San Francisco, CA– Nowadays we can crowdsource just about anything. We can fund the latest innovations on Indiegogo, back the coolest watch you’ve ever seen on Kickstarter, and even give the gift of sight to the blind for a short while.
The latest crowdsourcing organization to come to my attention, Watsi, partners with hospitals to provide donations in the form of healthcare assistance to underserved populations in low income countries. At its core, the company connects patients who can’t afford necessary medical procedures with web-based donors. The organization provides support for these patients around the world across 170 different types of procedures including heart surgery, cancer care, and brain tumor removals.
Watsi’s next endeavor is to move beyond individual donations and to leverage healthcare data to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of medical institutions. The organization has funded a malnutrition clinical trail in Guatemala, with the ultimate goal being to take that data and give it to other nonprofits to improve healthcare worldwide.
Watsi’s chief executive, Chase Adam, has extremely high aspirations for the startup and has proclaimed that their goal is to reach 1 million patients by 2020. He has also voiced that Watsi is fighting to fundamentally change the way that healthcare providers view data so that hospitals can be held more accountable and provide the necessary information to organizations about where is best to take patients for certain operations and care needs.
About the Author:
As Managing Director of Innovation and Insights for Syneos Health Communications, Leigh is responsible for building and scaling a global team of healthcare experts who together help life science leaders better understand the complex lives, influences and expectations of their customers. Specifically, they uncover actionable insights that fuel empathy and creativity; lead co-creation events that let marketers learn from peers, trends, and new possibilities; and help clients identify the most valuable and useful new customer experiences to create.
Leigh has worked with Fortune 1000 companies to craft their digital, mobile, social and CRM strategies for nearly 20 years.She’s worked for category-leading agencies in retail, public affairs, B2B technology, and higher education. Prior to moving to Syneos Health Communications, she held several leadership roles at our largest agency, GSW. There, she founded an innovation practice fueled by the zeitgeist and spearheaded digital and innovation thinking across the business.
Leigh has taken a special interest in complex healthcare products that can change lives in meaningful ways. She was recently a strategic lead on the 3rd largest launch in pharmaceutical history: Tecfidera. Before that she had keys roles with Eli Lilly Oncology, Abbott Nutrition, Amgen Cardiovascular, and Eli Lilly Diabetes.
A critical part of Leigh’s work is trends and new ideas. Every year, she convenes a group of trend watchers from across our global network to identify the shifts most critical to healthcare marketers. This year, she led over 250 experts to experts to focus on the most important changes in the commercial, consumer, marketing, digital and healthcare landscapes. (See reports at trends.health)
Leigh is a sought-after writer and speaker. Recognized as one of the most inspiring people in the pharmaceutical industry by PharmaVoice and Top 10 Innovation Catalysts of 2017 by MM&M, Leigh also was recognized as a Rising Star by the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association (HBA) for her overt passion, industry thought leadership and significant contributions in new business, strategy and mentoring.
