Delivering on Patient-Centricity: Applying Amazon's Culture of Innovation to Healthcare
Vin Gupta, MD, MSt, MPA, is a Critical Care Pulmonologist, Senior Principal Scientist and Chief Medical Officer of COVID-19 Response at Amazon, and Affiliate Faculty at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, part of the University of Washington. In his current role at Amazon, he provides medical and scientific leadership over all aspects of the company’s pandemic and health crisis response, including the scaling of on-site testing and vaccination efforts at all sites worldwide, direct workforce health education to a > 1.4 million global employee base, in addition to providing strategic guidance on R&D pipeline efforts across internal diagnostics and device workstreams and leading external partnerships and collaborative efforts with major public health organizations globally.He previously served as Principal Scientist at Amazon Care and, prior to that, was part of the Apple Clinical team in a part-time capacity working on its pulmonary roadmap for the Series 6 Apple Watch. Additionally, he served as health advisor on the Biden-Harris Transition’s COVID-19 Response team, and currently serves as a senior medical advisor to several organizations, including T-Mobile, Inc, Thermo Fisher Scientific, the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Mariners. His background in public health has focused on epidemic preparedness, with relevant epidemiology roles at the US CDC’s Emerging Infections Program, the World Bank’s Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility, the China CDC, and the Pentagon’s Center for Global Health Engagement. His scholarship has focused on characterizing the global burden of pulmonary diseases, where he’s previously led large foundational grants at IHME on the topic; his research has been published in several leading medical journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, and the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.  Finally, Dr. Gupta is a Major in the US Air Force Medical Corps Reserves, where he is Officer-in-Charge of Joint-Base Lewis McChord’s Critical Care Air Transport Team. He is a medical analyst for MSNBC and NBC News, term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and board member for several non-profit organizations nationwide, including the Center for Environmental Health and Northwest Harvest, a food hunger relief organization. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Princeton, Medical Doctorate from Columbia University, Masters in International Relations from the University of Cambridge, and Masters in Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School. Dr. Gupta completed his clinical training in Pulmonology and Critical Care at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School.
Vin Gupta, MD, MSt, MPA, is a Critical Care Pulmonologist, Senior Principal Scientist and Chief Medical Officer of COVID-19 Response at Amazon, and Affiliate Faculty at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, part of the University of Washington. In his current role at Amazon, he provides medical and scientific leadership over all aspects of the company’s pandemic and health crisis response, including the scaling of on-site testing and vaccination efforts at all sites worldwide, direct workforce health education to a > 1.4 million global employee base, in addition to providing strategic guidance on R&D pipeline efforts across internal diagnostics and device workstreams and leading external partnerships and collaborative efforts with major public health organizations globally.He previously served as Principal Scientist at Amazon Care and, prior to that, was part of the Apple Clinical team in a part-time capacity working on its pulmonary roadmap for the Series 6 Apple Watch. Additionally, he served as health advisor on the Biden-Harris Transition’s COVID-19 Response team, and currently serves as a senior medical advisor to several organizations, including T-Mobile, Inc, Thermo Fisher Scientific, the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Mariners. His background in public health has focused on epidemic preparedness, with relevant epidemiology roles at the US CDC’s Emerging Infections Program, the World Bank’s Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility, the China CDC, and the Pentagon’s Center for Global Health Engagement. His scholarship has focused on characterizing the global burden of pulmonary diseases, where he’s previously led large foundational grants at IHME on the topic; his research has been published in several leading medical journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, and the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.  Finally, Dr. Gupta is a Major in the US Air Force Medical Corps Reserves, where he is Officer-in-Charge of Joint-Base Lewis McChord’s Critical Care Air Transport Team. He is a medical analyst for MSNBC and NBC News, term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and board member for several non-profit organizations nationwide, including the Center for Environmental Health and Northwest Harvest, a food hunger relief organization. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Princeton, Medical Doctorate from Columbia University, Masters in International Relations from the University of Cambridge, and Masters in Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School. Dr. Gupta completed his clinical training in Pulmonology and Critical Care at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Kristen Lloyd Helton is the founder and leader of Amazon Care, a healthcare benefit being piloted for Amazon employees and their families in the Greater Seattle area. She joined Amazon in 2015 as principal scientist to assess opportunities in biotechnology, healthcare and beyond.Kristen is a biotechnology professional with experience in R&D, product development, business development, and commercialization of diagnostics and medical devices. She began her career as a systems integration engineer for a then startup Cepheid (now $3.7B market cap and 1400 employees), developing the first point-of-care, real-time PCR instrument, the GeneXpert. She was instrumental in securing a $200M award from the USPS for rapid screening of bacillus anthracis in sorting facilities.Kristen was a 4 year Division 1 IIA basketball player and captain at Bucknell University and graduated cum laude with a B.S. in mechanical engineering. She received her PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Washington where she worked on rapid assay development as an NSF Fellow. Kristen was recognized as an inaugural UW Center for Commercialization (C4C) Fellow in 2010 and in this capacity developed the novel concept of a tissue-integrating biosensor. Her research was the foundation for several patents as well as her startup company, Profusa, where she served as co-founder, board member and the Chief Product Officer. In 2013, Kristen was recognized as a “Woman to Watch” by the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association.
Dr. Kristen Lloyd Helton is the founder and leader of Amazon Care, a healthcare benefit being piloted for Amazon employees and their families in the Greater Seattle area. She joined Amazon in 2015 as principal scientist to assess opportunities in biotechnology, healthcare and beyond.Kristen is a biotechnology professional with experience in R&D, product development, business development, and commercialization of diagnostics and medical devices. She began her career as a systems integration engineer for a then startup Cepheid (now $3.7B market cap and 1400 employees), developing the first point-of-care, real-time PCR instrument, the GeneXpert. She was instrumental in securing a $200M award from the USPS for rapid screening of bacillus anthracis in sorting facilities.Kristen was a 4 year Division 1 IIA basketball player and captain at Bucknell University and graduated cum laude with a B.S. in mechanical engineering. She received her PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Washington where she worked on rapid assay development as an NSF Fellow. Kristen was recognized as an inaugural UW Center for Commercialization (C4C) Fellow in 2010 and in this capacity developed the novel concept of a tissue-integrating biosensor. Her research was the foundation for several patents as well as her startup company, Profusa, where she served as co-founder, board member and the Chief Product Officer. In 2013, Kristen was recognized as a “Woman to Watch” by the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association.
Heather MacDougall currently serves as the vice president of worldwide employee health and safety for Amazon. She was a member of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) from 2014 until 2019. She served as the acting chair of OSHRC from January 2017 until her resignation in March 2019. MacDougall was first nominated to the post by President Barack Obama and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate in March 2014.[In April 2017, President Donald Trump nominated her to continue as a commissioner for a second term. She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate for an additional term on the OSHRC on August 3, 2017. She resigned from OSHRC in March 2019 in order to join Amazon.A graduate of the University of Wisconsin and Marquette University Law School, MacDougall has served as associate general counsel to the HR Policy Association, as chief counsel to former OSHRC Chairman W. Scott Railton, and as a labor, employment, and occupational safety and health law attorney at Akerman LLP.
Heather MacDougall currently serves as the vice president of worldwide employee health and safety for Amazon. She was a member of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) from 2014 until 2019. She served as the acting chair of OSHRC from January 2017 until her resignation in March 2019. MacDougall was first nominated to the post by President Barack Obama and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate in March 2014.[In April 2017, President Donald Trump nominated her to continue as a commissioner for a second term. She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate for an additional term on the OSHRC on August 3, 2017. She resigned from OSHRC in March 2019 in order to join Amazon.A graduate of the University of Wisconsin and Marquette University Law School, MacDougall has served as associate general counsel to the HR Policy Association, as chief counsel to former OSHRC Chairman W. Scott Railton, and as a labor, employment, and occupational safety and health law attorney at Akerman LLP.
Bertha Coombs is a reporter for CNBC, covering financial markets, business news stories and health care throughout the business day.Her health care coverage at CNBC has ranged from covering the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and the failed launch of the Obamacare health insurance exchanges, to the push by health insurers, hospitals and digital health start-ups to make health care more consumer-centered through telehealth and in-home care programs – and how those new programs were put to the test during the Covid pandemic.Over twenty years at CNBC, Coombs has covered the tech sector from the Nasdaq Marketsite and general market news from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Before joining the network, she reported for the pioneering streaming business network, Yahoo Finance Vision. Prior to that, she served as a reporter for ABC News One and a substitute anchor for “World News Now” and “World News This Morning.”Coombs is a graduate of Yale University. Born in Havana, Cuba, she speaks fluent Spanish.Follow Bertha Coombs on Twitter @BerthaCoombs
Bertha Coombs is a reporter for CNBC, covering financial markets, business news stories and health care throughout the business day.Her health care coverage at CNBC has ranged from covering the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and the failed launch of the Obamacare health insurance exchanges, to the push by health insurers, hospitals and digital health start-ups to make health care more consumer-centered through telehealth and in-home care programs – and how those new programs were put to the test during the Covid pandemic.Over twenty years at CNBC, Coombs has covered the tech sector from the Nasdaq Marketsite and general market news from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Before joining the network, she reported for the pioneering streaming business network, Yahoo Finance Vision. Prior to that, she served as a reporter for ABC News One and a substitute anchor for “World News Now” and “World News This Morning.”Coombs is a graduate of Yale University. Born in Havana, Cuba, she speaks fluent Spanish.Follow Bertha Coombs on Twitter @BerthaCoombs