Q: Tell us a bit about yourself and your professional journey. 
A. I am currently advising startup digital health and clinical research organizations. My professional journey began with a PhD in Cognitive Science, which led me into psychopharmacology and eventually into the industry. I was part of a core team that helped scale a startup developing psychedelic drugs for mental health, leveraging my academic experience which allowed me to produce and recognize technical rigor. I then honed my expertise in clinical operations during our first two clinical trials. I then became involved in clinical strategy, including indication selection and intellectual property development for formulations and digital technologies.

I established the digital health arm of the company, focusing development in two main areas: a digital transformation to create a digital ecosystem and the development of digital biomarkers to support and address safety concerns related to our pharmaceutical assets. I launched an observational clinical trial to validate these biomarkers, which required balancing research, business, and clinical operational goals.

Through managing diverse challenges in people management, strategy, implementation, and clinical trials, I became a sort of Swiss Army knife, adept at handling a variety of roles and tasks. I am now using all these skills to help other startups with strategy.

Q: What do you see as the biggest challenges in digital health implementation? 
A: The biggest challenges in digital health implementation include ensuring interoperability and consolidating solutions into a simple, user-friendly package not only for users, but also with an understanding of provider workflows. It’s important to make sure solutions are simple, applicable to the real world, and solve real problems.

Q: What are the biggest opportunities? 
A. One of the most promising opportunities in digital health is the use of AI for clinical decisions, triage, and diagnostics—things that remove bottlenecks from care. AI has the potential to significantly improve efficiency and accuracy of these processes, leading to better patient outcomes and streamlined workflows for healthcare providers.

Q:What advice do you have for anyone looking to get into digital health? 
A. My advice for anyone looking to enter the digital health field is to get down and dirty with the problem and fall in love with it—not with the solution. By doing so, you can focus on creating a simple product that addresses a real need. While specific skills are important, critical thinking is paramount. Understanding the complexities and nuances of the healthcare environment will help you develop solutions that truly make a difference.

Q: What is your 5-year plan? 
A: In the next five years, I aim to contribute to research strategy for digital health solutions and plan to be actively involved in implementation projects and digital transformation initiatives. My goal is to help drive the adoption of innovative digital health solutions that improve patient care and operational efficiency in the healthcare industry.