Deepa Shah, MD, FACS

Dr. Deepa Shah is a board-certified general and robotic surgeon, healthcare executive, and founder of SURGE.

Across operating rooms and leadership roles, she has built and led surgical programs and worked alongside healthcare professionals at every career stage. The pattern she kept seeing was not about any one institution — it was structural, and it spans medicine: access to mentorship, sponsorship, and the relationships that shape a career is uneven. Too often it depends on who you happen to know rather than what you bring.

She has been fortunate. Mentors opened doors for her, offered honest guidance, and helped shape her trajectory. She has also watched too many talented colleagues — particularly women in surgery — struggle to find those same connections despite having every measure of ability, ambition, and drive.

The question became personal after she became a parent. Looking at her daughter, Dr. Shah began asking the question her own mentors had answered for her: will the next generation have access to the relationships that opened doors for me? She wanted a future where the doors that open are opened by talent and effort — not by proximity to the right network or the luck of a chance encounter.

Dr. Shah founded SURGE to make professional connection more intentional, scalable, and accessible. Built first for women in surgical leadership — the community whose underrepresentation she has seen most closely — SURGE combines technology with human connection to deliver mentorship, sponsorship, and the relationships that move careers forward.

Her vision extends beyond surgery. SURGE is being built to support every healthcare professional who has the potential to lead but has not yet been given the access to do so — regardless of specialty, geography, or career stage.

Today, SURGE is creating the infrastructure for those connections, helping individuals advance while strengthening the future of healthcare itself.