Physician Builder Spotlight: Delphyr CEO Michel Abdel Malek

Since receiving an incredible response to our post about why more physicians should start companies, we've been shining a light on MD-entrepreneurs. Each week, we're featuring someone who's building a cool product or company that you definitely want to know about. Last week, we featured Dr. Gerardo Guerra Bonilla, founder/CEO of Chartnote. Know someone else who should be featured? Reply in the comments or let us know directly! (theresa@offcall.com)

1. What inspired you to become a physician entrepreneur?

I've always been entrepreneurial — it was almost inevitable that I’d end up in business in some way. Coming from an entrepreneurial family in the hospitality industry, that mindset was ingrained in me early on. But what truly motivated me was the unbearable documentation burden I experienced firsthand, just like so many of my colleagues.

One day, while working as a senior resident in anesthesiology, I nearly made a critical mistake — prescribing a medication for which the patient had a contraindication. The issue wasn’t my knowledge or training; the necessary data simply wasn’t available when I needed it. This wasn’t an isolated incident, and I know many colleagues face the same frustration daily.

As a millennial who has been coding my whole life, I realized: I can fix this. So I set out to build a solution that reduces the administrative load for doctors, allowing them to focus on what truly matters: patient care.

2. Tell us about what your company does and the problem you're trying to solve.

Delphyr is an AI assistant for healthcare professionals to automate administrative work, validate clinical decision-making and improve patient outcomes. It’s like having a medical scribe who can also find any data point in seconds — no matter where it’s been recorded. By automating work like clinical documentation and EHR searches, we can free up 90% of physicians' admin time — and they can focus on providing compassionate care.

The technology is very versatile; Delphyr integrates with all EHR providers and runs on the Microsoft ecosystem. It's trained and fine-tuned in house. And it is, of course, fully compliant: it’s the only healthcare AI assistant to be regulated as a medical device and meets all requirements for GDPR, ISO 27001 and SOC2.

3. What's your advice to anyone who's thinking about entrepreneurship or pursuing a nontraditional career in medicine?

Just. Do. It.

I love medicine, and I still practice occasionally, but I realized there’s so much more beyond the four walls of the hospital. The hospital isn’t a "normal" workplace — it’s a high-pressure environment in every possible way: intellectually, physically, politically, and emotionally. If you've spent your entire career in that setting, stepping outside of it can feel daunting.

But taking that leap has given me so much in return. I get to build something meaningful, solve problems that frustrated me for years, and, most importantly, develop and challenge myself in unprecedented ways. That alone is priceless

3. Since building your company, what's one lesson you've learned about entrepreneurship that wasn't obvious to you before?

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in entrepreneurship is that execution is prioritized over perfection — and with confidence, not hesitation. By nature, I’m a thinker, and early on, I struggled with the idea of acting before fully thinking things through. But I had to learn to think on my feet — that’s the essence of agility.

Another key insight: succinctness beats extensiveness. I hate the word "pitching," but if you start lecturing clients or investors with dry knowledge, you’ll lose them. A strong story carries more weight than just facts. Sometimes, style matters more than substance, and while that used to frustrate me, I now see it as a tool to drive impact.

That said, I also brought a lot of valuable skills from medicine into entrepreneurship — strategic planning, continuous prioritization, performing under pressure, and, most importantly, taking calculated risks.

Connect with Dr. Malek on LinkedIn and learn more about his company Delphyr.