2020: Hubert Zajicek, MD, MBA
Dr. Hubert Zajicek is co-founder, partner and CEO of Health Wildcatters. Health Wildcatters is a top-ranked seed stage healthcare fund and accelerator in Dallas, TX. Health Wildcatters provides mentorship, capital and guidance to up to 12 healthcare related startups during an intensive 3 month program annually. The fund has invested in over 80 healthcare startups, which have attracted over $200M in capital in 8 years. Over the past 15 years he has reviewed, evaluated, mentored and advised thousands of startup companies. Most recently he founded the 501(c)3 non-profit “Health Hacking Crisis Network” that has helped with critical needs during the Covid crisis.
Prior to forming Health Wildcatters he was managing director of medical technology at NTEC (North Texas Enterprise Center for Medical Technology). He oversaw the construction of NTEC’s state-of-the-art 50,000 SF building and managed the facility including its roughly 10,000 SF lab space. During his tenure he created MedVentures, the Southwest’s largest medical technology investment conference, whose presenting companies raised a combined $274M in funding.
Dr. Zajicek has over twenty years of experience in the life sciences. Before joining NTEC, Dr. Zajicek was on faculty at UT Southwestern Medical Center where he was an NIH-funded Principal Investigator. His areas of research included Nephrology and Cell Biology with a focus on membrane transport and membrane composition. His interests extend into biophysics, fluorescence and imaging techniques. He authored and co-authored over 15 scientific articles, more than 30 presentations at national and international meetings and 3 book-chapters.
Dr. Zajicek received his Doctorate in Medicine (MD) from the University of Vienna, School of Medicine (1996), and his Master of Business Administration (MBA.) from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University in 2006 (Beta-Gamma-Sigma). He is a fellow of the American Society of Nephrology (FASN). He has received numerous awards including the Tech Titans “Investment Catalyst” Award, 25 Top “Who is Who in Healthcare” by Dallas Business Journal, DCEO “Innovation Achievement” Award, Dallas Regional Chamber “Innovation Catalyst” Blueprint Award, D Magazine “Dallas 500” Award 2016, 2020 & 2021 among others. In 2020 Dr. Zajicek was awarded the “Dennis K Stone” Award for “Life Science Leadership and Contributions to Healthcare” by the BioNorthTexas organization and early in 2021 Dr. Zajicek received the “Innovation Advocate of North Texas Award” from Dallas Innovates.
Dr. Zajicek has led or founded many organizations. Among those are: Austrian Scientists and Scholars in North America (co-founder, past president, board member), Society of Physician Entrepreneurs – DFW (founder, president), Health 2.0 Dallas (president) and the Health Hacking Crisis Network (founder, president).
Dr. Zajicek has served as co-organizer, judge, advisor, mentor or speaker at many different organizations and events over the past 20 years. Those organizations include SXSW pitch – Austin (advisor, judge), Investures – Calgary (advisor, judge), UCSF Digital Health Awards – San Francisco (advisor, judge, speaker), Hatch Pitch – Austin (advisor, judge), Vator Health - Palo Alto (speaker), MedVentures – Dallas (organizer, speaker), Healthcare Dealmakers Conference – Dallas (co-organizer, speaker), Energize Health – Austin (judge), IMCAS – Paris (co-organizer, advisor, judge, speaker), Pioneers Health – Vienna (judge, speaker), 3DS Austria-Austin (speaker), BioNorthTexas IC3 – Dallas (speaker), Austria -Connect – Washinton DC (speaker), Meeting of European Scientific Diasporas – Washington DC (speaker), Austrian research and Innovation Talks – Washinton DC and multiple other locations (co-organizer, speaker, advisor), SBIR - Dallas conference (host committee, speaker) and many more. Business Plan Competitions around the country and locally he has judged or supported include SMU, UTD, Texas A&M, Rice, IMCAS-Paris, United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and others.
He is an active speaker, panelist and thought leader on healthcare startups, digital health, entrepreneurship and funding topics. He lives in Dallas, with his wife, Beth McNally Zajicek, MD and two daughters.