01 — About
Doctor-led · AI-native
02 — Who we are
Closer Clinic is an online medical group of specialized practices, focused on the conditions best suited for relationship-led care that's managed entirely online and covered by insurance. We're built primarily for specialized-care deserts — the parts of the country where seeing the right doctor for your condition means months on a waitlist or hours in the car. We're doctor-led, doctor-built, and fully AI-native: shared infrastructure handles the operational work around the visit, so each physician's time goes to medicine. And as a Public Benefit Corporation, our doctors share in our success.
03 — The team
Jay Parkinson
MD/MPH · CEO · Co-founder
A pediatrician and preventive medicine physician, designer, and entrepreneur who has spent his career pioneering new models of care. In 2007 he launched the world’s first iPhone-powered house-call practice, then founded Sherpaa, the first Virtual Primary Care company. Now he’s focused on using AI to free doctors to do what they do best— practice medicine.
Previously: Sherpaa · Hello Health
Josh A. Emdur
DO · Chief Medical Officer
A board-certified family medicine physician with 15+ years across primary care, hospital medicine, and telemedicine, licensed in all 50 states and DC. He joined to ensure physicians have a seat at the table when healthcare AI systems are designed.
Previously: Village Medical · Covid Check Colorado · SteadyMD
Natalie Piontek
Lead Engineer · Full-stack
A full-stack engineer with seven years’ experience in Python and Java, focused on HIPAA-compliant systems and EMR/EHR development. Most recently at HealthJoy she architected greenfield personalization end-to-end. She lives in Boulder — on the trails, the bike, in the sauna, or in the company of dogs.
Previously: HealthJoy
04 — An updated oath
The commitments we hold our care model to, so it serves patients and clinicians and does no harm.
01
We will build technology that does no harm.
The principle under all of medicine comes first: do no harm. Our technology answers to it too. A machine never decides for a patient. The doctor stays in the loop.
02
We will hold our systems to a higher standard of accuracy.
Our tools show their reasoning, so a clinician or a patient can see how they reached an answer and catch it when they're wrong.
03
We will work to prevent disease wherever we can.
The systems and data we build look for what's coming, not just what's already here. Prevention first, treatment second.
04
We will respect the autonomy and dignity of every patient.
AI can inform a decision, but the decision belongs to the patient and their doctor. The technology serves the person, never the other way around.
05
We will protect patient privacy and data security.
Patient data is used only with consent, guarded against misuse, and put to work for one purpose: better health.
06
We will work with data free of bias, so every patient is treated fairly.
We take active steps to find and remove bias, so care is fair regardless of race, gender, background, or anything else about a person.
07
We will keep technology in service of human connection.
The point of the technology is to give physicians more time and attention for their patients, not less. The compassion and trust at the center of medicine stay human.
08
We will use technology to lighten the load on clinicians.
Healthcare burned doctors out with administrative work that has nothing to do with medicine. Our technology takes that work off their plate so their day goes to care.
09
We will watch how our technology performs, and act when it falls short.
Technology is fallible, which is exactly why a physician stays in the loop. We keep evaluating how these tools work in the real world and fix what doesn't.
10
We will be willing to say we don't know.
Neither medicine nor technology has every answer. Where we're uncertain, we say so, and we keep working until we know more.
11
We will put the safety and well-being of patients above all else.
Everything we build exists to improve health and reduce harm. If a technology ever risks a patient's physical or emotional well-being, it doesn't ship.
05 — Why we do it
We build the AI around the doctor's expertise, not the other way around. That gives patients care that stays with them over the years, and gives physicians their days back for the part of medicine they actually trained for.