New Mobile App SelfiHealth Connects People With Similar Health Concerns and Provides Valuable Resources
SelfiHealth is a new mobile health app that partners with legacy healthcare organizations and hospitals to drive member growth and reduce readmission rates through the company’s modern approach to patient support. [Photo by Nani Chavez]
A new mobile app called SelfiHealth recently launched and is changing the face of the healthcare industry by putting health back into the hands of consumers. Founded by Zach Gotlib and Jared Firestone, who met in law school and bonded over their shared connection of being survivors of open-heart surgery (Gotlib) and a stroke (Firestone), the two joined forces to create a unique solution that would help people in similar situations connect meaningfully with others that are facing similar challenges.
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SelfiHealth SelfiHealth is collaborating with the American Heart Association in support of young adult heart and stroke patients and caregivers. It is the only mobile app that matches people with similar health concerns while also connecting them with organization that provide valuable resources.
By introducing patients to a social network of healthcare support and resources, they are leading users to better and healthier futures. In addition to enabling users to message and video chat with each other to learn and form meaningful relationships, the app also matches members with healthcare organizations groups where they can access resources and more.
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The team at SelfiHealth consists of a diverse group of industry executives that includes:
Dr. Sonal Bhatia, the Chief Medical Officer of Rare Disease at Pfizer
Michael Tyler, the Chief Information Security Officer of Huntington Hospital (Cedars-Sinai)
Dr. Daniel Zamarripa, cardiologist and Chief Medical Director of AIG
Carol George, former Director of Clinical INtegration and Interoperability at Tenet Healthcare
Leo Skadden, Full-Stack developer and Software Engineer of a notable health tech company
Corey Manicone, Co-Founder & CEO of Zuul Kitchens (acquired in 2021)
Using the same technology as leading dating apps, SelfiHealth matches patients, family members and caregivers with each other through it mobile app, providing valuable resources from trusted organizations.
We interviewed Gotlib, one of the app’s co-founders, to learn more the inspiration behind SelfiHealth, interesting features and highlights, future plans and more:
What inspired the idea for SelfiHealth?
I was born with a congenital heart defect and had open-heart surgery at the age of 20. After moving to NYC for law school, I was connected with an American Heart Association young professionals heart disease survivors group. After running marathons to raise money for the American Heart Association, I was named the American Heart Association Survivor of the Year. Unfortunately, after running these marathons, I hurt my hip, which ultimately led to two failed hip surgeries leaving me in chronic pain, and brought me back to feeling like I did as a young adult faced with heart disease—alone and afraid.
After failing to find meaningful support through patient support networks, I brought in my best friend from law school, Jared Firestone, as the app’s Co-Founder to create a better solution to find meaningful peer support. Like me, Jared was also familiar with the poor patient support problem. As a collegiate track athlete, Jared's dreams of making the Olympics were put on hold when he suffered a mini-stroke in law school. Jared did persevere to recover and eventually become a world cup-level athlete; however, he also lacked meaningful connections to help with his condition.
Two former NYC-based serial daters using dating apps, we quickly realized that we could apply this same concept to health care to form more meaningful relationships. We quickly got to work on building SelfiHealth, using the same technology as leading dating apps to not only match people based on health concerns, but more importantly, who they are as people.
What was the process like when creating the app?
We first created a website called "Sharemyhealthjourney.com," mirrored off the Instagram page, "Humans of NY." The idea was to have people share a photo of themselves and their journeys with heart disease. The response was overwhelming, receiving submissions from all over the U.S., United Kingdom, and even Australia! Proving what we knew to be true, people who suffer from serious health issues want to speak about them and give back to others facing similar challenges, we developed the prototype of SelfiHealth. After working with various consultants, we hired a third party development company for over a year to develop our mobile app. We've since brought on a team of industry experts and an in-house software engineer.
Can you share more about your backgrounds?
We are both attorneys, having met at Cardozo School of Law in NYC. Prior to law school, Jared ran track at Tulane University and I attended the University of Delaware. I was diagnosed with heart disease when I was born. My life changed in eighth grade when I began experiencing symptoms and was no longer able to participate in activities like gym class, recess, etc., eventually having my aortic valve replaced at age 20.
After law school, I went on to work at Dentons, the largest law firm in the world, before moving in-house to serve as an attorney at WeWork, and various other technology companies. I was the 2017 American Heart Association Survivor of the Year, 2x Team American Heart Association Marathon Runner, and American Heart Association Young Professionals Board Member. Beyond anything else, Jared and I are fierce advocates for putting health in the hands of the consumer.
SelfiHealth Co-Founder Zach Gotlib is an open-heart surgery survivor.
SelfiHealth Co-Founder Jared Firestone is a TIA (mini-stroke) survivor.
What are the benefits of using SelfiHealth?
Because we match people based on who they are as people, allowing users to see what they have in common, people are more likely to share about the realities of their conditions, more likely to hold each other accountable, and when combined with resources from trusted healthcare organizations, more likely to take control of their health. From a mental standpoint, meaningful connection improves feelings of isolation and loneliness, and allows people to see how others manage similar conditions, with similar goals in mind.
Are there any key features/interesting highlights that users will like about the app?
We operate similarly to a dating app. Members download on IOS or Android and answer a few questions about their health concern and who they are as people (interests, goals, age, gender, location, etc.). Our technology matches people with each other based on what they have in common and allows people to send a request to match. Once matched, people can message and video chat one-on-one. Having more in common increases the likelihood of comfortability and sharing more. We also partner with legacy healthcare organizations (non-profits) to create groups on the app who people also get matched with, where provide valuable resources such as survivor stories, fact sheets, etc., and also host live events like heart healthy cooking demos, workout classes, CPR training, and more.
Is there a cost to use SelfiHealth?
The app is completely free!
What are your future plans with SelfiHealth?
We launched specifically with respect to heart disease and stroke. But, our immediate plans include adding more patient support organizations outside of heart disease and stroke, so that we can help people with everything from broken bones to cancers, diabetes, and more. Eventually, we plan to partner with hospitals and other organizations to reduce costs by making people healthier.
The app also allows for more meaningful and personal connection, more information sharing, and ultimately, better health.
Please share anything else you’d like us to know.
We're meeting the next generation of health consumers where they are—on a stylish, modern, mobile app. This app was built to solve a problem we faced firsthand, and our team is was built to tackle the enormous problem of poor patient support.
For more information about SelfiHealth, visit their website and download the app. Follow on Instagram: @selfihealth
[Photos courtesy of SelfiHealth]
Kamala Kirk is a University of Southern California graduate and has been an editor/writer for more than a decade. She has written for E! Online, Total Beauty, TravelAge West, Malibu Times Magazine, and many more. She resides in Los Angeles and is a proud pug mom. Follow her on Instagram: @kamalakirk