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Dr. Amer Alnajar '04

Dr. Amer Alnajar ‘04 exemplifies authentic leadership. He is the founder and Chief Medical Officer of Vytalize Health, a healthcare platform that helps doctors strengthen their relationships with patients through data-driven, holistic, and personalized care.
Dr. Amer Alnajar ‘04 exemplifies authentic leadership. He is the founder and Chief Medical Officer of Vytalize Health, a healthcare platform that helps doctors strengthen their relationships with patients through data-driven, holistic, and personalized care. Vytalize has raised over $70 million and operates in 30 states. Amer shares how surrounding himself with like-minded, ambitious individuals–something he learned was important while attending Ranney–is critical to being a successful, industry-changing leader.

How did you decide to go to Ranney and how would you describe your Ranney School experience?
I was excited to attend Ranney with a few of my friends who also graduated from Oakhill Academy, a local school that only goes until eighth grade. It was an easy decision for my parents and me. Overall, I had a positive Ranney School experience. I liked that it was a smaller school because we had unlimited opportunities. I could play any sport I wanted to because I didn't have to worry about trying out and not making the team. Life is all about relationships, and Ranney helped me realize this and the importance of developing relationships with my classmates and teachers. Everyone was friendly with one another, and, with only 44 kids in my graduating class, there weren't enough people to develop cliques. 

Are there any lessons or skills you learned from Ranney that prepared you for Lehigh or medical school?
There wasn't a specific class that prepared me for Lehigh or medical school, but I do credit the critical principles and values I developed while a student at Ranney. The most important lesson I learned at Ranney is: that if everyone around you is hard-working and ambitious, you will be that way, too. Since my classmates were career-driven and focused, I was equally driven. Plus, because Ranney was a small school, we all encouraged one another to shoot for the stars. I used this principle of surrounding myself with like-minded individuals during my time at Lehigh and medical school, especially today at Vytalize Health. If all my friends were lazy, I might have been more complacent and comfortable with a routine career. Ranney prepared me to be successful because it put me amongst a group of like-minded individuals who were intelligent and determined. 

Did you know you wanted to be a doctor while you were at Ranney?
I was actually accepted into medical school as a senior at Ranney. I applied for the seven-year medical program through Lehigh-Drexel, and once I was accepted, I interviewed for medical school before high school graduation. My interest in medicine developed partly because of my family–my dad is an OBGYN–and partly because of a strong interest in science. Medicine was a combination of my interests and skills and made sense. So, yes, I knew I wanted to be a doctor at Ranney, but I wasn't sure in what capacity. I didn't decide to be a primary care doctor until the second half of medical school. 

How did you start Vytalize Health?
I always like new, challenging problems. Before I went to medical school, I thought being a doctor avoided a career of monotony and repetitiveness. The first few years of being a doctor were exciting, but after a while, I realized it was becoming repetitive with the same computer work and note-taking. It became more like autopilot, and I didn't want to be in that space. 

I also noticed a lot of broken things in healthcare. I would question why things were done a certain way and insist that providers learn the business of healthcare. The healthcare industry is like 30-years behind other sectors. For example, if you go to a small bodega, they have a computerized system that can tell them what each product is, how many are in the store, etc. But in healthcare, we don't have even the basic stuff. In my medical residency in 2014, we were still doing paper charts and notes in binders. When I pointed out the lack of technologies and shared information, I remember being told to focus on the clinical part of my job and let the administrators deal with everything else. That wasn't an answer I liked. Healthcare needed innovation, and I loved the challenge.

Initially, Vytalize Health started as a cash-based urgent care app that me and my partner, Faris Ghawi, envisioned as a small side business. Back then, our practice was available 24/7 and on-demand, and we met patients wherever needed, including virtual and at home. It was never meant to be a career, but the more Faris and I dove into the healthcare system and its inefficiencies, the more Vytalize Health evolved.


Tell us about Vytalize Health today and what makes it successful.
Today, Vytalize Health manages $2 billion of Medicare's budget. We work with over 1000 providers and 400 primary care providers (PCPs) in 30 states to provide better care for their patients. Our company has more than 150 employees and we would have nothing without them. Our work is predicated on honest relationships, radical transparency, and fairness with our employees, providers, and customers. To succeed as a company, you need to have long-term relationships with your people. At the end of the day, what is a company but a collection of people? 

Vytalize Health incentivizes our providers to build relationships and provide extra support to their patients because we know it will lead to better outcomes in the long run. And interestingly enough, when a patient feels like they have a good relationship with their doctor, they don't go to the hospital as much. By making healthcare more relationship-driven, we can reduce wasteful spending and end up helping the primary care provider, the taxpayer (by saving money and cutting the costs of Medicare), and, most importantly, the patient. Each of our providers has a weekly meeting with a doctor on our Medical Board to discuss their practice and how Vytalize Health can help impact their patients' experience–and we pay the PCP for that meeting, too. With these extra resources, our PCPs are afforded more time with their patients and don't have to partner with large healthcare organizations that may pressure them into doing things a certain way. We can take them off autopilot.

Did you always know you wanted to be a leader?
I was always a talker and passionate, but it was never my goal to run a company. I don't care about titles or roles; I care about being able to say I got to make a change. Later in life, we won't think about how impressive our resumes are but instead wonder if we made the world a better place or not. At Vytalize Health, I am a conduit to help improve patients' lives and help physicians have better businesses. 

An integral quality of any successful leader is being a good listener. At Vytalize Health, we listen to our patients, providers, and employees. We ask questions about what they observe and need because, although we've had success for the past eight years, we cannot pretend we know everything. 

What is your favorite Ranney memory?
The first memory that came to mind was when my friends and I snuck into the school for our senior prank. We filled the locker rooms with balloons and lined the hallways with cups of water. I later learned that my classmates had filled out a permission slip to "break into" the school at night (how Ranney!), which I appreciated because at least I didn't get in serious trouble for some silly, harmless, senior year fun.

Dr. Amer Alnajar ‘04 is the founder and Chief Medical Officer of Vytalize Health. He earned a Bachelor of Applied Science in Pre-Medicine/Pre-Medical Studies from Lehigh University and a Doctorate of Medicine from Drexel University College of Medicine. Prior to founding Vytalize Health, he was a resident doctor at Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia.

Vytalize Health is a leading value-based care platform helping primary care doctors strengthen relationships with their patients through data-driven, holistic, and personalized care. Vytalize provides an all-in-one solution including value-based incentives, smart technology, and a virtual and in-home clinic that enables small and large independent practices to succeed in value-based care arrangements. Vytalize's care delivery model transforms the healthcare experience for more than two hundred thousand Medicare beneficiaries across 30 states by helping them manage their chronic conditions in collaboration with their doctors.
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235 Hope Road
Tinton Falls, NJ 07724
Tel. 732.542.4777
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