Apple has quietly hired Dr. Rajiv B. Kumar, a pediatric endocrinologist currently employed by Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University, FastCo reported Friday. He will continue working at the hospital part time. Kumar has experience implementing Apple's HealthKit to help patients manage their diabetes. In recent weeks, Apple also saw the departure of one of its healthcare lawyers Candace Martin, who served as Privacy Counsel, to McKesson, where she now serves as Global Privacy Director.
Telemedicine company American Well has added a new face to its advisory board. Dr. Mark McClellan, director of the Health Policy Center at Duke University, former CMS administrator and former FDA commissioner will serve as Vice Chairman of the board.
"We could not be more thrilled to have Mark join our advisory board and bring his unmatched experience in health care economics and health policy to American Well,” Dr. Ido Schoenberg, CEO and chairman of American Well said in a statement. “Our mission as a company is to radically improve how great care is accessed, reduce costs to both the consumer and the industry, and work alongside regulatory officials to make telehealth as safe, legal and financially viable as possible. Mark’s experience in the White House, as well as at CMS and the FDA, will no doubt be immensely helpful as we continue to bring telehealth to everyone in the U.S.”
Fitbit has added two high-profile names to its board of directors: Laura Alber, president and chief executive officer of Williams-Sonoma, and Glenda Flanagan, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Whole Foods Market.
“Laura and Glenda each bring a wealth of experience driving the growth and transformation of leading consumer and health-related brands. Their insight, experience, and leadership will help guide us as we continue our global expansion and evolution as a leading consumer health platform and brand,” James Park, Fitbit CEO and chairman of the board of directors, said in a statement.
As we noted in our recent coverage, Jawbone lost two well-known team members in recent weeks. Andrew Rosenthal, group manager for wellness and platform, left in April, as did Jason Donahue, group manager for life cycle and growth. Both were well known in digital health circles. Rosenthal joined the company as part of the Massive Health acquisition, and Donahue, who was a co-founder of early sleep tracking company Zeo, joined after graduating from Harvard Business School.
PingMD, makers of a patient-doctor comminication app, hired a new president and CEO, Susan Driscoll. Driscoll comes from Wolters Kluwer Health, where she was CEO of the Professional and Education division. The previous CEO (and cofounder), Dr. Gopal K Chopra, will stay on as chairman of the board.
Remote patient monitoring company Sentrian announced a new chief revenue officer, Bryan Ness, and a new VP of marketing and communications, Molly Cogan. While Ness just joined the company, Cogan has been there since January. Ness has previously worked at McKesson, Treo Solutions, Phytel and Wellcentiv, while Cogan comes from the Wireless Life Sciences Association and has experience working on capital hill, including a stint at HHS, where she helped roll out Medicare Part D.
Healthcare marketing and design agency Klick Health launched a New York office and announced a number of recent hires. They include SVP of Account Planning Noriko Yokoi, VP of Strategic Partnerships Jennifer White, Group Account Director Maureen Svoboda, Executive Creative Director Lance Paull, Creative Strategist Rachel McCready, EVP of Market Access and B2B Khawar Khokhar, VP of Klick Labs Yan Fossat, and VP and Program Director Leslie Doyle.
