The distance between co-founding a telemedicine startup in Asia and advising the U.S. Department of Defense on technology modernization might look wide on paper. For Justin Fulcher, the distance is shorter than it appears. Both domains required building systems that earn trust in regulated environments where accountability is not optional.
Healthcare as a Starting Point
RingMD, which Fulcher co-founded in 2013 at 21 years old, was a telemedicine platform built to serve patients across Asia who lacked reliable access to physicians. The company operated across multiple countries, each with its own regulatory requirements and infrastructure conditions. Engineering solutions under those constraints shaped how Fulcher thought about technology development: build for the real environment, not the theoretical one.
“Healthcare is one of those things that affects everybody,” he told Charleston Digital Corridor in 2020. “Without the basic, fundamental healthcare access, it handicaps many parts of the world.” By 2017, the platform’s reach and his leadership of it earned Fulcher a place on Forbes Asia’s 30 Under 30 list in Healthcare & Science. He has since transitioned from daily operations but retains a board seat and minority equity stake in the company.
Defense as the Next Constrained Environment
When Fulcher joined the Department of Defense as a Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Defense in early 2025, the core challenge was structurally similar: how do you deploy new technology inside a large institution that resists change? His work concentrated on acquisition reform, helping reduce software procurement timelines from years to months, and on technology adoption across established departmental systems.
He also participated in international strategic dialogues in the Indo-Pacific region, connecting technology policy questions to broader security considerations. Justin Fulcher’s current priorities include defense technology innovation and supply chain resilience, with a particular focus on rare-earth elements and critical materials. He completed a Master’s in Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in 2023, and is currently working toward a Doctorate in International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, a program that underlines how seriously he takes the intellectual grounding for the work he does. Refer to this article to learn more.
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