National Women Physicians Day - An interview with Dr. Vanessa Wildeman, Clinical Content Curator at Thrive Health

Today marks National Women’s Physician Day, a day to honor and celebrate female physicians' achievements and ongoing contributions to healthcare. It is an opportunity to acknowledge female physicians' vital roles in patient care, medical research, and leadership within the healthcare field. 

Today, we’re thrilled to spotlight Dr. Vanessa Wildeman, Clinical Content Curator at Thrive Health. Dr. Wildeman joined Thrive in 2020 as a second-year medical student, bringing her passion, curiosity, and medical insight to Thrive’s evolving healthcare technology. On a mission to make healthcare work better for everyone, Thrive is grateful to have the expertise of Dr. Wildeman to support our goal of unifying journeys across every phase of care. 

Can you share a little about your journey to becoming a physician?

‍I completed medical school at the University of British Columbia in 2022 and am finishing my family medicine residency in Ontario. This summer, I will start an additional year of training in emergency medicine. I love family and emergency medicine as they can be initial touchpoints in a patient’s care and have long-lasting impacts. I have done rotations in rural British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, where access to medical care can be limited. I want to continue providing care in rural and remote communities throughout my medical career. Medicine is a challenging, dynamic, and exciting field. Collaboration and communication is essential for good patient care. 

‍How did you become involved with Thrive Health? What attracted you to work with the company?

When I was a second-year medical student, I first heard about Thrive Health at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. When I heard that Thrive Health was leading the way in updating important healthcare information during this uncertain time, I became very eager to learn more. 

Can you describe your role at Thrive Health?

When I first started, my role with Thrive Health was ensuring accurate and up-to-date information was available to the public. 

Over time, my role has evolved into designing and implementing clinical guidelines into digital solutions. During my clinical work as a physician, conveying all the important information my patients and I want to discuss during a short appointment can be difficult. I believe my role as a physician enables me to better understand where gaps in health care and patient communication exist. With this knowledge, I can better design digital solutions to help fill these gaps.

‍How do you see technology, specifically digital solutions, impacting the healthcare industry, and how does it relate to your work?

Thrive Health’s solutions allow patients to take control of their own health stories and better understand all aspects of their care. Technology, especially digital solutions, has the ability to scale. When these solutions are well designed, and built on evidence-based medicine and up-to-date guidelines, they have the potential to bring value across the healthcare industry, impacting a large number of practices and patients all at once. 

This is especially important to patients from rural and remote areas, helping them gain improved access to medical decision tools through digital solutions. By building digital solutions, we can make the delivery of modern healthcare more efficient, accurate, and easier for patients to understand, ensuring all patients can get the high-quality healthcare that they deserve. 

In what ways do you think technology can enhance the patient-physician relationship?

One of the challenges when working in a medical setting is not having quick access to resources I can give my patients. At times, the amount of information shared between physician and patient can be overwhelming, especially if it isn’t written down for the patient to re-read later. It can be challenging to find reliable resources for every condition and situation. This is just one example of how digital solutions can improve patient interactions. When patients enroll in a healthcare journey, they can self-monitor progress, access a variety of reliable resources, and fill out questionnaires that their physician may send them. In this way, both patient and physician can be involved and on the same page about the patient’s care.

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