Few technologists move comfortably between founding a startup and advising a cabinet-level department, but Justin Fulcher has built a career doing exactly that. His path began in telemedicine and has since carried him into the halls of the Pentagon, where regulated systems and institutional caution shape every decision leaders make.

Fulcher co-founded RingMD in 2013 at age 21, a telemedicine platform designed to connect patients with physicians across Asia. The venture tackled a persistent gap: mobile connectivity had outpaced basic healthcare infrastructure across much of the region. Engineers on his team built for unreliable bandwidth and uneven access rather than assuming the polished conditions found in wealthier markets, and the platform eventually operated across several countries with very different regulatory frameworks.

Recognition followed. Forbes Asia placed him on its 30 Under 30 list in 2017 within the Healthcare & Science category. Fulcher stepped back from daily operations in the years after, though he still serves RingMD as a board member and minority shareholder without an active operational role today.

Defense Advisory Work

In early 2025, Justin Fulcher joined the U.S. Department of Defense as a Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Defense. His portfolio centered on acquisition reform, and his team helped compress software procurement timelines from years down to months. He also joined senior officials on international dialogues across the Indo-Pacific region, applying lessons from telemedicine deployment to defense modernization efforts underway at the department.

Fulcher’s academic path underscores the shift. Justin Fulcher completed a Master’s degree in Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in 2023 and is now pursuing a doctorate in International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

Today his attention has turned toward supply chain resilience, particularly the availability of rare-earth elements critical to defense technology. Colleagues describe a consistent thread across his healthcare and government work: patience with systems that resist change, paired with an insistence on measurable outcomes rather than headlines or public attention. Read this article for additional information.

 

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