Staff Spotlight: Mark Nazemi, Clinical Business Development Lead

“Better for Everyone”  - Our Clinical Business Development Lead, Mark Nazemi, on his work on chronic pain management, and the changing landscape of digital health and wellbeing.

With over 10 years of experience in the health-tech sector, and a PhD from Simon Fraser University’s School of Interactive Arts and Technology, Mark Nazemi joined Thrive Health in the summer of 2020. Mark is currently spearheading Thrive’s product development and research efforts, including leading our new Researcher in Residence program, with the hopes of identifying innovative ways to improve our platform.  

We sat down with Mark to talk a bit about what led him to Thrive, his experience in healthcare technology, and how he sees the digital health and well-being landscape evolving across Canada.

Alongside his research experience in chronic pain management, Mark says his initial interest in Thrive came from the values and key foundations that he shares with the company: “Thrive’s work with chronic pain, in particular, drew me in, as I’d previously noticed the need to improve patient experiences within the clinical pain space,” he explains. Thrive’s data-informed approach to managing health journeys also appealed to him, given his research background in sound design and healthcare technology.

We also asked Mark about his work in chronic pain, and his experience with gaps in the patient journey. “The technology available isn't being fully utilized for applications in patient care. There are also limited educational resources available to providers,” he claims, “Even if they have their patient's best interest in mind, they may not be using the information the patient gives them to its fullest potential. Organizations such as Thrive, that are using the data they collect as a way to improve health outcomes, are able to make decisions about a patient easier, faster, and more efficiently.”

Mark also believes that the person-centred care approach that Thrive takes should be standard for healthcare: “One of the core pillars of our platform is its person-centred perspective: our products and solutions are designed to allow patients to own their data, while still providing access to providers. This both reduces the burden on clinicians, while still making sure that individuals are cared for. Patients feel like they’re supported, respected, and that their voices are heard.”

Thrive’s mission to empower individuals navigating care journeys, alongside our focus on data-driven guidance for clinical decision-making, makes our platform applicable across a wide variety of healthcare specialities and at the system level. Mark says he can see Thrive’s platform being used on a larger scale, in workplaces and universities to track and report on both individual and overall community wellbeing: “Thrive’s data collection functionality isn’t only improving individual lives, but can also generate aggregate data which can be used by organizations to determine the health of their users. Anonymized data can be reported back to the community, to help administrators make informed decisions.” ‍

We wrapped up our conversation with Mark with some fun facts:

Do you have any interesting projects you’re currently working on?
“I’ve been working with our Researchers in Residence on their short term studies with machine learning and patient engagement. Their projects have been showing promise and we’re looking forward to seeing where they’ll take us.”  

What’s your most effective technique for wellbeing:
Listening to and creating music

Do you have a personal philosophy, and what is it?
Always share your knowledge. Pass it on to others.

To learn more about how Thrive Health enables healthcare organizations to provide efficient patient care and build enhanced clinical workflows, click below.