National Medical Fellowships (NMF) welcomes Scott Becker, Esq., founder, publisher, and chief content officer of Becker’s Healthcare and Becker’s Hospital Review, and partner at McGuireWoods, to its Board of Directors. 

Scott Becker, Esq., describes himself as an evolutionary learner who became more purposeful and intentional about the role of media in health care over his law career.  

But one thing, he says, remains clear to him today: 

“Our nation needs more health care providers, and especially more doctors, nurses, and health care professionals of color,” Becker said. “If we do not do everything in our power to help inspire and create more health professionals from all communities alongside other medical innovations, we’ll be in a terrible situation.”  

Becker, a partner at the law firm of McGuireWoods, is widely known as the founder, publisher, and chief content officer of Becker’s Healthcare and Becker’s Hospital Review. He is also an active investor, the author of several books, a regular speaker on business and health care trends –  

And, as of this year, a Board Member with National Medical Fellowships.  

“NMF President and CEO Michellene Davis impressed and inspired me with her dedication to NMF’s mission, and our goal together is to further amplify it.”

Becker earned his undergraduate degree in accounting and finance from the University of Illinois before earning his law degree from Harvard Law School.  

Upon joining McGuireWoods, Becker completed projects in the health care space and found the people he was working with interesting and the subject matter enjoyable.  

“I decided to double down,” Becker added, describing how he incrementally moved from working with physicians to hospital leaders to health care investors.  

“The beauty of being in a niche is being able to put all your energy into a single vertical,” Becker said. “I decided in my 20’s that it’s okay not to have a hand in everything, and focusing solely on health care law was one of the best career decisions I ever made.” 

Becker said he has heard from many young professionals, including physicians, who think if they commit to a singular area of study, they’ll be limited in what they can do.

“The happiest doctors I’ve met are those who not only have been practicing primary care or orthopedic surgery for 30 years, but also got involved in leadership, authorship, or their community with what it is they’ve become experts at.”

Becker said he began his own journey by developing thought leadership, newsletters, events and conferences pertaining to health care law.  

“Then, as I got more and more engaged, I decided to start growing it all into a serious media company,” he said.  

Becker founded Becker’s Healthcare and Becker Private Equity while continuing to practice health care transactional and regulatory law with McGuireWoods, where he is now partner, a former board member, and the former chair of the firm’s health care department.  

Over the last decade, Becker also published Becker’s Healthcare and the Becker Private Equity and Business podcasts, where he has since interviewed notable public figures such as Bill and Hilary Clinton, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, George and Laura Bush, and Venus Williams.  

“I’ve learned time and again one of the biggest problems we’re facing as a nation is access to health care, and whenever there are issues of access for everyone, it’s the poorest and most vulnerable communities who suffer most. If we think focusing on preventive care and innovation will fix our supply and demand issue of providers versus population, we’ve already lost sight of the sheer numbers.” 

“If, for example, your primary care doctor retires, and you live in an area where you can’t find another one unless you’re willing and able to pay a concierge physician? All the technology and therapeutics in the world aren’t going to solve that.  

“And while I’m a believer in making fitness and nutrition a priority, willpower and prevention alone will also not work. We better start embracing our alternatives and have enough people to administer them.”  

Becker recalled speaking with a hospital president who was once a college athlete from a poor community.  

“He had no idea his current professional pathway existed before he was hospitalized with an injury and chatted with his health team about their careers,” he said. “How can we pivot from common happenstance stories like that to more systematic ways of engaging greater student interest in health care?  

“Early education programming allows a lot of young people to see people they can relate to doing things that make them think, I can do that, too.” 

Becker said he knows how important it is for America’s youth to remain not only openminded but also involved in their future decision making.  

“The world isn’t binary,” Becker said. “But if we can remember to look and live somewhere in between the extremes, we might find more solutions than expected.”