Alan Rosenbaum
Cervu – SEED Fall 2025
Published July 8, 2026
As part of our ‘Meet Our Founders’ series today, we introduce Alan Rosenbaum, Founder and CEO of Cervu, based in Cary, NC. Cervu is a women’s health company helping female cancer survivors who suffer from chronic pelvic pain and pain with sex reclaim their sexual and pelvic health.
Q: What problem are you trying to solve, and what influenced you to start your company?
A: I first became interested in device and product development as a medical student when I watched OBGYN trainees struggle to learn how to use poorly-designed surgical tools. Later, while in El Salvador with the U.S. Fulbright program examining HPV self-tests, I saw how technology could expand access to care. After completing my OBGYN training, those two interests brought me to North Carolina, where I performed several years of research fellowships at the UNC School of Medicine, completing an M.S. in Clinical Research at the UNC Gillings School of Public Health and an M.S. in Biomedical Engineering at the UNC/NCSU Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering. While a master’s student, the technological concept for Cervu was formed, motivated by several women I was caring for in the clinic. These women, who were female cancer survivors, suffered from chronic pelvic pain and pain with sexual intercourse as a result of their cancer treatments and were not being adequately helped by current solutions. This served as inspiration to build a better product and community, leading to the creation of Cervu.
Q: What have you enjoyed most about starting your own company?
A: Learning new skills! After completing my medical training followed by two master’s degrees, I wanted to go back to school to get an MBA, but my wife said that it was time for me to get a job and work for a living. By building a company and being an entrepreneur, we both win, and now every day with Cervu I get to develop new skills. Simultaneously, I truly get to leverage my professional expertise to build something that will make the lives of others better. With Cervu, I use my past training as an OBGYN, degrees in clinical research and biomedical engineering, and experience in global health and the use of technology to improve access in low-resource settings.
Q: Who do you look to for advice and mentorship?
A: As Mark Twain said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes,” and that definitely applies to being an entrepreneur. Fortunately, I’m blessed to reside in North Carolina and, specifically, the Research Triangle, that has such an incredible breadth and depth of entrepreneurs and innovators. Each individual company will face challenges and difficult decisions – and it’s reassuring to know that there have been folks who have gone through the same thing before. I’ve been blessed to have had such a supportive network of mentors and advisors thanks to the entrepreneurship and innovation programs at our local universities – folks like Haley Huie (NCSU), Josh Cohen (Duke), and Andrew Kant (UNC). These mentors each have extensive networks, and they generously help to connect me with other founders, advisors, or service providers who have extensive experience dealing with whatever problem I’m looking to overcome.
Q: What other passions do you have besides your business?
A: I am committed to making North Carolina a great place to live and work for women and their families. I’m a board-certified OBGYN and I still pick up shifts where I get to deliver babies and perform emergency surgeries. It’s an honor to help women during (mostly) happy family moments – and it’s an awesome privilege to occasionally get to save someone’s life. I am on the North Carolina OBGYN Society’s Executive Committee, where I get to interface with NC DHHS to improve women’s health in North Carolina and also get to engage members of the NC General Assembly on women’s health issues. I’m on the North Carolina Midwifery Joint Committee, which is the regulatory board overseeing the practice of midwifery in the state of North Carolina. I’m also actively engaged with local elected officials because it’s everyone’s responsibility to shape our democracy and the future of our communities for ourselves and our children. In my personal life, I love to spend time with my toddler. It’s so much fun to watch him grow and constantly say and do new things. My wife and I love to play board games (we own about 350), and every year we go to GenCon – a huge board gaming convention – with good friends.
While visiting the Triangle, Alan recommends:
- Food: As a visitor you really must try North Carolina BBQ, and specifically you need to try pulled pork with the vinegar-based sauce; I recommend going anywhere listed on the NC Historic BBQ Trail. Alternatively, there’s incredible Chinese food and dim sum in Cary (Q Noodles, Dimsum Asian Bistro, Taipei 101, Chengdu 7, etc). Durham has an incredible taco scene all along North Roxboro St – my favorite is the restaurant in La Superior grocery store, but there are many good taco locations all around the Research Triangle. Lastly, if you want to try some gluttonous and glutinous southern biscuits, the place to go is the NC State Farmer’s Market Restaurant… but beware: the biscuits there are huge and buttery.
- Activities: I mostly do activities with a toddler these days, and we will often visit the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Downtown Cary Park, Pullen Park, the State Farmer’s Market, and the Museum of Life and Science. If I’ve found a babysitter, though, then my wife and I will go out to play board games at a board game bar – like Side Quest (Raleigh), Gamers Geekery and Tavern (Cary), or Meeples Brew (multiple locations).
Support Alan and Cervu by:
- We are always interested in general networking – or helping to share the word of the work Cervu is doing – because sometimes great collaborations can begin in unanticipated ways. However, two arenas where we are focusing our efforts are that we are i) currently building relationships with women’s health physical therapists so that we can hit the ground running when our product is delivered in a few months and ii) interested in engaging with individual or angel investors who may be interested in participating within or alongside our open friends and family round. Lastly, we anticipate hiring a sales and marketing teammate in the near future. If you know anyone with experience in connecting with a startup that is selling a health and wellness product at clinician offices, we would be excited to make their acquaintance! In that role, they’ll help craft our marketing strategy, marketing materials, and customer- and community-facing content.
