As we come to the end of XX in Health week it’s fitting to pay tribute to the woman who launched XX in Health, Halle Tecco. Halle is co-founder and CEO of Rock Health, a seed accelerator for health tech startups that helps entrepreneurs working to transform healthcare. XX in Health is an initiative through Rock Health that connects and empowers female visionaries to drive change in healthcare.
I interviewed Halle in San Francisco earlier this month prior to Rock Health's 4th annual Health Innovation Summit. We talked about Halle's journey from Silicon Valley to Intel, Apple and Harvard Business School, where she ultimately founded Rock Health before graduating. We also touched on the joys and challenges that technology entrepreneurs face while innovating in the health space, including the role of 'healthcare outsiders' in helping to bring change to a system that's long needed a little shaking up. We explored the exciting trends disrupting healthcare including mobile, wearable devices, the consumerization of health tech, remote monitoring and more.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMmNLX8ynnY]
We also explored the central role that women play in healthcare as the chief medical officers and caregivers of the family and why more women entrepreneurs would bring a welcome perspective to health tech. Here are some highlights featured in XX in Health’s State of Women in Health Report:
- 85% of women choose their children’s doctors
- 84% are responsible for taking their children to appointments
- 78% of the health industry’s labor force is comprised of women
According to the report, although women play a major role in health purchase decisions, women are still underrepresented as health tech entrepreneurs (a mere 16% of Rock Health founders are women), as CEO’s of hospitals (19%) and healthcare company Boards of Directors (14%). Women entrepreneurs relish a good challenge, however, and I was pleased to hear of the many women innovating health coming out of Rock Health such as Amy Shen of Cellscope, Mikki Nasch and Christine Lemke of AchieveMint, Maria Ly of Skimble, Meghan Muntean of ChickRx, Somaira Pujwani of Medmonk, Rebecca Woodcock of CakeHealth and many more.
As a health tech entrepreneur focused on women's health and a mother of a young daughter I'm inspired by the example that Halle has set for us. She is empowering both women and men to disrupt healthcare by providing education for entrepreneurs, collaborative access to networks and capital and a positive role model for those who want to affect human health in a positive and truly scaleable way. Are you inspired to shake up healthcare? Apply to participate in the next Rock Health batch and no matter what challenges come your way (because changing healthcare is REALLY hard), keep rocking on!
Halle is responsible for building partnerships and overseeing Rock Health’s strategic direction. She previously worked for Intel and Apple, and founded YogaBear.org. She earned a BS at Case Western Reserve University and an MBA at Harvard Business School. Halle was named one of CNN’s “12 Entrepreneurs Reinventing Healthcare” and Forbes “30 under 30″. Follow her on Twitter @halletecco