🌱 August 8, 2025
Welcome to Re-Humanizing HealthTech.
I’m Katie, and I’d like to live a long, happy, and healthy life.
I'm not confident that's the obvious outcome given the trajectory of our current systems and structures, so I embarked on a listening journey.
Over the last few months, I’ve had the privilege to talk to researchers and public policy experts, clinicians and care providers, builders, operators, and investors. Three patterns continue to surface.
😱 Uncertainty & fear: The Fog
Macro: What’s happening with policy, employment, and research?
Micro: What’s happening in our bodies?
🧩 A missing piece: The Gap
People want to understand their personal health and take action to improve it. Many folks are building solutions to address the problem spaces across healthcare. But, there's often a gap. Some I've heard are data availability, access to people and information, unreasonable timeframes, and how to find the right business model.
🔥 Yearning: The Hunger
For understanding and education. For something better. And for connection.
I’m focused on connection, and I’m choosing optimism by connecting ideas and people across healthcare.
🛠 Meet the builder
Meet Monica. She’s building a community-powered platform for women navigating pregnancy loss and infertility.
Why did you choose this path?
Because I’ve lived it. I know what it feels like to sit in silence after a loss. To feel like your grief is invisible, your body has failed, or that you're somehow alone in the struggle to conceive.
But I also know this: when women feel supported - when they have a community, tools, and emotional support – they begin to heal and step into their power. They begin to hope again, advocate for themselves and support others walking a similar path.
I’m building Rhea for myself as I still navigate my family-building journey and for the millions of women who are walking a similar path. I am also building this for my daughter. I want reproductive care and support to be in a much better place by the time she’s considering starting a family of her own.
What are the missing pieces for you right now?
👀 Visibility. As a bootstrapped solopreneur, I’m doing it all—and now I need help getting Rhea in front of more women who need it.
💲 Monetization. I’m in deep listening mode with our members to co-create the right personalized offerings and services.
🧠 Advisors. Especially operators with experience in digital health or building meaningful, high-trust communities.
What gives you hope?
When I hear from women that Rhea is exactly what they needed, and had been searching for in their journey.
🧠 What we’re reading
How to “be more disappointing” to improve your health in this essay in Time. Eyal shares startling insights into the concept of self-silencing and putting others needs first, and how these tendencies play into poor health outcomes for women.
Is the right question: How might we constructively express ourselves? Or, how might we better communicate our internal lives, externally?
How consistently Americans (and particularly millennials) put off getting care in this survey. Millennials are also more likely to pay for care out of their own pockets, which both demonstrates the ongoing opportunity for improving and re-envisioning existing care models, and highlights concerns around access for low-income individuals.
Is the right question: How might we reduce the delay in seeking care?
The scary-low numbers for postpartum follow-up visits here. Postpartum visits are critical for supporting physical recovery, addressing postpartum depression and other recovery challenges, and young mothers are most at risk.
Is the right question: How might we help new mothers get the postpartum care they need?
Related: A framework to re-imagine maternal health in a FastMoney Op-Ed from Theresa Neil.
A call to action for patient-centered data in this article from the CMS. A part of the new Health Tech Ecosystem Initiative, the intent is to create data interoperability standards across payers, providers, and EHRs. Adoption of standards takes time (think XML, auto emissions), but it often opens up opportunities to build on top of solid infrastructure. Stated goals are:
Patients can easily access and share their health information.
Providers and care teams receive the data they need at the point of care.
Apps and digital tools deliver personalized support, anytime, anywhere.
Payers support outcomes and value-based models through appropriate data exchange.
🧑🤝🧑 Communities to know
With a spotlight on women builders.
Rhea. A safe space to talk about pregnancy loss and infertility, led by our featured founder: Monica Grippo.
Women’s Health Advocates. Uniting people to educate government decision-makers on policies and funding needed to advance the health of women. Led by Liz Powell.
Women in HealthTech. A community for women and non-binary talent to gather and share their exciting work in healthcare. Led by Oriana Fuentes.
In Women’s Health. A healthcare professional network and educational streaming platform. Led by Jodi Neuhauser.
Pausitive Outlook. Helping breast cancer survivors navigate menopause via events and education, led by Teyonna Bowman.
SF Women’s Health Club. Where women come together to feel heard, supported, and inspired toward lifelong wellness. Education and in-person small group events in San Francisco, led by Van-Anh Su.
💡In case you missed it
I’m pondering:
Newsletter buddy shoutout: Priyanka (venture partner, former founder, humble engineer) is sharing insights about medicine and emerging tech via 3-2-1 Health Tech.
✨ Let’s build together
I help Seed and Series A healthtech startups design and build investor-grade revenue engines.
In optimism,
Katie at NovaScale Advisory
