BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–PatientsLikeMe, one of the largest patient community and digital health management platforms, today announced Dr. Atul Dhir as Chief Executive Officer and named new members to its Board of Directors to support the next chapter of the company’s strategic vision for growth and innovation.
“We believe Atul’s track record of scaling and growing companies across the broad healthcare sector, coupled with his experience as a physician, scientist and a cancer survivor, uniquely positions him to lead the company into its next phase of growth,” said Larry Renfro, Chairman of the Board of Directors.
As a physician and a scientist, Dr. Dhir brings more than 20 years’ experience leading and building innovative companies across a broad range of healthcare delivery and technology.
“I am inspired by the opportunity to build on PatientsLikeMe’s strong legacy as a trusted patient community and a true patient-centric, digital health platform that empowers individuals with peer support, smart data tracking and actionable insights to take charge of their health,” said Dr. Dhir. “There is an urgent need for a company like PatientsLikeMe to connect the millions of patients living with chronic conditions – people who feel increasingly isolated – with new digital health technologies and breakthrough personalized therapies that can help them navigate their complex healthcare journey.”
The company’s new Board of Directors is comprised of industry veterans with strong track records of founding and growing disruptive healthcare-related businesses:
- Larry Renfro, Chairman of the Board; Founder and Managing Partner of Optum Ventures. Renfro served as Vice Chairman of UnitedHealth Group and CEO of Optum, transforming Optum from a $27 billion health services platform to an over $100 billion industry leader. Before leading Optum, he served as CEO of UnitedHealthcare Public and Senior Markets Group.
- Jeff Leerink, CEO of SVB Leerink. Leerink founded Leerink Partners in 1995 and in 2019 merged the firm with SVB Financial Group to become SVB’s investment banking platform. The firm focuses on providing differentiated healthcare knowledge and equity capital market expertise to help its clients achieve their strategic objectives.
- Dr. Pete Hudson, Managing Director of Alta Partners. Dr. Hudson has more than 20 years’ experience founding, growing, and investing in healthcare technology, services, and digital health. He has been a serial entrepreneur with multiple exits, a former healthcare investment banker, and has worked in senior executive roles in large payer and provider organizations, including Head of Consumer Technologies at Aetna.
- Paul Manning, Chairman and CEO of PBM Capital. A serial entrepreneur with 30 years’ experience in healthcare, Manning founded PBM Capital in 2010. He has successfully founded several companies that developed and distributed prescription and over-the-counter products to major chains in the US. In 1997, Manning founded PBM Products, which became the largest private label producer of infant formula and baby food in the world.
- Bill Hambrecht, Founder and Chairman of WR Hambrecht + Co. Hambrecht founded investment bank Hambrecht & Quist that went public in 1996 and was acquired by Chase Manhattan Bank in 1999 for $1.35 billion. While notable on many fronts, Hambrecht is especially renowned for identifying promising young companies and propelling them forward.
Under its new leadership, PatientsLikeMe will further accelerate its ambitious vision of evolving its trusted patient community into an industry leading consumer platform that helps patients navigate their health journey through peer learning and support, personalized health insights, tailored digital health services and patient-friendly clinical education.
About PatientsLikeMe
PatientsLikeMe is one of the world’s largest patient community and digital health management platform. Its mission is to improve the lives of patients by combining knowledge derived from peer-to-peer learning and support with personalized health insights integrated from a broad range of healthcare data sources. PatientsLikeMe is a digital health platform uniquely designed to empower patient communities with personal agency, establishing PatientsLikeMe as a clinically robust resource with demonstrated impact, validated by more than 100 studies in peer-reviewed medical and scientific journals. To learn more about PatientsLikeMe, visit: www.patientslikeme.com.
