OpenAI has long powered AI features behind other healthcare platforms, but now it wants to compete directly with its own tools. The company has recruited two prominent executives to lead its next phase in health.

Nate Gross, cofounder and former chief strategy officer of Doximity, joined OpenAI in June. He will oversee go-to-market strategy, focusing on co-creating healthcare technologies with clinicians and researchers.

Ashley Alexander, former co-head of product at Instagram, joined as vice president of product this week for OpenAI’s health business. She will build technology for both consumers and clinicians.

An OpenAI spokesperson said the company believes that “improving human health will be one of the defining impacts of AGI.”

Until now, OpenAI’s healthcare role has been largely indirect, through partnerships and background integrations. But the company has been signaling broader ambitions.

At the August launch of GPT-5, CEO Sam Altman called the model “a legitimate Ph.D. expert,” highlighting its ability to answer medical questions. In May, OpenAI released HealthBench, an open-source benchmark for evaluating the accuracy and safety of health AI applications.

“It can help you understand your healthcare and make decisions on your journey,” Altman said, adding that GPT-5 performed “exceptionally well” on health-related questions.

OpenAI’s healthcare research remains led by Karan Singal, a former Google researcher who co-developed Med-PaLM, Google’s medical large language model. Singal will continue overseeing OpenAI’s medical AI research.

The move places OpenAI in a crowded field. Palantir began building AI for hospitals in 2021, and Microsoft has integrated AI into clinician tools and partnered with medical-records giant Epic to use AI in notetaking. Startups like Abridge, valued at $5.3 billion, and public companies like Doximity are also racing to provide AI scribes and clinical support tools.

OpenAI’s shift reflects a larger strategy to own not just models but also end-user applications. Beyond healthcare, the company recently launched Study Mode for students, an AI sales agent, and an agentic tool for reservations and shopping.

Nate Gross brings deep digital health experience. He co-founded Doximity, often described as a “LinkedIn for doctors.” Doximity launched Doximity GPT in 2023, built on OpenAI technology, to help physicians with administrative tasks. More recently, it acquired Pathway Medical for $63 million and rolled out a free AI scribe. Gross also co-founded Rock Health, an investment and research firm focused on healthtech.

Ashley Alexander spent 12 years at Meta, with 11 years on the Instagram product team, where she helped develop features for advertising, creator monetization, and video content.

Their appointments aim to accelerate OpenAI’s healthcare strategy with leadership experienced in scaling consumer platforms and digital health businesses.

Despite its new competitive stance, OpenAI will continue to collaborate with health organizations. In July, it announced a partnership with Penda Health, a Kenyan primary care provider, to assess an AI clinical copilot built on GPT-4o. It also continues to power tools at Summer Health, a pediatric care startup, and Oscar Health, a health insurtech company.

OpenAI is also hiring for at least two additional roles: a health AI research scientist and a healthcare software engineer, signaling continued expansion.

Q: Who are OpenAI’s new healthcare leaders?
A: Nate Gross, cofounder of Doximity, and Ashley Alexander, former Instagram product leader, joined to lead OpenAI’s health business.

Q: What will Nate Gross do at OpenAI?
A: He will lead go-to-market strategy in healthcare, co-creating technologies with clinicians and researchers.

Q: What is Ashley Alexander’s role?
A: She is vice president of product for OpenAI’s health division, building applications for consumers and clinicians.

Q: What is HealthBench?
A: HealthBench is OpenAI’s open-source benchmark, released in May, to evaluate the safety and accuracy of health AI applications.

Q: How is OpenAI positioning itself in healthcare?
A: OpenAI is moving beyond powering others’ products to building its own healthcare applications, while continuing partnerships with providers and startups.

OpenAI’s healthcare ambitions reflect a broader shift toward building end-user applications alongside its foundation models. By bringing in leaders from Instagram and Doximity, the company signals its intent to compete directly in one of the most important—and regulated—AI markets.

The timing may also reflect reality on the ground: millions of ChatGPT users already ask medical questions or use the tool to help interpret their health records. Combined with the massive growth expected in AI healthcare applications, OpenAI’s deeper investment suggests it doesn’t want to cede this market to rivals.

If OpenAI succeeds, its combination of research strength, clinical partnerships, and consumer product expertise could reshape how patients, providers, and health systems interact with AI.

For healthcare and tech leaders alike, the message is clear: AI will not just support medicine from the sidelines — it is moving to the center of care.

Editor’s Note: This article was created by Alicia Shapiro, CMO of AiNews.com, with writing, image, and idea-generation support from ChatGPT, an AI assistant. However, the final perspective and editorial choices are solely Alicia Shapiro’s. Special thanks to ChatGPT for assistance with research and editorial support in crafting this article.