Two paths, one vision
Stu and John discovered they shared a common vision for the Future of Caregiving after 30+ years of approaching it from different directions.
Stu came at it through his search for voice-AI and conversational-AI solutions to help others. John came at it through his development of medical care models serving the most vulnerable populations.
We met in 2017 and quickly realized we shared a vision of success:
Pioneer connected apps and platforms that transform care –
empowering caregivers with unprecedented support while
enabling those they serve to thrive with dignity, independence, and joy.
The invention of a proactive, voice-AI agent that could be controlled by users – one that connects and serves both caregivers and care recipients – was what brought us together. [We’ll tell the invention/startup story in future posts.]
What’s a proactive voice-AI agent? Think of an enhanced Alexa – independent of Amazon – that you can easily control and configure to speak proactively with your aging parent, for example, about things that matter to one or both of you.
If you’re intrigued, read the Future of Caregiving!
More about us …
Stu Patterson
Linked-In profile
Over my 35-year operating career, I’ve helped develop a variety of new markets including: digital/virtual healthcare solutions; voice-AIs, virtual assistants and chatbots (i.e., NLP, ML and conversational-ambient AI); copilots/BPA (i.e., visual, transactional and generative AI); core automated speech recognition and synthesis tech; biometrics; mobile apps; video content search; and clean-tech and bio-tech solutions.
For the past 25 years, I’ve focused on realizing the vast potential of voice-AI interfaces and chatbots starting with taking SpeechWorks public in 2000 and building it into a global leader before merging it with ScanSoft (which later acquired and changed their name to Nuance, which is now part of Microsoft!).
In addition, for the past 15+ years, I’ve served on and learned a lot from the Foundation Board of the Dimock Center, a community health center in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Dimock has served the holistic health needs of a diverse — and generally underserved — population in the heart of Boston for over 150 years.
Since SpeechWorks, I’ve advised and supported 15-20 early-stage, voice platform and app providers which culminated in my cofounding of LifePod in 2017. LifePod is the first and (so far) only company to bring to market a solution based on our vision. Shortly after starting LifePod, I met and started working with John to validate our vision — which we did.
Dr. John Loughnane
Linked-In profile
Since starting medical school in the early nineties, I’ve focused on providing the best medical care possible to the patients and populations I’ve served.
Early on, I was a primary care physician with two community health centers in Massachusetts and part of a PCP practice in Vermont. I then transitioned to hospitalist medicine and became Chief Hospitalist at the Quincy Medical Center, south of Boston.
In 2009, I joined Commonwealth Care Alliance (CCA) — a visionary leader in the care of dual-eligible (Medicare and Medicaid) patients. Over the next 10 years, I served as: Medical Director of CCA’s primary care group and palliative care program, Life Choices; Chief Medical Officer (CMO); Chief of Innovation and Acute Care Services; and cofounder of CCA’s venture accelerator, Winter St Ventures. My work on CCA’s Community Paramedicine program was recognized in Modern Healthcare’s list of 25 Top Innovators.
After leaving CCA, I became an end-of-life doula and cofounded Present for You, a serious-illness doula company that provides care for patients via established partners. I also cofounded and served as the first CMO of Gather Health - a socially-focused primary care practice in Massachusetts serving clients over 65.
Today, I’m focused on how to bring holistic medical care – supported by transformational, user-centric tech – to caregivers and care recipients based on my understanding, developed over 30+ years, of how best to care for people at a human level. The potential of the innovative concepts and methods we write about in the Future of Caregiving to combine medical care and technology for the “greatest good” is very exciting!
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