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For decades we’ve heard that diabetes prevention is simple—lose weight, eat less, and exercise more. But something is wrong with this conventional wisdom.

Nearly 115 million people live with either diabetes or prediabetes in the United States, and that number is growing. It is time to reverse this trend.

Virta was founded in 2014 with the goal of reversing type 2 diabetes in 100 million people by 2025. Our mission is inspired by our founding story, and continues to guide us today.

2011

A Personal Beginning

Virta co-founder and CEO Sami Inkinen wins his age group at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships and finds out he has pre-diabetes that same year.

Unsatisfied with the conventional wisdom of “exercise more and eat less,” Sami digs into the science of type 2 diabetes, leading him to Drs. Stephen Phinney and Jeff Volek, renowned experts on the science of carbohydrate restriction and metabolic health.

Sami Inkinen, Steve Phinney, and Jeff Volek
Sami Inkinen and Meredith Loring in a row boat
2014

Virta is Born

With consultation from Steve and Jeff on using nutritional ketosis for athletic performance, Sami and his wife Meredith complete a record-breaking row from San Francisco to Hawaii to bring awareness to nutrition’s impact on our health.

Sami, Steve, and Jeff join forces, combining Steve and Jeff’s scientific knowledge with Sami’s technology expertise and Virta Health is born. Our mission—to reverse type 2 diabetes in 100M people by 2025.

2015

A Commitment to Science and Evidence

Virta’s clinical trial is kicked-off in West Lafayette, Indiana, establishing the scientific foundation for type 2 diabetes reversal and Virta’s unwavering commitment to being evidence-based.

Virta later launches publicly to coincide with the release of our first peer-reviewed manuscript, which demonstrated diabetes reversal in nearly half of our population in as little as 10-weeks. 87% of patients on insulin either reduced usage or eliminated it altogether.

Dr. Jeff Stanley presenting to an audience of potential Virta patients
2017

Team Building and Care Model Innovation

Virta establishes an advisory board of eminent physicians, scientists, and policy makers. Dr. Don Berwick, former Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, joins Virta’s Board of Directors.

Meanwhile, we refine our continuous remote care model, upending traditional diabetes treatment by providing near real-time and technology-enabled access to physicians, nurse practitioners, and health coaches. The Virta Treatment is expanded to every state in the nation.

Map of the United States
2018

Sustainable Type 2 Reversal and Cardiovascular Benefits

Virta’s 1-year peer-reviewed results show diabetes reversal in 60% of completing patients, with 94% of participants reducing or eliminating insulin usage.

We release another peer-reviewed paper on the cardiovascular benefits of the Virta Treatment, which showed significant improvement in 22 of 26 markers of cardiovascular disease risk in patients with T2D.

Performance-based Fees and Growth

On the heels of a $45M Series B funding, doubling our team size, and 3x growth in customers, Virta announces that we’ll put 100% of our fees at risk for our enterprise partners, accelerating adoption of the Virta Treatment and bringing diabetes reversal to as many people as possible.

One Year Clinical Outcomes

60%
Participants achieving diabetes reversal
94%
Participants reducing or eliminating insulin usage
12%
Average weight loss (30 lbs) among participants
Data represents participants enrolled at one year
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2025

Virta revolutionizes healthcare by proving chronic diabetes is reversible in hundreds of millions of people

So much of our story is still untold, and we’re looking forward to the journey on our way to reversing type 2 diabetes in 100 million people by 2025.

Founders

Sami Inkinen

Sami Inkinen

Founder, Chief Executive Officer
Stephen Phinney, MD, PhD

Stephen Phinney, MD, PhD

Founder, former Chief Medical Officer
Jeff Volek, PhD, RD

Jeff Volek, PhD, RD

Founder, former Chief Science Officer

Executive Leadership

Amit Shah

Amit Shah

Chief Operating Officer
Lucia Guillory, PhD

Lucia Guillory, PhD

Chief People Officer
Manu Diwakar

Manu Diwakar

Chief Financial Officer
Kevin Kumler

Kevin Kumler

President, US Business
Adam Wolfberg, MD, MPH

Adam Wolfberg, MD, MPH

Chief Medical Officer
Cybele Bjorklund

Cybele Bjorklund

SVP, Policy and Government Affairs
Jamie Anderson

Jamie Anderson

General Counsel
Shane Henderson

Shane Henderson

Chief Technology Officer
David Hatch

David Hatch

VP, User Experience Design
Trent Myers

Trent Myers

VP, Sales and Alliances
Steve Hastings

Steve Hastings

VP, Health Plan Partnerships

Medical Directors

Jeff Stanley, MD

Jeff Stanley, MD

Physician, Internal Medicine
Frank Dumont, MD

Frank Dumont, MD

Physician, Internal Medicine

Our Investors

Venrock
Sequoia
Creandrum
Obvious Ventures
Caffeinated Capital
Playground
Scifi VC
Founders Fund

Advisors

Stephen Phinney, MD, PhD

Stephen Phinney, MD, PhD

Founder and former Chief Medical Officer of Virta Health. Professor of Medicine Emeritus at University of California, Davis. Internationally recognized expert on obesity, carbohydrate-restricted and ketogenic diets, diet and performance, and essential fatty acid metabolism.

Robert E. Ratner, MD, FACP, FACE

Robert E. Ratner, MD, FACP, FACE

Former Chief Medical Officer of Virta Health (2020-2022). Former Chief Scientific & Medical Officer for the American Diabetes Association, the nation’s largest voluntary health organization leading the fight to Stop Diabetes®, from 2012-2017.

Dan Hilferty

Dan Hilferty

Former President and Chief Executive Officer of Independence Health Group (Independence), parent of Independence Blue Cross, one of the nation’s leading health insurers.

Alan Moses, MD

Alan Moses, MD

Former Global Chief Medical Officer, Novo Nordisk, and Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of the Joslin Diabetes Center with specific responsibility for the Joslin Clinic.

Steve Martin

Steve Martin

CEO Emeritus, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska. Managing Partner and co-founder of Paxton Advisors.

Martin Abrahamson, MD

Martin Abrahamson, MD

Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Director, Division of CME, Beth Israel Medical Center, Beth Isreal Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA. Former SVP and Chief Medical Officer of Joslin Diabetes Center.

Peter Andruszkiewicz

Peter Andruszkiewicz

Former President and Chief Executive Officer, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, the state’s largest health insurer with more than 600,000 members. Former President of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Georgia.

Anthony Masso

Anthony Masso

Former President and CEO of Consortium Health Plans. Former SVP of the Health Insurance Association of America. Former Regional President of Aetna Health Plans.

Board of Directors

In addition to Sami Inkinen, we have the support of several other exceptional board participants.
Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, FRCP

Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, FRCP

Director

President Emeritus and Senior Fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), an organization that Dr. Berwick co-founded and led as President and CEO for 18 years. He is one of the nation’s leading authorities on health care quality and improvement. In July, 2010, President Obama appointed Dr. Berwick to the position of Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which he held until December, 2011.

Bob Kocher, MD

Bob Kocher, MD

Director

Partner at Venrock and focuses on healthcare IT and services investments. He is a Consulting Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, Senior Fellow and Advisory Board Member at the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics at USC, and Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution Engleberg Center for Health Reform.

Greg Waldorf, MBA

Greg Waldorf, MBA

Director

CEO of Invoice2go. Former CEO-in-residence at Accel Partners and CEO of eHarmony from 2006-2010. Board member at VivaReal, View the Space, and prior board member on the combined boards of Zillow and Trulia.

Yvonne Hao

Yvonne Hao

Director

Most recently, Yvonne has been a Co-Founder and Managing Director of investment firm Cove Hill Partners. Before that, she was the COO and CFO of PillPack, the e-commerce pharmacy startup, where she helped lead the sale and integration of PillPack to Amazon.

The entire Virta team, from October 2018

We can solve our most pressing health epidemic, but we need your help.

We’re looking for passionate people who want to reinvent healthcare in order to solve chronic diseases globally.

See current openings