Dr. John Shufeldt’s nine-figure gift transforms medical education and elevates state university’s ambitions
Phoenix is accelerating its rise as a national hub for biosciences and health innovation, and at the center of that momentum is Dr. John Shufeldt, whose nine‑figure naming gift is reshaping Arizona State University’s role in medical education and the future of downtown Phoenix.
The gift anchors ASU Health’s new flagship medical program — the John Shufeldt School of Medicine and Medical Engineering — in the Phoenix Bioscience Core, where the Phoenix City Council has authorized up to $50 million in public funding to support the school’s downtown presence. Together, Shufeldt’s philanthropy and the city’s investment are powering a shared vision: a next‑generation medical school that fuses clinical training with engineering, technology and innovation and serves as a catalyst for economic growth in the urban core.
On campus, university leaders describe Shufeldt’s naming gift, announced in October 2025 and characterized as the second‑largest in ASU history, as the linchpin that allowed ASU Health to design a medical school from scratch rather than retrofit an existing program. His philanthropy endowed the school’s name and provided the financial runway to embed engineering, data science, artificial intelligence, and design thinking at the center of the curriculum. The gift also funds an endowed professorship in entrepreneurship in medicine and a health‑tech venture philanthropy fund, managed by the ASU Foundation under the “Xcellerant Ventures Founders” banner, seeding early‑stage innovators and signaling that this effort is about building an ecosystem, not just a building.
Shufeldt’s own career offers a real‑world template for the “physician‑engineer‑innovator” the school intends to graduate. An emergency medicine physician who also holds a JD and MBA, he founded NextCare Inc. in 1993 and grew it from a single clinic into a 60‑facility network across six states, co‑founded Empower Emergency Physicians, and continues to practice emergency medicine at St. Joseph’s Hospital and other locations. After stepping down as CEO of NextCare in 2010, he launched MeMD, a telehealth platform connecting hundreds of medical and mental health professionals with patients nationwide, which Walmart acquired in 2021 as part of its Omni Channel Healthcare initiative.
His entrepreneurial drive continued with the creation of Tribal Health in 2015, aimed at improving care in Indigenous and other underserved communities, followed by Xcellerant Ventures in 2021, a venture capital firm supporting emerging health‑tech startups that has already closed three funds spanning early‑ and growth‑stage companies. In 2025, he co‑founded VivaMed BioPharma, a multinational drug development company managing more than 150 molecules, underscoring his commitment to advancing therapies at scale.
The academic design of the John Shufeldt School of Medicine and Medical Engineering mirrors that multidimensional profile. The integrated four‑year program will confer both a Doctor of Medicine and a Master of Science in medical engineering, with students moving quickly into patient care while simultaneously tackling systems‑level problems, prototyping solutions, and engaging with a built‑in venture philanthropy infrastructure shaped by Shufeldt’s gift.
With HonorHealth as the primary clinical affiliate and the Phoenix Bioscience Core as its urban laboratory, the school is positioned as a launchpad for graduates who can move seamlessly between exam rooms, research labs, boardrooms, and startup studios.
Phoenix’s authorization of up to $50 million in public funding reads as a strong vote of confidence in that vision. The city’s capital package, tied to the school’s downtown facilities and ASU Health’s new headquarters, deepens the university’s presence in the urban core and amplifies the impact of Shufeldt’s private gift. For city leaders, aligning public dollars with the Shufeldt School is a strategic bet on high‑wage jobs, research intensity, and private investment; for the donor, it is powerful validation that his philanthropy is attracting additional capital and political will.
The timeline highlights just how fast this vision is becoming reality. The school secured preliminary accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education in October 2025, with the first cohort slated to begin in August 2026. Early instruction will take place at ASU’s Mercado campus before shifting into purpose‑built facilities in the Phoenix Bioscience Core, and full accreditation will follow once the inaugural class graduates — but the outlines of Shufeldt’s legacy are already clear: a namesake school, a reimagined curriculum, a venture philanthropy engine and a downtown district increasingly organized around an innovation‑driven academic hub.
ASU President Michael M. Crow has emphasized how closely the school’s identity is tied to its benefactor. In Crow’s view, John Shufeldt embodies the type of graduate ASU Health wants to produce: a physician who is also an entrepreneur, an innovator, and a builder of organizations that improve health and well‑being at scale. Shufeldt is not only contributing financially and lending his name; he is actively investing time and expertise in shaping the school’s direction, curricular design and culture of innovation.
Shufeldt’s impact extends into the classroom and lecture hall as well. He has taught health law and ethics as an adjunct professor at ASU’s W. P. Carey School of Business and currently serves as a distinguished professor of practice at the John Shufeldt School of Medicine and Medical Engineering, while also lecturing at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. His academic credentials span a BA from Drake University (1982), an MD from the University of Health Sciences/The Chicago Medical School (1986), an emergency medicine residency at Christ Hospital and Medical Center; and both an MBA (1995) and JD (2005) from Arizona State University.
A committed lifelong learner, he is a member of the Arizona State Bar, the Federal District Court, and the U.S. Supreme Court bar, and holds affiliations with the American Board of Emergency Medicine, the College of Legal Medicine, and the American College of Emergency Physicians. He has also earned a Six Sigma Black Belt from ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering (2015), a certificate in artificial intelligence from MIT’s Sloan School of Management (2019), and a certificate in entrepreneurship and innovation from Harvard (2022), reflecting a continuous push to stay at the leading edge of medicine, law, business, and technology.
Beyond health care and law, Shufeldt is an accomplished aviator, author, and speaker, frequently sharing insights on leadership, innovation, and disruptive thinking.
Taken together, his philanthropic commitment and his professional journey capture the larger promise driving Phoenix’s bioscience boom: that by training physicians as engineers and innovators in a vibrant urban corridor, ASU Health and its partners can help generate new companies, new technologies, and new models of care for communities—including Indigenous communities he has long served—across Arizona and beyond.