Nick Culbertson

Nick Culbertson is the Managing Director of Techstars AI Health Baltimore, powered by Johns Hopkins University and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield. The mission of the Techstars AI Health Baltimore accelerator is to empower AI healthcare startups to achieve rapid commercial traction through mentorship, resources, and network access, accelerating their path to market leadership and sustainable impact.

Prior to joining Techstars, Nick co-founded, led, and sold Protenus, a Baltimore-based AI company that brought automation and risk reduction to healthcare compliance. Under Nick's leadership, Protenus was recognized by Gartner as a Cool Vendor in Healthcare Artificial Intelligence, by CB Insights as one of the Most Innovative Digital Health Startups, by Forbes as one of America's Top Startup Employers, and by Modern Healthcare as one of the Best Places to Work in Healthcare.

Nick was named one of "Healthcare's Entrepreneurs to Know" by Becker's Hospital Review and was recognized as one of Baltimore's Top 40 under 40 and EY's Entrepreneur of the Year. Nick is a lead contributor to over 20 patents and co-author of several peer-reviewed articles.

Prior to co-founding Protenus, Nick served eight years in the U.S. Army as a highly decorated U.S. Special Forces Operator (Green Beret) and Advanced Tactical Practitioner. He holds a B.S. from The Johns Hopkins University and completed two years at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine on full scholarship. His previous research experience is in the fields of genetics, synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, and medicine. Currently, Nick serves on the executive board of The 6th Branch, a veteran-led community service organization in East Baltimore. Nick is also an active volunteer with several Baltimore initiatives focused on entrepreneurship and innovation in the Baltimore tech community.

Programs

Verticals

Managing Directors have expertise across a variety of verticals, including leading the following vertical networks:

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