Hi there!
I’m so glad you’re here. :)
My name is Dr. Neel Shah and I’m a skeptic. I think the best scientists are. I’m Chief Medical Officer of Maven Clinic–a digital health company focused on women and families–but I initially approached digital health with some doubts. Afterall, you can’t deliver a baby through a screen.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, I was an obstetrician helping pregnant people to deliver their babies under extraordinary circumstances. It was impossible not to see that those who were admitted in respiratory distress were the ones with essential jobs, the ones dependent on public transportation, the ones in crowded housing, without the ability to self-isolate. They were disproportionately Black and brown and hailed from the poorest neighborhoods in Boston.
It became clear to me that health was not produced within the four walls of my hospital. Health is produced in our homes, in our communities, in our workplaces. So after a decade as a professor, I gave away all my grants and left my academic appointment at Harvard Medical School to try something new.
I’ll be the first to admit an app is unlikely to fix healthcare. But at its best, digital health isn’t about the “app”; the ability to scroll through content, or even the chance to Zoom with a doctor.
It’s about taking the devices we all carry in our pockets, and turning them into a portal to care. Childbirth is the #1 reason for hospitalization in a country. As a nation we spend the most and get the least when it comes to maternal outcomes. The solitary reason for this is inequitable access to care and support.
When we reimagine health care for women and families, we reimagine it with the most vulnerable people in mind. That’s exactly what we’re doing at Maven Clinic. And now, you’re coming along with me for the ride.
What we do here
I think the best scientists and the best entrepreneurs are actually very similar people. They apply rigor to their curiosity. They test hypotheses. They study the data. They persist until their questions are answered.
Twice a month, I share data and dispatches from the frontlines of our effort to design, test, and scale a novel model of care that serves over 17M people in 175 countries.
Sometimes, I share peer-reviewed research from my team at Maven or others that I admire. Other times, in the true spirit of a preprint, I’ll share breaking trends and analytics insights that have not been published yet. Often, it will be interviews with people I think have essential kernels of knowledge to share—scientists, health equity leaders, and even artists. Always, we’ll be asking questions, applying healthy skepticism, but remaining relentlessly optimistic that better health care is possible
Where you can find me
I live in Cambridge with my wife, Julie and our two kids, Luca and Lily. Plus our two doodles Sidney and Otis. We like being outdoors together as much as possible. I love notes, and I hope you’ll drop me one at thepreprint@mavenclinic.com. You also can follow me on Twitter/X @neel_shah.
You can learn more about the work we’re doing at Maven to build better care for women and families here (and here and here).
