I’m the CEO and Founder of Ayogo, and immensely proud to be part of a company acknowledged as one of the 100 most innovative mHealth companies in the world, and that is widely recognized for helping patients take control of their treatments. Over past few years, I’ve won many kudos: I was Ernst & Young’s Social Entrepreneur of the Year, and named to the PharmaVOICE 100, a peer-nominated list of the 100 most inspiring people in Life Sciences. What I’m most proud of, though, is my work creating an environment where I and my colleagues can live the Ayogo motto: to do our best work, to change the world, and to laugh every day. To that end, the Ayogo team has identified values that we feel are core to our mission: leadership, innovation, passion, teamwork, diligence, and kindness. As the CEO, I am the steward of those values, and it is a job I am grateful for every day.
In my spare time (ha!) I’ve been a multi-gold medalist and grand champion at the Western Canadian Martial Arts Championships, and I live in Vancouver with my beautiful, amazing family, very happy to be alive at this particular time in history. My superpower? I can hypnotize people with my eyebrow(s).
I work as Ayogo's research lead. I have an interdisciplinary background spanning computer science, web science, and user experience research and design; my doctorate incorporated aspects from all of the above. I get to gather insights into how users are engaging with our technology, and how we can best improve it. I've always been excited by how technology can improve our lives, so I'm super excited to be able to use my skills in the area of healthcare. My passions include bringing people together (whether in a professional context such as bridging disciplinary divides, or helping my neighbours meet one other), and quality time with my kiddies. My superpower is juggling -- metaphorically, not so much physically.
I am the lead software developer and judo sensei here at Ayogo. A few years after graduating from UBC Comp Sci in 2004, I started working with Michael and Paul and the rest is history. From coding to QA to systems administration, I have done it all over the years. My superpower is lightning fast reflexes.
I honed my inner “keener” and developed an eye for detail early in my career as part of a pharmacy team. No mistakes allowed in the dispensary where patient safety and accuracy go hand-in-hand! I transitioned to a career as a Software Quality Assurance Analyst where I learned to never trust that there isn’t a bug somewhere to be found. Being a part of the Ayogo team allows me to combine my two passions in life: patients’ well-being and finding weak points in software. My superpower is being able to throw a mean spiral football.
As the Employee Experience Manager, it’s my job to ensure that we have an amazing work environment at Ayogo. While most of the awesome folks here get to focus their time and effort on our clients and making amazing strides in the healthcare sector, I have the opportunity to focus my full attention on my fellow Ayogis! This includes everything from recruiting and benefits to celebrating milestones and hosting social events. I get to use my passion for approaching HR in new and exciting ways, at a company that is changing the world. What more could I ask for? In my free time I’m usually cooking up a (hopefully tasty) meal and/or watching the latest Netflix series. My superpower? I’m a vault.
I believe good design is like a good friend—approachable, dependable and fun.As a User Experience Designer, I enjoy making digital experiences accessible and rewarding for users. By combining technical skills with a unique understanding of the relationship between people and products, I can create tailored solutions for any project. With an emphasis on a less is more design approach, I focus on making visual designs beautiful, yet simple and unobtrusive.Outside of the office you will find me making music, reading, and going to the gym, as well as working on a million different side projects.My super power is the ability to move at an extremely leisurely pace, but still always be on time.
I’m a strategic visual designer with a background in psychology centring around user health behaviour and related outcomes. So I’m here as a creative director looking into user’s minds, figuring out how to make them a little better one step at a time. I am an expert at sitting in the sun… and looking into tendencies, habits, motivations and things that are not interesting to everyone but powerfully shape behaviour. I really wish I were Spiderman, but since I’m not, I’d have to say my superpower is never being bored.
I'm VP of Technology at Ayogo, passionate about software and how it can improve peoples lives. I'm an expert in software development, able to fluently cross the team management and technology aspects of software, with an emphasis on architecture, software craftsmanship, agile and lean delivery.
I love to get out in nature, especially if it involves a bicycle. I've combined my expertise in integrating systems with my passion for riding to create an awesome weather app for cyclists. This has made me the official provider of the weather to a WorldTour pro cycling team! I'm also a dog lover and salsero.
My superpower? tenacity.
I'm a software developer focusing on creating new front end components with modularity and fluid user experiences. I started off creating mobile applications in native iOS and am transitioning to utilizing my knowledge of mobile practices to improve and update Ayogo's modular components. I'm passionate about creating impactful products for the medical sector and seeing the difference they make in the lives of our users. In my spare time I dabble in photography (@readysetshutter), basketball, video games and craft beer. I'm a huge fan of boardgames and I strongly believe in the sheep monopoly of Catan. My superpower is the ability to set off the fire alarm when I cook.
I came into the world in April 2016 and I’ll admit much is still new and exciting. What I am already extremely well versed in on the other hand includes warm greetings, cuddles and playtime. I also seemed to have honed the unique skill of acquiring belly rubs anytime I want them – win! I was so thrilled when Ayogo welcomed me to be part of the team. My role here is to make people smile and at that I am an expert (if I do say so myself). I also keep a close eye on our CEO when he works on his treadmill desk as I worry he’ll get hurt, and always ensure guests smell safe before entering. I love my time at the office as there are always folks to mosey on over to for a quick pet or a play. Plus, there are always tons of tasty post-it notes for me to snack on;)Outside of ‘work’ I spend a lot of time looking for and trying to play with other dogs, birds, squirrels, skunks, humans, sticks, leaves, and the list goes on. I’m quite the social butterfly. My superpower? Adorability.
I am a software developer at Ayogo with experience working on web, mobile, and game related projects. Originally self-taught at a young age, I later went on to level up with post secondary training in tech, web, and business. I have a passion for problem solving and love learning new skills. I enjoy the process of making beautiful things become functional, useful, and fun. At Ayogo, I get to do all of those things!When I am not programming, I enjoy playing guitar, ukulele, and drums. I also like tabletop games, adventuring, and am always up for trying new things. My superpower is that I have an endless supply of high fives to give.
With a background in Ecommerce and Digital, my passion is geared towards building personal relationships and collaborating, inspiring and assisting people to understand the play between technology and data with the art of human behaviour to find a balance between the digital world and developing solutions for business to help them make sustainable changes.
My personal time is filled with anything fitness and outdoors - from mountain biking and yoga to skating and hiking. You can also find me cooking, reading and being around friends and family. My superpower is being able to look in a fridge of seemingly random items and concocting a delicious meal!
I’ve been working as a full-stack web developer at Ayogo in some form since mid-2010, and it’s been an exciting journey. I spend most of my days building apps with JavaScript and trying to push the boundaries of the mobile web. I’ve been particularly interested in the boundary of web and native navigation patterns and UI elements, and I’m a devout supporter (maybe the only supporter) of the HTML5 <MENU> tag spec. As one of the (relatively) early employees, I’m one of the go-to people for questions and resources relating to projects we’ve done over the years. I’m a bit of a historian outside of the office too, with a love for local history and how it’s shaped the present world.
Hi, I’m Katherine! I came to service design (and design more broadly) through working in frontline roles where I saw people falling between the cracks of service provision because systems were not properly set up to support things like adherence or behaviour change. I get excited about leveraging technology and elegant design to help people achieve better health outcomes.
I am a fitness enthusiast, with running, yoga and skiing as my activities of choice.
I’ve lived and worked in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Kitchener-Waterloo, London (UK) and Blantyre (Malawi).
My superpower, perhaps unsurprisingly, is the ability to live out of a regulation size carry-on suitcase.
I am a Software Engineer, so am the one of the people who helps turn the vision, research and ideas at Ayogo into an application to help people learn about and manage their diagnosis.
I come from a background of data and databases, so I am very familiar with a wide range of databases both NoSQL and SQL. Additionally, I spent the last two years working in a fast pace contracting settings, so I have become quite good at learning new skills and technologies on the fly. I really like to help people and to try and make the world a better place and that's one of the things that attracted me to Ayogo. The chance to help solve bigger more impactful problems.
I come from a background of data and databases, so I am very familiar with a wide range of databases both NoSQL and SQL. Additionally, I spent the last two years working in a fast pace contracting settings, so I have become quite good at learning new skills and technologies on the fly. I really like to help people and to try and make the world a better place and that's one of the things that attracted me to Ayogo. The chance to help solve bigger more impactful problems.
Outside of work I like to travel, play soccer, go to concerts and sporting events with friends, and make noise on a guitar.
As a Software Developer at Ayogo I use my expertise to build mobile and web apps that serve to drive patient engagement and improve global health. I’m passionate about producing clean code and maintainable applications. In my spare time, I enjoy watching sports, tinkering with my computer, and playing both video and tabletop games. My superpower is my ability to stop the microwave at the last possible moment before it beeps.
As a registered pharmacist with multiple and varied roles in the health system, including the delivery of front-line care, I relentlessly pursue innovative ways to improve the experiences of patients and bring value to the health system.At Ayogo, I apply my clinical and strategic expertise to understanding the unmet needs of patients, health care providers, and our clients. With a deep curiosity for difficult health challenges, I work with my Ayogo team mates to explore, understand, and synthesize workable solutions for pharmaceutical and medical device companies. My role is to help identify and apply the right strategies for successful deployment of world class digital health solutions.On a personal level, my creative outlet is photography, and I look forward to spending time outdoors getting re-connected to my favorite planet and to my friends and family. My superpower is to defy gravity in a very specific way that most people can’t do, and my goal is to eventually shoot my age in golf.
I am a Program Manager at Ayogo, working with the team here to create beautiful, accessible products. My background in is industrial design and electronics, and I excel at rapid learning. I love exploring new ideas and interesting topics. The most amazing thing to me is seeing all the parallels from each project emerge. This knowledge allows Ayogo to craft better outcomes for each project. I have a passion for ergonomics and cognition, and try to approach each project with accessibility in mind. In my spare time you’ll find me frolicking in the great outdoors, getting crafty or reading. My superpower is being able to dance while doing anything. If you’re ever in the office I most likely give you an unwitting demo.
With every project comes a unique set of challenges. How can we best guide game players to achieving their health goals? How can we use gameplay to reinforce good habits and help break bad ones? How do we ensure that each screen a player encounters is intuitive AND effective? My job is to meet these design challenges with our visual layout.My superpowers are: employing educational psychology (I’m apathy’s worst nightmare); living and breathing the Adobe Creative Suite (sometimes I kern text in my dreams); and getting a bit too intense about coffee.If I’m not at the office, chances are I’m on my bicycle.
I use my obsessive need to organize and plan to support our Executive Team and ensure we are detail oriented in all aspects of the business development chain. When I’m not wrangling schedules, I can be found biking around the city, playing board games, or dancing. My superpower is being able to drink copious amount of coffee without vibrating into oblivion, and being an archaeologist in the same way that Indiana Jones is (not at all).
I am a software developer with a passion for creating web and mobile applications that help people make better choices around their physical and mental health. In my spare time I love to learn new technologies, read books on a wide array of topics, hit the sauna and train in functional movement patterns. My superpower is to wake up at the same time (almost) every morning without any alarms.
board members
I’m the CEO and Founder of Ayogo, and immensely proud to be part of a company acknowledged as one of the 100 most innovative mHealth companies in the world, and that is widely recognized for helping patients take control of their treatments. Over past few years, I’ve won many kudos: I was Ernst & Young’s Social Entrepreneur of the Year, and named to the PharmaVOICE 100, a peer-nominated list of the 100 most inspiring people in Life Sciences. What I’m most proud of, though, is my work creating an environment where I and my colleagues can live the Ayogo motto: to do our best work, to change the world, and to laugh every day. To that end, the Ayogo team has identified values that we feel are core to our mission: leadership, innovation, passion, teamwork, diligence, and kindness. As the CEO, I am the steward of those values, and it is a job I am grateful for every day.
In my spare time (ha!) I’ve been a multi-gold medalist and grand champion at the Western Canadian Martial Arts Championships, and I live in Vancouver with my beautiful, amazing family, very happy to be alive at this particular time in history. My superpower? I can hypnotize people with my eyebrow(s).
Lee is Managing Partner at 7wire Ventures and a former officer at Allscripts, where he successfully executed over $4B in mergers, acquisitions and financing.
A Physician and entrepreneur, Alex is a previous CEO of the BC Medical Association and has received numerous awards, including Cartier Women’s Global Entrepreneur Award, WXN’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada, YWCA Women of Distinction Award, the BIV Top 40 under 40 and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal of Service.
Norma Sebestyen has extensive experience over a 28 year career with Merck in Sales, Marketing, Strategic Planning, Corporate Affairs, Health Education, Government Relations, Operations and Policy and Reimbursement. Most recently she was involved in developing and management of key partnerships for Merck in Health Information Technology, and Health Data Science along with Life Sciences Accelerators/Research collaborations.
Ms.Sebestyen holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in Finance and Marketing along with a MBA in International Business. She also completed diplomas at Duke University in Biotechnology and McGill University in Pharmacoeconomics. In addition, over the period of her career at Merck she was involved in extensive training and international senior leadership programs. She has published articles in Healthcare Management Forum on healthcare partnerships and collaborations.
Norma has been a Board member of Providence Research Institute in Vancouver since 2010. She previously was on the Board of UBC Sauder School of Business, Executive MBA Program and the 2018 Federal Health Economic Table – Digital Health Taskforce. She is an Advisor to health innovation companies and is a Board member of the Glyconet- National Centre of Excellence, Nanomedicines Innovation Network and PHEMI systems.
Caleb has over 20 years of operating, startup, and financing experience in life science and healthcare companies. He plays an instrumental role in sourcing and structuring deals and works closely with portfolio companies to form strategic partnerships and to develop commercialization and marketing strategies. He is an experienced venture capital investor and board member, having served on over a dozen boards including representing Excel on the Boards of Aileron Therapeutics, Aventura (acquired by Philips), Ayogo Health, ClearData, Cleveland Heartlab, InfoBionic, Molecular Templates, Oculus Health, ShapeUp (acquired by Virgin Pulse), Saladax Biomedical, and MedVentive (acquired by McKesson).
Prior to joining Excel, Caleb was a Principal at Biotechonomy, where he financed and managed several entrepreneurial ventures, including Synthetic Genomics, where he was also the Director of Finance, BioTrove (acquired by Life Technologies), Biocius (acquired by Agilent Technologies), and Xcellerex (acquired by GE), where he was recruited to organize a turnaround and was a member of the Board of Directors.
Prior to becoming a venture capitalist, Caleb was an award-winning sales and marketing executive at medical device and diagnostics companies. He received his M.B.A. from Babson College, magna cum laude, where he was a Babson Fellow in the Center for Technology Enterprise. He received a B.A. in Biology and a minor in Economics from Colby College.
Prem Tumkosit is Investment Principal at Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, focused on digital health and healthcare IT investing. Prior to joining GHI, Prem co-led the Life Sciences Mergers and Acquisitions platform and the Growth & Innovation Capital Practice at Accenture Strategy and worked in investment banking at Credit Suisse.
Lead innovation and catalyst for change and strategic initiatives across multiple companies such as AIG, Kaiser Permanente, Blue Shield, Schwab, and Deloitte Consulting. Faye serves on the Board of Ayogo Health, Ascend, CMCAA and Advisor for UCSF Catalyst, Samsung Technology Council, SomnologyMD, FoodSystems6, and Innovation Executive Forum. She has been recognized by Insurance Business Hot 100, Elite Women, Ascend Leadership, Computer Worlds top Premier IT leader, and Innovation Enterprise. Faye currently is Partner at Mirai Global and Managing Director of Telosity.co venture fund.
advisors
I’m a behavioral scientist with expertise in leveraging insights from the fields of behavioral economics and psychology to understand, predict and motivate behavior change. In addition to 10+ years of academic research experience, I’ve worked across sectors to apply my professional knowledge of behavioral science to solve practical business and policy challenges. At Ayogo, I work with my teammates to bring academic insights into the foreground to help patients overcome behavioral barriers and achieve better health outcomes.
I received my Ph.D. in Judgment Decision Making Psychology from Columbia University, where I currently hold a position as an adjunct research scientist. Broadly, my academic research investigates how features of the decision environment can be designed to help people make better judgments and decisions about the future.
After calling NYC home for 10 years, I now live in Boston, MA, where I spend my free time trying to stay current on the latest publications and chasing after my two boys. Superpower? I do great voices - specializing in children's book characters these days.
in our memories
He was the virtual Orkin / Mad Man of Ayogo. When he wasn’t thinking like a bug to track them down and point them out to the developers, he was helping the marketing team spread the word of Ayogo’s great work. He loved technology and its power to open doors by helping people achieve their goals. When he wasn’t helping Ayogo put out a polished product, you could find him gaming, practicing his coding skills, or enjoying the outdoors. His hidden superpower was the ability to squash the toes of his enemies.