Today, I am proud to announce the formation of Pathize's Patient Advocacy Board.
Throughout the early phases of our app’s development, we’ve been blown away by the feedback and guidance from our closed beta testers and the energy-limiting chronic illness community.
We've created the Patient Advocacy Board to ensure we continue to build with these people in mind. While the board is a diverse group, being made up of medical doctors, doctoral candidates, engineers, and healthcare workers, more important is their steadfast commitment to working with us to build a better, more empathetic world for those with chronic illnesses. A vast majority of individuals on the board themselves have an energy-limiting chronic illness.
They are some of the most courageous individuals I have had the pleasure of meeting - I am incredibly grateful to have them by our side.
Dr. Sujana Reddy (top left) - Dr. Reddy is currently an Internal Medicine Resident Physician at East Alabama Health in the Auburn/Opelika area. This Alabama native graduated with her Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree D.O., from the Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2021 & holds a dual Bachelors in Science degree in Biology and Psychology from Birmingham-Southern College. Dr. Reddy is passionate about helping those with chronic illness because she is a long-COVID survivor and battles POTS & ME/CFS.
Lex Oiler (top middle) - Lex is a founder, product designer, and patient advocate focused on financial education and empowerment. As someone who’s dealt with her own chronic conditions for over 15 years, including a multi-year struggle with Long Covid, she is excited to work with Pathize to develop solutions to make managing health easier, more accurate, and less time intensive for patients like her.
Daniel Lewis (top right) - Daniel has been suffering from long COVID since July 2022. His long COVID manifests as ME with symptoms including POTS, PEM, fatigue, brain fog, headaches, and many others. He is a senior data analyst at GDIT on a contract with the Unaccompanied Children program in the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). Before ORR, he worked as a data analyst in research & development at GEICO and as a research analyst at Gartner. He earned an MS in Organizational Behavior from UNC Chapel Hill and a BA in Government from Cornell University. He lives in the DC area. Daniel hopes Pathize will help long COVID patients manage their conditions and heal by integrating and interpreting their health data.
Elise Racine (bottom left) - Elise is a doctoral candidate in Population Health at the University of Oxford. She holds an HPA from the Hertie School, a MSc from the London School of Economics, and a BA from Stanford University. Her work centers around the potential health applications of new and emerging technologies, like artificial intelligence. Elise believes Pathizecan play a vital role in addressing patients’ unique health needs, streamlining care, and ultimately helping users reclaim a higher quality of life.
Julia Watson (bottom middle) - Julia grew up between Arizona and Alabama briefly resided in Raleigh for two and a half years before long COVID took over my life, making me make the financial decision to move back into my family’s home. She has a master’s in Biology, has experience as an EMT, and has been working in clinical research for the past two years. She is a proud lover of the metaphysical, listening to rain storms and cooking/eating a gourmet meal. She hopes to help move research forward for Long COVID in any way she possibly can. She is already a part of one patient advisory board and is thrilled to be a part of Pathize's now, as well!
Angela Tucker (bottom right) - Angela holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management and a Master of Science Degree in Technology Management. Angela has been diagnosed with EDS, MCAS, Small Fiber Neuropathy, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Vascular Compressions, and Gastrointestinal Motility Issues. Once Angela's symptoms were a little better regulated, she decided it was important to share her story and advocate on social media. In her spare time, Angela enjoys reading, painting, spending time outdoors, light exercise (when possible), watching her favorite shows on Netflix and advocating for chronic illness on her social media platforms.
John Graham (not pictured) - John Graham is a 58-year-old father of 3 adult children and a husband for almost 35 years. He has an extensive background in healthcare technology with over 30 years of experience across biotech, pharmaceuticals, and manufacturing. Before Long COVID, John was an avid mountain biker, hiker, and car nut. John has thankfully improved and believes giving back to the community as much as possible is important. He see’s Pathize as a way to bring all of us closer together, help us understand a misunderstood illness, and a way to predict and help treat future events.
Neha K (not pictured) - Neha K was working as a medical intern at the busiest hospital in Dubai when she came down with the flu, which she didn't think of at the time. Little did she know it was about to radically alter the course of her life by triggering the onset of profoundly debilitating ME/CFS. By the time Neha had gained admission into the most competitive medical residency program in the Emirates, she had also developed symptoms of full-blown fibromyalgia. In her collaboration with Pathize, Neha hopes to contribute by using her wealth of experience of well over a decade as someone who has battled chronic illness and her medical background to help create a "one-stop shop" that would aid people with ME/CFS and make their lives that much easier and fruitful by arming them with relevant information.
Our app, while still in a closed beta, is available to anyone on iOS and Android. You can sign up here if you have an energy-limiting chronic illness like Long COVID, ME/CFS, or POTS and want to test it.