Q&A with Particle's New Director of Clinical Strategy

Carolyn Ward recently joined Particle Health as Director of Clinical Strategy where she is responsible for not only driving the clinical product roadmap for the organization but also making sure the patient and provider voice is represented in every step of the process. We are thrilled to have her join the team and  look forward to drawing from her extensive experience to support the company as we look to solve the complex problem of making data not only accessible but usable. In this interview we take a deeper dive into her journey to Particle and her dedication to building digital tools that are fundamentally changing healthcare for the better.

Welcome Carolyn! We’re excited to have you on board and jumping right into the role. So for starters what brought you to Particle Health? The digital health landscape is so vast, what was it about the company that really stood out to you?

I am excited about joining Particle because I truly believe that we are really solving such an important problem within the healthcare space. How health data is created, collected, transmitted, and analyzed or used is a very disjointed effort at best in our current healthcare system. As an industry we are creating and collecting more data than ever before, but we still have not been able to capture the value that is inherent in this data to truly revolutionize how we view and manage health and wellness. Particle today is solving the hard problem of making data accessibility not only a reality but also helping both developers and providers to make sense of that data in a way that is actionable and useful. What a gratifying endeavor to be part of!

What do you hope to accomplish at Particle?

As both a provider and a patient I am painfully aware of challenges that exist when to comes to people gaining access to their health data and making their data work for them. We have all had that experience of going to a doctor’s office and they ask a question about our own health that we don’t have the answer to. Sure, the answer is tucked somewhere in some EMR, in some progress note, but we as a patient either simply don’t have access to these details or we don’t understand what this information means, and often it’s both scenarios.

At Particle I am hoping to make a significant impact (in collaboration with my team) on how the industry is addressing data accessibility challenges head on. This means getting the right data into the right hands at the right time to generate the most impact on patients’ lives.

What led you to become an internal medicine physician?

I studied neurobiology at UPenn as an undergrad and found it incredibly interesting, especially as there is still so much we don’t understand about the human brain. But I also minored in mathematics – as I love the problem-solving aspect of it. I am happiest when I am sitting down and working and working and working on a problem until I arrive at the solution. That feeling is so addicting.

Ultimately, I found my way to medicine because it was a professional path that combined my interest in the human body and my love for problem-solving and married it with a calling to understand and take care of people and do something career-wise meaningful.

What’s your favorite part about working in healthcare?

My favorite part about working in healthcare has been being able to go to sleep every night knowing that the work I did that day had an impact and meaning in someone’s life. This is true for being physician obviously when it comes to working with  patients every day, but in that role your accomplishments  cannot always scale that significantly as a single provider. Even if I work every single day of the week for like, 100 hours, you're only going to be able to impact a certain very finite number during the lifetime of your career. On the opposite side of the spectrum working at Particle you (as part of a team) are building the technology tools today that have the potential to transform the future of healthcare interoperability moving forward. The possibilities are quite significant and equally gratifying.

The healthcare space is constantly evolving. What do you do to stay informed and keep up with the trends?

Well first I maintain an amazing network of former med school peers and colleagues who are always connecting and collaborating whether that be over email, text or via LinkedIn. I also still spend a good amount time reviewing new literature being released by major medical journals like the New England Medical Journal which consistently publishes content that is still truly relevant to the work I am doing today. Finally, I am a huge fan of the vast amount of podcast and online content which we have at our disposal 24-7 which I rely on regularly to keep up to date on digital health trends.

What else are you passionate about, outside of work? What is your proudest accomplishment?

As a mom of two little ones, I am really passionate about parenting and early education.

Interested in learning more about Particle’s mission to enable simple and secure access to actionable healthcare data for digital health innovators? Check out our CEO’s recent podcast interview with VentureFizz.