VIRTA - Key Persons
Adam Wolfberg, MD, MPH, is the chief medical officer at Virta Health. Previously, he was the CMO at Current Health (acquired by Best Buy) and Ovia Health (acquired by LabCorp). Before that, he worked in medical affairs at athenaHealth and Ariosa Diagnostics (acquired by Roche). Adam trained in OB/GYN and maternal-fetal medicine and practices at Cambridge Hospital. Before going to medical school he was a print journalist. He blogs at www.adamwolfberg.com, and has written for magazines and websites including the Boston Globe Magazine, Slate.com, Huffington Post, and WSJ.com. His first book, Fragile Beginnings, was published by Beacon Press in 2012.
Amit is the Chief Operating Officer at Virta Health, where he leads the product development and patient care delivery teams to help deliver personalized, evidence-based care to patients across the entire U.S.
Amit joined Virta in 2016 and brings experience scaling operations and culture in entrepreneurial and high growth organizations. Prior to Virta, Amit was an early team member at Paladina Health, a direct primary care subsidiary of DaVita, and served as market leader and Vice President of Operations. Earlier, Amit was a founding member of DURON Energy, a start-up focused on providing reliable, affordable energy to people living at the bottom of the pyramid. Amit has also worked as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company and in operating roles at Amazon and Johnson & Johnson.
Amit received his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and his BS and MS in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Partner
- Senior Fellow
- Consulting Professor
Job Titles:
- Lecturer and Stanford University, and Former CEO of Invoice2Go and EHarmony
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder and Former Chief Science Officer
- Founder, Former Chief Science Officer
Jeff Volek is Co-Founder and former Chief Science Officer of Virta Health, the first clinically-proven treatment to safely and sustainably reverse type 2 diabetes without medications or surgery.
For the last two decades, Dr. Volek has performed cutting edge research on how humans adapt to diets restricted in carbohydrates with a dual focus on clinical and performance applications of nutritional ketosis. His scholarly work includes more than 300 peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts and five books, including a New York Times Best Seller, and he has provided more than 200 lectures at scientific and industry conferences around the world. Dr. Volek is the author of The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living and The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance, two foundational books on low carb nutrition science and nutritional ketosis that he wrote with Stephen Phinney, MD, Ph.D.
As a registered dietitian and professor in the Department of Human Sciences at The Ohio State University, Dr. Volek's work has contributed to the existing science of ketones and ketogenic diets, their use as a therapeutic tool to manage insulin resistance, plus their increasing potential to augment human resiliency. This line of work has shown profound effects of carbohydrate restriction on overall health and well-being, and he has accumulated an extensive amount of laboratory and clinical data as it pertains to biomarker discovery and the formulation of personalized, effective, and sustainable low-carbohydrate diets.
His team at Ohio State University is currently focused on making new discoveries and breaking open new application related to nutritional ketosis. These studies are exploring the role of nutritional ketosis on cardio-metabolic status, ectopic fat accumulation in various tissues (liver, muscle, heart), tumor metabolism and health outcomes in women with advanced breast cancer, and human physical and cognitive capabilities in military personnel.
Dr. Volek does not just write about his research-he personally uses it. A former athlete and competitive powerlifter, he follows the principles of a low carbohydrate diet while regularly training for strength and health.
Dr. Volek has a Bachelor of Science in dietetics from Michigan State University, and a Master of Science in exercise physiology and Doctorate in kinesiology and nutrition from Pennsylvania State University.
Job Titles:
- President
- President, US Business
Kevin Kumler is the President at Virta Health. Kevin grew up in a healthcare family and brings over 20 years of experience in the business of healthcare. Named an "Up & Comer" by Modern Healthcare in 2017, he has spent the past decade focused on advancing healthcare through digital innovations. His passion for Virta's mission is a personal one, having lost his father to complications from Type 2 diabetes in 2020.
Prior to joining Virta, Kevin served as President at Quartet Health (getting people access to the mental healthcare they need) and for over six years at Zocdoc, helping increase access to care for patients across the United States. Before joining Zocdoc, Kevin was an Associate Principal in McKinsey & Company's Healthcare practice, where he spent ten years advising insurance companies, large health systems, and government organizations in the US, UK, and India.
Kevin has an MBA from Stanford University and a BA in Mathematics-Economics from Wesleyan University in Connecticut. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, who is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Professor of Social work, and their three highly energetic children.
Lucia is the Chief People Officer for Virta Health. She's passionate about creating compelling and enriching experiences for people of all backgrounds. Her goal is to harness the varied resources organizations have at their disposal to produce cohesive and engaging experiences that help people do their best work while living their best lives.
Lucia joined Virta in 2019 and brings with her experience driving performance, innovation, and a sense of inclusion at high growth organizations. Prior to Virta, Lucia led the People Team at Patreon where she set the strategy for all the organizations that directly impacted the employee experience: HR, Recruiting, IT and Spaces. While at Patreon she led these groups through rethinking Patreon's culture and values, 3xing the team, acquiring competitors, and developing a remote and multilocation workforce. Earlier in her career, Lucia worked in various capacities across HR. Notably, she led global employee engagement and has been the Chief of Staff to the Head of HR at Yahoo.
Before joining the corporate world, Lucia earned a PhD in Organizational Behavior from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA in Psychology from the University of Houston.
Outside of work, Lucia enjoys reading, exercising - particularly in groups and teams or outdoors, and cooking.
Manu Diwakar is Chief Financial Officer at Virta Health. A multi-faceted business and finance executive, Manu has helped to scale companies across industries including gaming, agriculture technology, and digital health.
Most recently, Manu served as CFO at virtual musculoskeletal treatment company Kaia Health, where he led the HR and Finance teams through a period of hyper growth. Manu has also held top leadership roles at Ceres Imaging, Victorious (acquired by Headspace), and Riot Games (acquired by Tencent), where helped Riot scale from 150 to 2000 employees while growing revenue from <$50M to over $1B per year.
Manu received his MBA from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Michigan. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Co - Founder
- Founder
Sami Inkinen is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Virta Health, the leader in type 2 diabetes reversal and creator of a new standard in medical care for people living with type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, or obesity.
A data-driven technology entrepreneur, Sami's personal connection to diabetes and passion to advance health on a global scale was the motivation behind Virta Health and its innovative approach to diabetes care.
Previously, Inkinen was the co-founder of the leading online real estate marketplace Trulia, serving as its COO and president and board member until its IPO and eventual sale to Zillow Group. He also worked on Microsoft's strategy team for MS Office, and as a consultant for McKinsey & Company within the software, telecommunications, and government sectors.
To raise awareness about the dangers of sugar and its connection to diabetes, Sami started Fat Chance Row. During the summer of 2014, Sami and his wife rowed from California to Hawaii-2,750 miles, completely unsupported. He is also a triathlon age group world champion and 8 hour 24 minute Ironman with seven Hawaii Ironman finishes.
A physicist by training, Sami started his career as a radiochemist at a nuclear power plant and holds a Master of Science in engineering physics from the Helsinki University of Technology. He also earned a Master of Business Administration from Stanford University. He lives in Colorado with his wife and two daughters, enjoying the outdoors and the delight of their small barn of egg-laying chickens.
Job Titles:
- President & Chief Financial Officer, NGM Biopharmaceuticals
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder and Former Chief Medical Officer
- Founder, Former Chief Medical Officer, Current Virta Advisor
Stephen Phinney is Co-Founder and former Chief Medical Officer of Virta Health, the first clinically-proven treatment to safely and sustainably reverse type 2 diabetes without medications or surgery.
As a physician-scientist with 40 years of experience divided between academic internal medicine and industry, Dr. Phinney has studied nutritional biochemistry with a long-term focus on low carbohydrate research and its benefits for physical performance and insulin sensitivity. His career has emphasized the interaction between diet and exercise and their effects on obesity, body composition, physical performance, and cellular membrane structure.
A Professor of Medicine Emeritus at University of California, Davis, Dr. Phinney is an internationally recognized expert on obesity, carbohydrate-restricted and ketogenic diets, diet and performance, and essential fatty acid metabolism. He has held clinical faculty appointments at MIT and the Universities of Vermont, Minnesota, and California at Davis as well as leadership positions at Monsanto, Galileo Laboratories, and Efficas.
Dr. Phinney's clinical experience includes inpatient and outpatient clinical nutrition, directing multidisciplinary weight management programs in three locations, and he has designed, completed, and published data from more than 20 clinical protocols involving diets, exercise, oxidative stress, and inflammation. His extensive experience in the design of clinical nutrition trials in both academic and industrial settings has led to more than 87 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters on clinical nutrition and biochemistry. He is the author of four books, including The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living and The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance, two foundational books on low carb nutrition science and nutritional ketosis that he co-authored with Jeff Volek, Ph.D, RD. Dr. Phinney also previously served on the editorial board of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Dr. Phinney received his medical degree from Stanford University, holds a Doctorate in nutritional biochemistry and metabolism from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and completed post-doctoral research at Harvard University.
Job Titles:
- Secretary of Economic Development at State of Massachusettes, and Former COO and CFO of PillPack