Investing in Innovation at Mount Sinai Ventures with Nina Williams 10-2-25

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Investing in Innovation at Mount Sinai Ventures with Nina Williams

Becker Private Equity & Business Podcast
Host: Scott Becker
Guest: Nina Williams, Associate Director, Mount Sinai Ventures
Date: October 2, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this insightful episode, Scott Becker welcomes Nina Williams, Associate Director of Mount Sinai Ventures, to discuss the innovative approaches of Mount Sinai Health System's investment arm. The episode explores how Mount Sinai Ventures invests in both ambulatory joint ventures and early-stage healthcare companies, the evolving trends in healthcare innovation, and Nina's advice for emerging leaders at the nexus of healthcare and business. The conversation spotlights not just Mount Sinai’s strategic direction but also practical insights into collaboration, leadership, and transformation in healthcare delivery.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to Mount Sinai Ventures

• [00:39] Nina Williams introduces herself and Mount Sinai Ventures:
  • Mount Sinai Ventures serves as the corporate venture arm for Mount Sinai Health System (eight hospitals in NY metro).
  • Dual focus:
    • Ambulatory Joint Ventures: Expanding Mount Sinai’s ambulatory footprint through brick-and-mortar facilities.
    • Early-Stage Investments: Backing companies with compelling financial and strategic potential, often piloted within the health system.

“We sit at the middle of a really cool space where we can tackle some interesting projects.”
— Nina Williams [00:39]

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2. Day-to-Day Operations and Investment Strategy

• [02:11] Nina breaks down time management and priorities:
  • Early-Stage Investments: Must have an internal champion; areas include revenue cycle management, “food is medicine,” and clinical trials.
  • Corporate Development: Buying or building new ambulatory facilities (surgery centers, endoscopy, urgent care).
  • Collaboration with partners (e.g., Merit Healthcare) to capitalize on market opportunities, especially ASC (Ambulatory Surgery Center) growth.

“In order to stand up this work in an effective way, we needed a partner that could help us tackle...in real time.”
— Nina Williams [02:44]

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3. Investment Partnerships and Industry Collaboration

• [04:29] Importance of syndication, partnerships, and peer groups:
  • Mount Sinai Ventures rarely leads deals alone; prefers syndication with similar institutions.
  • Strategic Ventures Group: Consortium of 64 health systems to share best practices and pipeline opportunities.
  • Emphasis on mutual benefit, even if a project is not a fit for Sinai, it might suit other systems (UNC, Cleveland Clinic).
  • Deep relationships with VC, growth funds, and private equity.

“We’re now up to 64 health systems that meet once a month… I think it’s important to know if something’s not a good fit for Mount Sinai Ventures at this point, it certainly could be for somebody else.”
— Nina Williams [04:29]

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4. Focus Areas and Changing Priorities

• [06:23] Recent leadership changes and strategy reset:
  • Recent restructuring and new C-suite appointments (CEO, CFO, Chief Health Information Officer, Chief Clinical Innovation Officer).
  • Awaiting direction from new leadership on future priorities; operator buy-in is crucial for success.

“Understanding what the operators are focused on is really what drives what we are tackling at this point.”
— Nina Williams [06:23]

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5. Trends in Healthcare Investment

• [10:11] Watching:
  • Shift of Cardiac and Spine Care: Moving from hospital outpatient departments (HOPD) to ASC settings.
  • Multi-specialty ASC expansion: Example – “Peak Point Midtown West” at Columbus Circle, in partnership with Merit Healthcare.

“Cardiac care moving from the HOPD in traditional hospital settings to the ASC networks is something we’re keeping a pulse on as well as spine. I think that’s going to be a big one.”
— Nina Williams [10:11]

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6. Leadership and Career Advice for Emerging Leaders

• [08:07] Nina’s journey and advice:
  • Started at Sinai through a graduate program and administrative fellowship.
  • Advocates aggressive networking, travel, and conference participation to maximize growth and stay energized.
  • Encourages others to share their work and immerse themselves in varied markets.

“My advice to emerging leaders would be get out there as much as they can. Get immersed in as many markets that they can.”
— Nina Williams [08:31]

• [09:21] Scott Becker underscores the value of connecting beyond the desk:

“There’s only so much work and growth one can have just sitting in their office in front of their computer without talking to people and hearing different ideas…”
— Scott Becker [09:21]

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7. Physician Partnerships and Governance

• [10:11] Collaboration with physician groups:
  • Expansion of ASCs creates opportunities for physician syndicates sharing monetary risk and governance.
  • Focus on engaging independent and voluntary physicians for broader traction and synergy.

“Not only share in terms of our monetary risk with them, but also the governance models… figure out ways that we can engage external part.”
— Nina Williams [10:11]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “We sit at the middle of a really cool space where we can tackle some interesting projects.” — Nina Williams [00:39]
• “In order to stand up this work in an effective way, we needed a partner that could help us tackle...in real time.” — Nina Williams [02:44]
• “We’re now up to 64 health systems that meet once a month… it’s important to know if something’s not a good fit for Mount Sinai Ventures at this point, it certainly could be for somebody else.” — Nina Williams [04:29]
• “Understanding what the operators are focused on is really what drives what we are tackling at this point.” — Nina Williams [06:23]
• “My advice to emerging leaders would be get out there as much as they can. Get immersed in as many markets that they can.” — Nina Williams [08:31]
• “Cardiac care moving from the HOPD in traditional hospital settings to the ASC networks is something we’re keeping a pulse on as well as spine. I think that’s going to be a big one.” — Nina Williams [10:11]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:39 — Nina Williams introduces herself and Mount Sinai Ventures’ mission
• 02:11 — Day-to-day operations: balancing new and existing investments
• 04:29 — How Sinai approaches investment partnerships and Strategic Ventures Group
• 06:23 — Adapting to new leadership and shifting strategic focus
• 08:07–08:31 — Nina’s foundational career stories and advice for emerging leaders
• 10:11 — New focus areas: ambulatory expansion, physician syndicates, cardiac and spine care in ASCs

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Conclusion

This episode provides a candid exploration of how Mount Sinai Ventures operates at the intersection of clinical care, business innovation, and strategic investment. Nina Williams shares both big-picture trends—like the movement of complex care to outpatient sites—and practical wisdom for leaders at all stages. For anyone interested in how top health systems approach innovation, investment, and leadership development, this conversation is an invaluable listen.

Transcript

[A]

This is Scott Becker with a special episode, a combined episode of the Becker's Healthcare and the Becker Private Equity Podcast. We're thrilled today to be joined by your brilliant leader. We're joined today by Nina Williams. Nina's with Mount Sinai Health System, one of the great, great health systems in the country. She's got a fascinating role involved as she's the associate director of Mount Sinai Ventures, which I assume is probably the investment arm of Mount Sinai and the innovation arm. We're going to get a chance to talk to Nina today about what she's doing, what trend she's watching, where she's most focused, and a little bit more. Nina, can you take a moment and introduce yourself and tell us about Mount Sinai and Mount Sinai Ventures?

[B]

Sure, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me, Scott. Nice to finally meet you. As Scott said, I'm Nina Williams and I'm an associate director for Mount Sinai Ventures. We are the corporate venture arm of the Mount Sinai Health System. Located in New York. Mount Sinai spans eight hospitals across the New York metro area and is really a pioneer in terms of research, clinical innovation, operational innovation, as well as just clinical excellence at large. At the core and kind of mecca of the work that we do is our med school. And so I feel like it really drives the work that we think to in terms of forward thinking. In terms of my department, we have been around making portfolio investments since 2008. Mount Sinai Ventures invests in ambulatory joint ventures to further the health system's strategic ambulatory footprint. And we also partner and invest in early stage companies that have compelling financial potential. So like I said, with this kind of bifurcation of the portfolio wherein we're focused on corporate development as well as early stage innovation work, we sit at the middle of a really cool space where we can tackle some interesting projects.

[A]

What a fascinating situation. And what you do. And of course everybody should be familiar, but Mount Sinai is one of the greatest health systems in the world. So just a fantastic, fantastic situation. And what does that look like day to day? Are you looking for new investments? Are you working with your current investments? Talk about what your role looks like day to day and where you manage your time between working with existing investments versus looking for new investments and what it looks like.

[B]

Yeah, happy to. So I guess I'll start with the early stage side of the portfolio, if that's okay. For us to make investments in that world, we need to have a internal champion or user kind of working with the solution or already have it implemented within their department. That Investment mandate is kind of variable in terms of the scope, depending on the clinical stakeholder or operational stakeholder that brought it to our attention. But I would say historically it's looked like revenue cycle management, food is medicine, clinical trials, and I could dive into.

[A]

Each of those if you'd like.

[B]

But on the other side of the coin with the corporate development work, those are brick and mortar ambulatory facilities that we have either bought or built in terms of de novo. And they've looked like ambulatory surgery centers, endoscopy sites, urgent care facilities. And I would say a couple years ago, the health system realized that ASC expansion was happening in our market really rapidly. And so we realized pretty quickly in order to stand up this work in an effective way, we needed a partner that could help us tackle kind of block and tackle the work in real time. So my managing director, Brent Stackhouse, I would say he's very much so the pioneer for the work that we tackle today. He led a national RFP and ended up selecting Merit Healthcare Family Run office out of Connecticut to help us do this work. Merrit not only has a demonstrated track record of managing ASCs, but they also have an advisory arm on their stock. And they also are able to kind of keep us on the pulse of what's going on in the market, understand what these assets are trading at, and help us kind of facilitate what the strategic vision should be on that front. But ultimately, I think we're excited to be in the space. We're excited to be sitting alongside colleagues that are in our market like hss, tackling the work internally as well as Northwell. We're really excited to be continuing to spearhead this work.

[A]

That's fantastic. And I'm very familiar with Merit and Matt Searles and the Merit team are really, really good groups. They're also fascinating, really fantastic. And so when you look at some of the things that you're doing when you invest in some of the early stage companies, is it typically just Mount Sinai Ventures or is it typically other venture capital funds or other health systems? What does some of that look like?

[B]

Yeah, it depends. I will say that we are not typically lead investors. Very rarely has that happened. I think in terms of us being able to de risk a deal, it's always a lot easier to have a lot of other folks that may look like us, like other AMCs sitting on the cap table with us. Brent, my managing director, started a really cool group called Strategic Ventures Group, and it's basically a consortium of health system investors. So folks in our types of role across the nation that are tackling similar workflows in either the early stage innovation space or, you know, kind of corporate development at large. And so we're now up to 64 health systems that meet once a month. We discuss best practices, things that we are investing in as well as things that we aren't investing in at this point. Because I think it's important to know if something's not a good fit for Mount Sinai Ventures at this point, it certainly could be for somebody else at UNC or Cleveland Clinic or alike. So I think we're trying to, you know, involve other health systems that look like us, but also keep a pulse, check on what's going on in terms of the sort of innovation landscape at large. We have a lot of relationships with VCs, growth stage funds now, private equity. I think us helping leadership understand that we're kind of shoulder to shoulder with the number of folks at this point. And so being really thoughtful of how we mine those relationship management techniques I think is something we would love to get more involved in as we move forward.

[A]

And so, so important because so many of the different opportunities come just not out of your own sort of system.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But other systems and different ideas and so forth. When you look at the different areas you've talked about, revenue cycle, food is medicine, some other areas, digital health, are there areas that you're most excited about in areas that you've chosen that, hey, we're going to start to stay away from this right now.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And any thoughts there?

[B]

Yeah, I guess I will let you know and be candid. We're in the midst of a restructuring of the health system right now. In the last 12 to 18 months, we were tapped a new CEO, a new CFO, a new chief Health Information Officer, and more recently a new Chief Clinical Innovation Officer. And so we're really excited to have their pulse on what they think are the strategic priorities and sort of pain points that we should be tackling by way of strategic partnerships at this point in time. I think understanding what the operators are focused on is really what drives what we are tackling at this point. So I think more to come as we kind of reshape how we're going to be doing the work moving forward.

[A]

And it makes a lot of sense. And Ken Davis in leadership had done a tremendous job at Mount Sinai for a very long time. And Ken was there since the original restructuring literally 25, 30 years ago. And I know he's now in Florida most of the time and just a Terrific, terrific person.

[B]

Totally.

[A]

But it's very, very exciting to see Mount Sinai taking this step, this next growth step and new leadership and new energy and really, really exciting. That's fantastic. Nina, talk a little bit about what are there specific trends you're watching in investment? And then I want to ask you also, you've had this great leadership career, great growth as a professional.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

What advice would you give to emerging leaders? Maybe we'll start with that. What advice would you give to other emerging leaders trying to have a great career? I mean you found yourself at the intersection of healthcare and investing and just touching fascinating things. Both that, both the actual core delivery of healthcare through ambulatory surgery centers, but also these investings in other different healthcare businesses.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What advice would you give to other emerging leaders trying to have meaningful and great careers?

[B]

Yeah, I will say I started my time with Sinai. I would say my professional career was started with Sinai. I came into the ecosystem by way of the graduate program of public health and I then matriculated into an administrative fellowship program through the office of Diversity Equity Inclusion of the Health System. Basically giving me a lay of the land of how to run a hospital slash health system.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

I think as much as emerging leaders can get involved with networking opportunities wherever possible, be present at conferences. Around the time when I formally joined the Ventures team about two and a half years ago, we were on a bit of a conference hold, travel hold coming out of the pandemic, which is understood, Brent went to bat to get me budget to be able to travel. And so this year my colleague Seth and I have been hitting the pavement, attending as much as we can, expressing what we do as a system and how excited we are to tackle the new verticals of work that are to come for 2026. So I think my advice to emerging leaders would be get out there as much as they can. Get immersed in as many markets that they can. I think, believe it or not, folks are really excited to hear about the work that they're tackling. And I think as long as they're able to speak to it, you know.

[A]

Oh, 100%. No, I think, I think you, you, you've now that he's sort of like there's only so much work and growth one can have just sitting in their office in front of their computer without talking to people and hearing different ideas and totally people are doing and so forth. And it's also on top of everything else, it's also energizing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Which is half the battle in a long is staying energized and staying excited. So having the chance to visit with people and see people is fantastic. For me, having the opportunity to visit with brilliant young leaders is just. Is as good as it gets. It allows me to see what's going on, see what we're doing, keeps me inspired, keeps me motivated. So it just is fantastic to get to visit with you. Any final words you'd like to share about the pride in the Mount Sinai system and the leadership? Anything else you'd love to share with us today?

[B]

Yeah, I think we're excited to, like I said, share the work that we're tackling, keep you updated on what we're looking at. At the end of the day, the fact that we're able to use these surgery centers to not only expand the ambulatory footprint of the health system, but also pull together some really interesting physician syndicates that we not only share in terms of our monetary risk with them, but also the governance models. You know, having them at the table of helping us think through what these strategic decisions should be is really important and figure out ways that we can engage external part. I think our new CFO is really excited about us gaining traction with voluntary and sort of independent physicians at this point. And so really figuring out ways we can work collaboratively with them and have some synergy moving forward, I think will be cool. You asked very briefly about trends that we're keeping on our eye. I think cardiac care moving from the HOPD in traditional hospital settings to the ASC networks is something we're keeping a pulse on as well as spine. I think that's going to be a big one. We just built a multispecial specialty ASC in the Columbus Circle area. It's called Peak Point Midtown west, that was done in partnership with Merritt. You know, figuring out what cases should be done in those types of settings I think is something that we're going to get further more defined as we go.

[A]

Thank you. I mean, simply amazing, this sort of evolution of cardiac care to surgery centers, spine more and more and the movement in New York. For me, it's a great pleasure to have Nina Williams with us today. Great leader at Mount Sinai, Mount Sinai Ventures in Mount Sinai, one of the greatest health systems in the world. Nina, thank you so much for joining us today on the Becker's Healthcare and the Becker Private Equity podcast. What a pleasure to visit with you.

[B]

Thank you, too. Nice to meet you.