Marcel Muenster, MD MPH

Dr. Muenster is a Johns Hopkins-trained medical doctor, digital health entrepreneur, and early-stage investor, who always has his passport in his pocket. As a student, Marcel was a medical student traversing the globe delivering bone marrow to leukemia patients, and now he is advising royal families and venture-backed companies to maximize their performance, built a global digital health company, and is running marathons. Marcel has traveled to over 70 countries to develop a deeper understanding of the unique cultures that make up life and lead to success in our hyperconnected world. 

Through his process, he has internalized the traits of humility and curiosity, personal characteristics, that make him simultaneously relatable and inspirational. 

Marcel is a dynamic and successful serial entrepreneur whose work and expertise have been featured in Forbes, Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, World Economic Forum’s Agenda, TechCrunch, New York Times, Entrepreneur Magazine, and other industry-leading publications. Dr. Muenster was also interviewed on CNN about performance maximization. He joined forces with the World Health Organization to improve healthcare in Latin America and gained his clinical experience in Germany, Switzerland, South Korea, and at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Before joining Gfk as a healthcare consultant, he worked on a multinational hospital project at the Harvard Business School.

In 2012 he founded Doctor in Your Pocket, a global digital medical concierge service available in 180+ cities, giving international travelers access to trusted local, virtual, and house call doctors around the clock anywhere in the world, an endeavor that earned him a nomination for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award. 

Recognizing the need for startup founders to own their potential, Marcel established The Gritti Fund, the world’s first investment fund focused on the founder’s performance, mental and physical. The ultimate goal is to enhance the success rate of startups that fail due to founder burnout (65%) and therefore change the global investment paradigm for early-stage investments. The fund focuses primarily on healthcare investments in the Middle East and Africa. The team has built companies on six continents, raised above $150M, and sold companies for more than $300M. Limited partners to the fund have included former Fortune 100 CEOs from Becton Dickinson and other accomplished entrepreneurs.

Marcel is credited for having invented and created the world’s first PitchUpInTheSky in partnership with TikTok. The competition saw the shortlisted finalists deliver their startup pitches as they rapidly ascended in an aircraft for a skydive in what has become the most live-streamed startup pitch event in history. Besides TikTok, the event was supported by Microsoft, Dubai’s Department of Tourism, Global Ventures, and other sponsors. 

His endeavors have led him to become a social media influencer on TikTok (@marcelmuenster) with 85k+ followers, 7.5M+ video views, and 546k+ like

When he isn’t working, he’s a history buff and loves running marathons. He was part of the German Olympic training center as a middle-distance runner.  

Marcel was endorsed by Sir Richard Branson and is on the panel of experts at the World Economic Forum focused on healthcare, mental health, and entrepreneurship. 

In 2019 alone, Marcel gave fifteen talks including two keynotes in ten countries. Topics included performance maximization, innovation in healthcare, and his transformation from a medical doctor to entrepreneur and now an investor. 

# Dr. Muenster’s mission is to Empower People To Own Their Potential. 

To learn more about Marcel’s work, please see his articles:

• How Overcoming Fear Led The Gritti Fund Founder Marcel Muenster On His Entrepreneurial Journey (Entrepreneur Magazine)
• There is a mental health crisis in entrepreneurship. (World Economic Forum)
• A Digital Health Solution For Travelers: Keep A Doctor In Your Pocket (Forbes)