler said, he's excited to come into the office, where he floats around, working wherever there's an open space. "My desk is generally my lap, where I put my tablet and get to work," he said. He's proud of what Zocdoc has achieved, but, he said, "there's so much we haven't solved yet." That only motivates him more. "I love jigsaw puzzles," he said, "and I can't walk away until the problem's done." --Rachel Z. Arndt