OpenAI Makes Bold Push Into Healthcare With New Leadership and AI Applications

OpenAI is intensifying its push into healthcare AI, marking a strategic shift toward building its own consumer and clinician-facing health technologies. The company has brought on two high-profile executives: Nate Gross, co-founder and former chief strategy officer of Doximity, a leading digital health platform for physicians, and Ashley Alexander, former co-head of product at Instagram. Gross joined in June and will lead OpenAI’s go-to-market strategy in healthcare, focusing on co-developing tools with clinicians and researchers. Alexander, who started her role on Tuesday, will serve as vice president of product, tasked with creating AI solutions for both patients and healthcare providers. This move signals a broader evolution for OpenAI, which has historically focused on supplying foundational AI models to other companies. Now, it aims to own not just the models but also the applications built on them. The company has been building momentum in healthcare for months. In May, it launched HealthBench, an open-source benchmark to evaluate the accuracy and safety of health-focused AI systems. At the GPT-5 launch in August, CEO Sam Altman highlighted the model’s advanced capabilities in healthcare, calling it a “legitimate Ph.D. expert” and emphasizing its ability to help users understand medical results, ask informed questions, and explore treatment options—without replacing doctors. OpenAI’s ambitions are further underscored by its recent partnerships. In July, it teamed up with Penda Health, a Kenyan primary care provider, to test its AI clinical copilot, which assists physicians during patient visits. The company also participated in the White House’s “Make Health Tech Great Again” initiative, where President Trump announced a private-sector effort to enable secure sharing of medical records across apps, with OpenAI among the 60 participating companies. The goal is to deploy conversational AI assistants to improve patient care. The company’s new leadership is expected to accelerate this mission. Gross brings deep experience in digital health, having co-founded Doximity and Rock Health, a digital health investment firm. His background includes launching Doximity GPT, an AI tool powered by OpenAI for physicians. Alexander, with over a decade at Meta, brings expertise in product development, particularly in user experience, advertising, and content platforms—skills crucial for building consumer-friendly health tools. Despite these advances, challenges remain. While some studies show AI like ChatGPT can outperform physicians in certain diagnostic tasks, experts warn of significant risks. A Stanford study found that AI can generate harmful or inaccurate medical advice—such as recommending bromide supplements for salt reduction, leading to a real case of bromide poisoning. The “automation bias” phenomenon, where users trust AI over their own judgment, compounds the danger, especially when AI operates as a “black box” with no explainable reasoning. OpenAI maintains that its AI is not a replacement for medical professionals but a tool to empower patients and clinicians. Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s new CEO of applications, emphasized her personal motivation, citing her own struggles with a chronic illness and her belief that AI can “level the playing field” in healthcare. OpenAI continues to hire, with roles open for health AI research scientists and healthcare software engineers. While it is competing more directly with startups and tech giants like Microsoft, Google, and Palantir, OpenAI is not abandoning partnerships—continuing to power tools for companies like Summer Health and Oscar Health. As AI’s role in healthcare grows, so do the stakes. OpenAI’s latest hires and strategy represent a bold bet on transforming patient care—but success will depend on balancing innovation with safety, transparency, and trust.