Innovations in medicine are not only eliminating guesswork when it comes to our health, but also encouraging a proactive approach that promotes wellbeing.
Dr Wasim Mohideen, our next pathbreaker, Chief Wellness Orchestrator at Smitch, leads a team that is deeply committed to making holistic wellness accessible to everyone.
Wasim talks to Shyam Krishnamurthy from The Interview Portal about his entrepreneurial journey above and beyond being a doctor (MBBS/MD), and his dream project which he presented at MIT Global Entrepreneurship Bootcamp and which was subsequently acquired !
For students, there are no excuses to make. Everything you need is here, all you need to do it to find those resources to accomplish your vision !
Wasim, Your background?
I studied in Don Bosco and had an inclination towards the arts, but I never thought I was good at it. Slowly towards the later years, I was an active participant in culturals and sports. My dad was a doctor while others in my mom’s family were all in business. Honestly, I didn’t have any specific goals, my interests were all over the place.
What did you do for graduation/post graduation?
I joined medicine as it seemed like the logical choice since I did not have any specific career goals and my dad being a doctor, I guess, I chose it because there was some sense of familiarity.
I did my MBBS followed by an MBA (Marketing). I also have a MD (Doctor of Medicine) in Acupuncture and DNB in Family Medicine.
My Acupuncture degree was in Srilanka, and DNB in Family Medicine was a 3 year Apollo Program. For my UK degree (MRCGP) in Family Medicine, I only had to travel there for the exam.
What were some of the drivers that influenced me to pursue such an offbeat, unconventional and unusual medical career?
My key influencer was my dad. My uncle was a mentor to me.
After doing medicine, while most folks have an idea on what they want to specialize in, I did not. I was back to where I was before starting medicine, not knowing what I wanted. But I knew what I did not want. I didn’t want to focus on one organ/body part, and while I didn’t know it at that time or didn’t know how to articulate it, I guess I was looking for something more holistic.
So thanks to my uncle, I took a break and did an MBA right after medical college. I joined Apollo Hospitals as a trainee and then went to the US for a fellowship in clinical practice management. During one of the sessions where I was shadowing a surgeon for cleft palate, I was introduced to the concept of holistic wellness by a plastic surgeon resident. That is how I finally knew exactly what I wanted to do.
How did you plan the steps to get into the career you wanted? Or how did you make a transition to a new career? Tell us about your career path
Apollo had a beautiful concept called the patient care team led by a doctor for every ward. The idea being, the treating physician takes care of the disease, but there is another physician who takes care of everything else. I was in charge of the super premium wards as the patient care lead till I went to the US for the fellowship. When I came back from the US, I transitioned into a 3 year family medicine post graduate program.
But while working for Apollo I was trying to find the right way to work on wellness as there was no set course anywhere, which is why I was trying my hand at multiple things.
I took on many consulting roles in business planning, Integrative Medicine and IT.
I worked as Consultant-Integrative Medicine and Obesity at Sixth Sense which is an institute for Acupuncture and Alternative Medicine. I worked here, both as a business consultant for expansion and awareness plans and as a medical consultant for obesity screening and evaluation in Integrative Medicine.
I subsequently started my practice under the brand name Basil – where we focused on detox, sexual health, lifestyle and genetic risk analysis, sleep and smoking de-addiction. It was then acquired by Techmed and I became part of Techmed. Both those companies grew together. While Basil was the boutique for wellness, Techmed focused on building labs for hosptials. They were two different brands under the same company.
We took Techmed to nearly 80 hospitals in India, Nigeria and Sri Lanka. We built everything from scratch , including the software, the SOPs, you name it. We exited in 2019 to build an audacious dream first presented in MIT in 2014, as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Bootcamp but was in the back burner for half a decade.
I had presented the project (Doc Crates) at MIT which I finally started working on from 2019. It was a freemium model – the “free” version got you free health assessments that predicted your risks, recommended the right blood tests and interpreted the tests for you. The “paid” version came with additional things like sexual health, smoking behaviour assessment and the other things from Basil. Basically it was taking the Basil’s offline model to the online world. Doc Crates was acquired by Smitch.
I built the entire app from scratch – one that could take your medical history and interpret your blood reports for you, help your sleep health, help you sleep better, understand your smoking behaviour that can personalise a de-addiction program for you among many things that you’d want from your doctor, but neither of you had time for!
How did you get your first break?
I had gone on leave from Apollo to do the fellowship. I came back and told my boss that I wanted to pursue holistic medicine and gave him my resignation. He tore it! Then he said that I will need a stronger base in any one stream of medicine and since I had already spent 6 years in modern medicine, he told me to get a post graduation in family medicine that was the closest to what I wanted to do. That was the first step towards my path to what I finally wanted to do.
What were some of the challenges you faced? How did you address them?
Lack of courses – There was no single course in 2007 for holistic, wellness and preventive medicine. So I had to individually study family medicine, Ayurveda and acupuncture. I was essentially doing 3-4 courses at the same time. I was working and studying close to 14-15 hours during those 3 -4 years.
Lack of awareness – No one seemed to understand holistic wellness, but talking to potential patients, I knew the need was there.
When my friend was starting a lab, I proposed a combined wellness center inside the lab and that is how I started my wellness practice.
Where do you work now? What problems do you solve?
I work as Chief Wellness Orchestrator at Smitch which is the company that acquired Doc Crates. We are currently in the midst of transferring all the IP from Doc Crates to Smitch.
We currently lack the integrated analysis of medical data. Right now, medicine and medical reports are in silos. We are solving that problem that studies the human as a whole.
This is currently a super premium service. Essentially it’s the world’s most comprehensive preventive health assessment that provides insights taking into account your genetics, your gut, your blood, your lifestyle across different devices, questions and lab tests. You get a book at the end of it and we have a follow-on program.
I’m in charge of making sure our care plans are not just scientifically accurate, but also simple and enjoyable for everyone.
What skills are needed for your role? How did you acquire the skills?
Medical Knowledge, Market Knowledge and Tech Knowledge. I got my medical knowledge from my education, the market knowledge from my practice and the tech knowledge when I built my own app.
What’s a typical day like?
Once I get my workouts, I work with the team to roll out our product. Since we are in beta, there is a lot more work right now. While I don’t take new patients, I continue to practice for my existing patients. One – it keeps them happy and two – I get to keep in touch with medical practice.
What is it you love about this job?
The impact it can bring to society. Once we have a holistic understanding of our bodies, the impact on health, society, finance and so much more is so high.
How does your work benefit society?
It takes away the guesswork when it comes to health. The society will be able to understand their health risks better based on their goals rather than being generic.
Tell us an example of a specific memorable work you did that is very close to you!
When a friend said, “I wish your app was there a year ago. My dad would have been alive.” That was a very powerful statement and I knew that we can impact more lives.
Your advice to students based on your experience?
Every resource you need is there. You just have to find it!