I was listening to a breast cancer patient speaking at the Asembia seminar in 2024 in Vegas when I suddenly knew what I wanted to do next. She shared her story with tears in her eyes — not about how devastating it is to have cancer, but about how little support she received when starting her oral medication, and how overwhelming it was to manage everything on her own.

That moment stayed with me. It motivated me and my team to spend the next nine months studying the problem, speaking with industry veterans, and analyzing large oncology real-world datasets with our investor and technology partner, Stanford Research Institute. What we learned was striking: roughly one-third of women stop their oral breast cancer medications within just a few months — and many of those discontinuations could be prevented with better, more personal support.

What became increasingly clear is this: innovation in medicine has far outpaced innovation in helping patients manage their medications. The rapid shift from infused therapies to oral treatments has not been matched with modern approaches to help patients develop the skills, confidence, and routines needed to stay on therapy successfully.

At the same time, it’s remarkable what oncologists, researchers, and the broader industry have achieved. Diagnostics have improved dramatically. Personalized therapies have transformed outcomes. Lives are being extended in ways that were unimaginable a decade ago. This isn’t just true in oncology — it’s happening across many specialties. I’ve seen it in my own family. My father’s metastatic cancer diagnosis turned into years of a good, meaningful life because of advances in treatment.

If the same scientific rigor and technological innovation that transformed medicine were applied to patient support, the impact would be enormous. We could learn from every patient interaction. We could identify who needs help the most, when, and why. We could adapt support to each patient’s unique circumstances rather than pushing everyone through the same script or workflow. And we could do all of this in partnership with clinicians, not in silos.

That is exactly why we founded Vaalia — to help empower every patient journey through data, technology, and the best of behavioral and clinical sciences. Because when patients are supported as humans, not just as recipients of medication, outcomes improve for everyone.