Dheera Ananthakrishnan

Founder, GIST Consulting, merunova inc

Dheera Ananthakrishnan MD MSE MBA, is a physician, advisor, and investor working at the intersection of clinical medicine, engineering, and early-stage healthtech. Through GIST Consulting, she advises healthtech startups, drawing on more than 20 years in clinical practice and deep domain expertise in musculoskeletal care, medical imaging, and AI-enabled diagnostics. She is also a Limited Partner at Leva Capital, and at Portfolia, as well as an angel investor.

On the operating side, Dheera is Co-Founder and CEO of Merunova, a medtech startup developing an AI-based platform for objective, quantitative diagnosis of lumbar disc degeneration. She spent more than two decades practicing complex spinal deformity surgery in academic settings, most recently at Emory University, where she was named one of Atlanta’s Top Doctors six times. She also co-founded Orthopaedic Link, a 501c3 non-profit redirecting surplus orthopaedic implants to surgeons in low- and middle-income countries. She holds degrees from MIT (BS Mechanical Engineering, Executive MBA), the University of Washington (MS Bioengineering), and Albany Medical College (MD). Currently based in Los Angeles, she is an avid tennis player, hiker, traveler, and foodie.