Nurse → Googler → Founder: Julie Wilner's Journey Through Tech + Innovation

It's no secret I've made it my personal mission to discover, compile, and follow all the RN Forwardist in the healthtech and innovation sector (database coming soon 😘). When sleuthing the many networking groups I stick my nose in, Joe Corkery, CEO and Co-Founder of Jaide Health, responded to a post about Halle Tecco's analysis on what digital health companies have in common that piqued my interest. He sang his COO and Co-Founder, Julie Wilner, praises:

"I would love to see more nurse entrepreneurs. My co-founder is an RN and the insights she brings to navigating change management, clinical workflow, and hospital operations are truly invaluable. I feel like a lot of those processes are invisible to most MDs."

Thats when I knew, Julie was really THAT girl. 💅🏻 I had to meet her.

So I connected with her on LinkedIn and crossed my fingers. To my surprise, she responded and agreed to a live video call. Her career started the way most of ours do, in the hospital trenches working bedside. However, Julie's tenacity to grow professionally and belief in her nursing skillset as a value-add lead her to a unique career in healthcare technology. So without further ado, here's what I learned from my …

Q&A with Nurse Julie:

1. You’ve had an incredible career across Stanford University Medical Center, Sutter, Google, and more thus far. How was the transition from bedside to Health Tech?

   For a few years I didn’t choose, I did both! During my career transition, I juggled both nursing and tech for a few years. The flexibility inherent in nursing allowed me to shift from full-time at Stanford to per diem in the PICU, working Saturdays while consulting and starting at Google. 

   Though I sometimes miss the PICU camaraderie, I appreciate the unique insights my nursing experience offers in tech. I also keep my RN license active and volunteer occasionally. It's true, once a nurse, always a nurse.

   
   

2. What are 3 actionable insights you would give nurses looking to transition outside of bedside nursing and into healthtech?

   Pioneer Your Path: Don't wait for a pre-defined route; actively create your own. Think beyond traditional job descriptions and envision how your clinical experience can innovate solutions.

   Nursing shouldn’t limit you - Amplify Your Transferable Skills: Reframe your nursing background as an advantage, not a limitation. You possess core competencies like critical thinking, communication, empathy, and (patient) advocacy, which are valuable in any industry. Confidently apply for roles outside traditional nursing, recognizing that your diverse skill set enriches any team.

   Cultivate Internal Opportunities: Begin building your healthtech experience within your current setting. Become an expert user of your hospital's EMR system or champion its implementation. Actively participate in nursing shared governance committees to gain leadership and project management skills. If your current workplace restricts these opportunities, explore per diem positions or seek employment at institutions that foster professional growth.

   
   

3. You are also a Nurse Founder now (Woohoo! 🙌🏻 ). What is the origin story of Jaide Health?

   My co-founder and I are both techy clinicians, when we left Google we knew we wanted to continue building for healthcare. We interviewed dozens of health leaders and asked them what they hope to see AI bring to clinical practice. Repeatedly, the topic of interpretation and translation came up. We immediately saw the potential for Gen AI in this space, proved out some market validation, and got building. One of the early CMIOs to suggest this is now live using our product. 

   The phrase j'aide in French translates to “I help”. We love that our business uses technology to improve the experience of all stakeholders: clinicians, patients, and healthcare organizations.

   
   

4. What makes Jaide Health different from other Remote and AI-Enabled Language Interpretation software? 🧐

   Jaide Health was founded by techy clinicians and we are specifically focused on delivering the best solution for both healthcare providers and their patients. We have a deep understanding of hospital workflows and the importance of working within those workflows. In particular, we know that nurses are the maintainers of workflow and we are working closely with Magnet recognized nursing teams to optimize for their experience. 

   Jaide optimizes for medical terminology and works closely with hospital language services teams to both validate and improve the technology. We provide enterprise-grade implementations and institution-specific customization. We also have significant expertise in HIPAA compliance, security, and privacy.

   
   

5. If you could go back in time and give pre-founder Julie one piece of actionable advice, what would it be?

   Looking back, I'm incredibly grateful for my years in the PICU; that clinical foundation was absolutely essential. However, if I could advise my pre-founder self, I'd strongly emphasize the importance of building a more robust external network. While I dedicated significant time to internal company building at Google, I should have proactively cultivated relationships and connections outside of those internal walls.

   
   

6. With over 20 years working at the intersection of nursing, healthtech, and innovation you've many trends in both realms come and go. Where do you see the Nursing profession headed in the next 20 years?

   

   Looking ahead, I believe nurses will need to really embrace and, more importantly, lead change. Healthcare is going to keep evolving rapidly with new technologies, changes in scope of practice, and how and where care is provided. As the core of the healthcare system, and the ones who understand how everything in a hospital actually works, nurses need to be key players in exploring, creating, and putting into practice the tools that impact how care is delivered.

   I serve on an advisory committee for the University of Michigan School of Nursing, much of the reason I serve is to ensure that nurses have a voice at all leadership tables. To empower nurses as leaders, we need to provide them with leadership experience and interdisciplinary skills from business and technology.

   
   

7. What’s a white space in healthcare or healthtech where you’d love to see more nursing innovation?

   There’s endless room for nursing innovation because most technology built for healthcare is not built by or for nurses. We’re underserved. I want to see more tools built around optimizing nurses workflows, tools built by nurses for nurses. 

Rapid fire Qs:

1. Most impactful patient?

   I served as the primary RN in the PICU for a family with a child who was there long-term, starting at 2.5 years old. Over the years, I've stayed in touch, and I recently enjoyed showing my former patient, now in college, around the Google office and taking him to dinner.

   
   

2. It's 3am in the middle of your night shift and your stomach just growled. What emergency snack are you grabbing from the hospital's snack room?

   When I worked nights I lived on chocolate covered espresso beans and Diet Coke. Anyone who ran out knew to get me a fountain Diet Coke. 

   
   

3. Book, podcast, newsletter, community, etc would you recommend to nurses interested in healthtech and innovation?

   Tech: techcrunch.com

   HealthTech: Chrissy Farr's Second Opinion secondopinion.media/ 

   
   

4. Top characteristic that makes a Nurse Forwardist? 🏃🏻‍♀️

   Magic happens when you combine disciplines. I've witnessed this firsthand with technology and nursing. It's the act of nurturing diverse skills and weaving them into nursing practice that generates truly impactful outcomes.