Kathryne Cooper is a trained clinician-operator turned investor who co-founded and co-directed a nationally recognized medtech accelerator at Children's Hospital Los Angeles before joining Jumpstart Nova, giving her a rare combination of medical training, hands-on operating experience, and venture investing expertise in health tech. Harvard Business School built a case study around her work designing an accelerator model that intentionally surfaces and supports diverse founders in pediatric medtech, positioning her as a reference-point leader on how to structurally diversify healthcare innovation.

• Committed to correcting the funding disparity for Black founders in the healthcare space. She highlights how systemic inequity creates actual danger for underrepresented groups, utilizing a distinct analogy about car crash statistics to argue that safety protocols failing one demographic ultimately mean the system is unsafe for everyone.
• Active support for pediatric medical technology and device innovation. She frequently amplifies grant opportunities and innovation forums specifically designed for pediatric healthcare solutions, such as those organized by the West Coast Consortium for Technology & Innovation in Pediatrics.
• Focus on digital health solutions that address whole-person care and real-world patient impact. She stresses the importance of moving beyond theoretical discussions to understand how digital tools affect the daily lives of patients, noting that the practical reality of care is often missing from high-level industry conversations.
• Advocacy for democratizing access to venture capital through open application processes. She promotes the idea that firms should allow founders to apply directly through standardized forms rather than relying on warm intros, pointing out that dependence on past fundraising rounds or personal networks often excludes minority entrepreneurs.
• Engagement with the intersection of healthcare investment and reproductive rights. She has led discussions on the discrepancies between investor words and actions regarding reproductive health in the current political climate, alongside highlighting the disproportionate professional burden placed on women in STEM during global health crises.