Yale is an extraordinary institution, and it’s important to me to ensure that experience can be available to other people. One way to do that is to make sure Yale continues to receive strong support. The university gives so much to its community and to society, so it’s a privilege for me to support that mission and serve as Chair of Agents.
Alexi
Alexi Nazem, ’04, MD ’12, became committed to Yale University the moment he walked through its doors as an undergraduate in 2000. And he has remained dedicated to its success ever since graduating with his medical degree in 2012, now serving a two-year term as Chair of Agents for the Yale School of Medicine Alumni Fund.
As the lead volunteer for the Alumni Fund, Nazem supports about 75 volunteer class agents—representatives of the entire living population of Yale School of Medicine (YSM) alumni—in their efforts to keep their classmates connected to the school and encourage annual contributions to the Fund.
“I’m excited about helping the class agents and getting them excited about serving Yale,” Nazem says. “These are extraordinary people doing the day-to-day work of engaging with their classmates to inspire Alumni Fund participation, and I’m eager to lead the cheering section and help the whole group be effective.”
Supporting others has been a theme throughout his career, formerly as a practicing hospitalist and now as an entrepreneur. As a physician, Nazem says, he frequently saw obstacles in the healthcare system that made it difficult to give the best possible care to the greatest number of people.
“As a frontline worker, I had a front row seat to those problems,” he says. “I saw so many opportunities to fix things, but even if physicians have ideas to solve a problem, they don’t have the time or agency to do anything about it. I was interested in the impact on the healthcare system I could have, and that took me down the path of entrepreneurship.”
Nazem saw the growing problem of clinician workforce shortages—medical facilities struggled to find enough physicians, nurses, and other providers to meet the increasing need for healthcare services in the United States and around the world. With a business mindset, Nazem decided to tackle the problem through Nomad Health, which he co-founded nine years ago. The company is an online marketplace that connects healthcare providers directly with medical facilities who need their services on a short-term basis, allowing them to bypass staffing agencies that have traditionally paired facilities and clinicians.
Travel nursing, for example, is one of Nomad’s biggest business lines; the online platform matches nurses with the qualifications and experience that meet the specific credentials the hiring medical facility needs. The company has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval for Travel Nursing Accreditation, affirming Nomad’s commitment to providing safe, quality patient care.
Nazem says the business side of medicine has always interested him, which is why he decided to take a leave of absence from studying medicine at Yale to pursue an MBA at Harvard Business School. With that degree in hand, Nazem returned to Yale to complete his MD, which prepared him to take both skillsets into the healthcare field.
“I am interested in the intersection of medicine and business—both the systems of care and the care itself,” Nazem says, adding that he’s grateful to the YSM leadership for not only allowing him to pursue other fields of study, but also encouraging it. “The Yale School of Medicine is very focused on creating well-rounded physicians.”
That’s part of the reason he remains actively involved with both the university and the medical school as an alumnus, having served in many capacities over the past 20 years. He co-chaired his college class’s 20th reunion Gift Committee for the university, and for the medical school, he has served on the Yale Alumni Fund board of directors, on the executive committee of the Alumni Fund, as a class agent, and now as Chair of Agents for the Alumni Fund.
“Yale is an extraordinary institution, and it’s important to me to ensure that experience can be available to other people,” he says. “One way to do that is to make sure Yale continues to receive strong support. The university gives so much to its community and to society, so it’s a privilege for me to support that mission and serve as Chair of Agents.”
One of the things he enjoys most about his service positions at Yale is staying in touch with the alumni base. He also enjoys attending events, such as the White Coat Ceremony, where he handed out stethoscopes—funded by alumni donations—as a welcoming gift to incoming medical students.
For the future, YSM has set a lofty goal of helping students to graduate the medical school debt-free. While Nazem notes that’s not something any agent alone can accomplish, it’s his goal to encourage and facilitate a strong connection between alumni and their alma mater. That relationship helps graduates understand the school’s opportunities and challenges, keeps them involved, and allows them to collectively support the drive toward goals that are meaningful to the university as a whole.
“I was recently back on campus with the students and faculty, and I was reminded of what a wonderful place Yale is,” Nazem says. “Sometimes that inspiration and energy can become distant through life and work, so if I can be a conduit to rekindle that excitement for others, I’ll be doing a good job. There are so many gifts that people can give in addition to money—time, advice, re-engaging with colleagues—and all of that strengthens the Yale community.”