Breaking Health, Episode #141

In his final rotation at Harvard Medical School, Andrew was baffled by how many patients were googling their symptoms to make decisions about whether to seek care. Things became personal though when his own father hesitated and waited too long to seek medical attention while experiencing a mini stroke (thankfully he survived). Andrew became convinced that there had to be a way to reduce the effort and hesitancy deterring potential patients from engaging with healthcare professionals. So, he took three years off from medical school and co-founded Buoy Health. The goal was to develop an AI chatbot that could help people answer the simple question: “When do I need to go to the doctor?” Built upon manual review of thousands of medical articles and incorporated user feedback, Buoy quickly became a truly machine-learned algorithm that could not only account for medical best practices but also user demographics. Today, buoy.com services over 30 million people, including being the official COVID-19 screening tool for both Massachusetts and Virginia. The company has also developed a “Back with Care” feature to help employees return to work and is about to release a vaccination module as well. Tune into this episode to learn more about Buoy Health, plus hear host Steve Krupa chat with Andrew on his transition from medical student to entrepreneur, what he wished he knew before starting the business, and Andrew’s vision for the company’s future.