Justin Fulcher Pursues Doctorate in International Affairs at Johns Hopkins
Few technology entrepreneurs combine active advisory work in defense with graduate study in international security. Justin Fulcher is doing both, currently pursuing a Doctorate in International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies while maintaining professional engagement in defense technology and supply chain issues.
An Unusual Academic Path
Fulcher’s academic background has developed in parallel with his professional one. He earned a Master’s degree in Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in 2023, a credential that reflects sustained engagement with the policy dimensions of security rather than just the technical ones.
That foundation supports his current focus on rare-earth elements and supply chain resilience, areas where technology, geopolitics, and national security intersect in concrete ways. Critical materials supply chains have become a significant concern in defense planning, and the ability to analyze those systems across technical and policy dimensions is uncommon. Justin Fulcher has been building that combination deliberately.
Grounding Policy Work in Operational Experience
The doctoral work at Johns Hopkins comes after a career grounded in practice. Fulcher co-founded RingMD in 2013, building telemedicine infrastructure across Asia and earning Forbes Asia’s 30 Under 30 recognition in 2017. He later served as a Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Defense at the U.S. Department of Defense, where Justin Fulcher contributions included reforms that cut software procurement timelines from years to months.
Writing about the philosophy underlying his work, Fulcher has described his orientation as prioritizing execution over narrative and durability over speed. The academic path at Johns Hopkins is consistent with that view: understanding complex systems at depth before making claims about how to change them. For an entrepreneur turned government advisor, the return to graduate study is less a detour than a continuation of a long-running inquiry. See related link for additional information.
Learn more about Justin Fulcher on https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrjustinfulcher
