Canary Health Adds Two Executives to Support Rapid Growth
Laurel Fuqua, SVP of Clinical Operations, and Gustavo Sandrigo, VP of Engineering, bring decades of consumer-focused healthcare expertise to leading digital health self-management company
LOS ANGELES – (February 1, 2017) – Canary Health, a leading provider of proven digital health self-management programs for individuals with chronic conditions, today announced it has hired two new executives to round out its management team. Due to the company’s rapid growth, as well as its recent partnership with Medtronic plc, Canary Health has expanded its leadership to augment the team’s deep clinical knowledge as well as its expertise in patient engagement and healthcare delivery.
Laurel Fuqua, RN, MSN, joined Canary Health as Senior Vice President of Clinical Operations. She brings more than 30 years of experience in a wide range of healthcare settings where she designed, implemented and operated effective and profitable, global clinical programs. Most recently, she served as the Senior Vice President of Population Health, Clinical Affairs & Care Innovations for InSpark Technologies, and was previously recognized as Educator of the Year by the American Association of Diabetes Educators. In addition to her background as a Registered Nurse, Laurel’s experience in product innovation and her deep expertise in diabetes care, chronic disease management, remote patient monitoring and high-risk populations will strengthen Canary Health’s ability to offer its customized programs for implementation across a variety of healthcare ecosystems.
“Laurel’s background and strategic understanding of where healthcare delivery has been and where it is going will be invaluable to Canary Health at a crucial time in our development,” said Neal Kaufman, MD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer of Canary Health. “Her vast knowledge of how evidence-based interventions are implemented in the context of the therapeutic relationship between patients and clinicians across multiple areas of the healthcare system will help guide the company in exciting new directions.”
Most recently, Gustavo Sandrigo served as the Chief Technology Officer of RxVantage, an interaction management platform for doctors, hospitals and patients, where he designed a system that helped the company grow to serve more than 5,000 medical practices and more than 20,000 pharmaceutical reps across the U.S. in 12 months. As Canary Health’s Vice President of Engineering, Gustavo’s 22 years of experience building dynamic, participant-focused systems will expand the company’s insights about how people engage with technology-enabled healthcare products. His expertise in bringing technology platforms to scale will help support Canary Health’s rapid growth and its exciting product roadmap.
“One of the most important contributors to the success of an online self-management program is its ability to effectively engage patients day-to-day over an extended period of time,” said Adam Kaufman, Ph.D, President and CEO of Canary Health. “Gustavo’s expertise in building platforms with the patient in mind will be incredibly important in helping Canary Health maintain its positive outcomes and incredibly high participant satisfaction rate beyond 90 percent.”
These additions to the executive team follow the results of a major study of Canary Health’s exclusive Better Choices, Better Health® online self-management program, which showed significant positive outcomes across several diabetes management and behavioral indicators including blood sugar (HbA1c) levels, hypoglycemic symptoms, medication-taking adherence, exercise participation and depression levels. The company also recently announced a major partnership with Medtronic, which will be re-selling Canary Health’s self-management programs, including both Better Choices, Better Health® and its CDC-recognized Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), Virtual Lifestyle Management (VLM).
For more information about Canary Health’s comprehensive suite of self-management programs, please visit www.CanaryHealth.com or contact Laurel or Gustavo at info@canaryhealth.com.
STUDY UPDATES
*For the most recent updates to the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) study mentioned in the attached press release, at the 12 month mark, click here.
**For the third study done which shows the decreased utilization and cost-savings outcomes for the same program based on a 12 month study, click here.
