Zarminali Pediatrics is building the nation’s leading pediatric multispecialty group, focused on supporting families to shape healthy futures for their children – from birth through adulthood – by completely transforming the way pediatric health is delivered nationwide. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Zarminali Pediatrics founder and CEO, Danish Qureshi, to learn more about the company.
Danish Qureshi’s Background
What is Danish Qureshi’s background? Danish Qureshi said:
“I’ve been in healthcare for over 15 years and have always aimed to build mission-driven companies that can have a major impact on society. I’ve moved across healthcare specialties, but the consistent theme in all of my career has been a desire to tackle large problems and in turn positively impact as many people as possible.”
“I started in the outpatient wound center space, helping to build a company which became the second largest in the industry before being acquired by the only larger strategic left in the space. From there, I co-founded LifeStance Health and served as President and Chief Operating Officer. We built LifeStance into the nation’s largest providers of virtual and in-person outpatient mental health care. As of 2024, LifeStance operates in 33 states with approximately 7,000 clinicians and 550 clinics.”
Formation Of The Company
How did the idea for the company come together? Qureshi shared:
“The idea behind Zarminali Pediatrics was very much informed by my own personal experience navigating pediatric care. Our family has dealt with the challenges of coordinating care for my young daughter after she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease last year.”
“We quickly found that the responsibility and burden of coordinating specialty care was left on us as the family because of how siloed pediatric care is today. It’s an immensely stressful responsibility – and a complex challenge to navigate even with my 15+ years of healthcare experience. The burden of coordinating appointments with specialists, trying to share results and recommendations between providers, and all along taking the lead on ensuring nothing is lost in communication places a high level of stress on the family.”
“We found ourselves in a state of constant stress and guilt as parents when our daughter’s symptoms were not improving, leaving us asking ourselves if there was anything we could have coordinated or communicated between specialists better. There is nothing more important to a parent than their child, and a desire for their child to be well. Because of that, I decided that there was no more important mission I could focus on than improving care for children and supporting families across the country, to help prevent others from having to deal with the same difficulties that we faced.”
“My experience is unfortunately not uncommon, considering over 15 million children (or 1 in every four families) need specialty care. Countless families face compounding stress navigating between various specialists and wondering whether they’ve adequately or accurately shared the necessary information to ensure their child is receiving optimal care for their specific needs. And the pediatric care system’s siloing doesn’t just affect patients; pediatricians see the lowest compensation of all medical specialties and face higher rates of burnout because they’re overburdened with administrative tasks and lack the technology to automate them. In fact, over half of U.S. pediatricians are reporting burnout right now.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Qureshi reflected:
“The most notable aspect of starting Zarminali Pediatrics so far has been building a team of like-minded industry experts to create a company that is capable of making a true impact across the nation. Seeing the team unite over a shared mission and life experiences has been extremely empowering – and this level of passion and commitment to the cause is essential for tackling such a daunting task. We have an incredible team with deep healthcare expertise, firsthand experiences navigating pediatric care coordination, and a shared vision for a brighter future of pediatrics. We’re also lucky to have aligned with a great group of venture investors in General Catalyst, who similarly are motivated by our mission and want to support us over the coming years as we build towards our long term vision.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Qureshi explained:
“We’re taking a hybrid, modern approach to care which means as we build our national footprint, we will have physical practices for in-person visits with primary care clinicians and specialists on a single care team, alongside urgent care locations as well as telemedicine and asynchronous texting for non-urgent, low-acuity questions. The goal is to create a singular, cohesive care team that allows patients to receive seamlessly coordinated care wherever they are in the country.”
“Our model is purpose-built to serve both families and clinicians. By integrating the services, specialists, and technology needed to enhance experiences for families, patients and clinicians alike, we’ll be there for families through every step of the care journey. We’re intentionally creating design-forward care environments and experiences – both physical and digital – that embody our human-centric, inclusive and collaborative approach. For clinicians, our model fosters seamless collaboration among care teams and equips pediatric clinicians with the tools and technology they need to relieve administrative burdens, ultimately enabling them to focus on providing exceptional patient care. By automating administrative tasks and creating synergies between primary care and specialty services, we aim to improve everyday experiences for pediatric clinicians, reducing burnout and addressing the critical labor shortages across pediatrics.”
Challenges Faced
What challenges have Qureshi and the team face in building the company? Qureshi acknowledged:
“Since launching in July, we’ve been met with a tremendous amount of excitement and support from various parties within healthcare about what we are building. We know it can be difficult to blend technology and health practices, and we anticipated skepticism about what’s actually possible when it comes to addressing long-standing challenges within the complexities of the U.S. healthcare system; instead, we’ve found the opposite to be true.”
“Pediatricians are burnt out and welcome the chance to be part of introducing a better way, and hospitals are in need of connectivity between their networks and the smaller, community based practices from which their patients often originate. We’re encouraged by this initial feedback and excited to elevate the existing hard work of pediatricians and pediatric specialists across the country. As we introduce Zarminali Pediatrics in markets across the country, we’re confident that our model will continue to be met with a positive response from patients, families, and clinicians alike.”
Evolution Of The Company’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Qureshi noted:
“Our plan is to intentionally integrate technology into the care experience to enhance interactions and provide easy access to trusted information, guidance and support when and how families need it. The reality is that many practices have not had the expertise or resources to invest in modernizing their approach.”
“Even basic offerings that simplify scheduling processes or allow them to easily get in touch with a clinician outside operating hours are still missing from a significant portion of practices, with some practices even remarkably still being paper based. Our approach will create simpler, stronger connections to care teams which, for families, ultimately replaces feelings of isolation and stress.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Qureshi cited:
“Since incorporating in July of 2024, we’ve been making rapid progress towards making an impact, with the goal of improving care as soon as possible. We rapidly built our initial leadership team, entered the state of Michigan in October with our first three clinic locations, and in November announced our seed round with $40M of funding led by General Catalyst. The size of the round, and the speed in raising it, affirms to us the importance of this mission and how our vision resonates with so many.”
Funding
When asking Qureshi about the company’s funding details, he revealed:
“So far, we’ve raised $40 million in pre-revenue seed funding, led by General Catalyst, to begin the development of our nationwide practice.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Qureshi assessed:
“According to market research, pediatric care is expected to be worth around $78 billion by 2033, up from $38.2 billion in 2023.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Qureshi affirmed:
“We are the only pediatric group combining a multi-specialty approach with advanced technology nationwide. Other players in the space are local hospital systems, independent provider groups, private equity roll-ups, or small venture backed groups targeting a sliver of the market, none of which we believe are poised to address the current challenges across the pediatric landscape.”
“A key reason we wanted to build this practice was because there is no other group addressing the overarching challenges across the entirety of pediatric care nationwide. Though it’s a daunting task and requires navigating significant complexity across the nation, we believe we have the right vision, team, and experience to reshape pediatric care nationwide.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future company goals? Qureshi pointed out:
“At the bottom line, our goal is to greatly improve pediatric care and end the challenges our team has experienced firsthand. We believe that this mission, backed by a collaborative care model and a dedication to digital transformation, will lead to big impact for patients, families, and clinicians across the country.”
“Tangible goals that we’re tracking towards, in order to scale our clinician network and establish locations over the next three years, include implementing both organic and inorganic growth strategies to open practices in the top 30 states that account for ~90% of the US population to reach as many families as possible, as quickly as possible.”
Additional Thoughts
Any other topics you would like to discuss? Qureshi concluded:
“We’re energized by the initial feedback from our launch and excited to continue developing something special. Our goal in the coming months and years is to alleviate the burden placed on both families and pediatricians, and replace it with a model that enables clinicians to focus on providing exceptional care and ensures that children and families have access to the quality care they need and deserve. The challenge is massive, but the mission is critical, and we’re excited about what the future holds for Zarminali Pediatrics.”
