Genentech Health Equity Innovation Fund grantee Equify Health is disrupting how medical providers deliver care using transformative approaches centered on the humanity of patients as people, as opposed to their diagnoses. Sylvie Leotin, the founder and CEO of the company, is a cancer survivor and a human-centered design expert who is passionate about using empathy to drive innovation. Before her cancer diagnosis, she spent several years conducting multidisciplinary research on empathy to enhance human-centered design methods. She applied this research to develop an experiential learning training that aims to shift providers’ views of marginalized patients at a foundational level. Her approach goes far beyond traditional DEI and unconscious bias training by actually teaching providers what it feels like to navigate a cancer diagnosis as a person of color.

Sylvie conducted dozens of interviews with Black cancer survivors to unpack their healthcare experiences, often negative, of diagnosis and treatment. She used these insights to inform an innovative workshop she facilitated with Emory University School of Medicine faculty. During the workshop, providers were guided to discover the harmful effects of biased, substandard care from the patient’s perspective – an eye-opening exercise for participants. Following the success of the pilot training, Equify Health is now expanding its program to providers in other specialties and healthcare organizations.

We spoke with Sylvie about how her personal experiences influenced her work and how scaling her approach could radically transform care delivery for marginalized patients.

What do you think about the power of amplifying human experiences to improve health equity?

I’m not just a cancer survivor; I have 30 years of experience in human-centered design, helping companies decode human problems and translate them into innovative solutions. I used my unique perspective to approach my cancer journey and analyze it through an experience design lens. My skills allowed me to identify design flaws and care delivery gaps that degrade patient experiences and perpetuate health disparities. The patient experience and health equity are inextricably interconnected. We cannot solve them in a vacuum. It is crucial for providers to understand this to make progress toward health equity.

How is your approach providing medical providers with a new and different experience?

Most medical training programs are typically developed and led by medical providers who believe they have a good grasp of the patient experience. However, this assumption is not entirely accurate. While they may have been sick at some point in their lives and see patients every day, very few have experienced a life-threatening disease like cancer. As a result, they only see a small portion of the problem and fail to gain a comprehensive understanding of the patient experience.

I addressed this issue using an interdisciplinary approach that combined my expertise in art, human sciences, design and technology. I spent four years studying empathy, which is the first step in human-centered design. Based on this knowledge, I created a framework that teaches people how to understand the human needs of individuals who are different from them. This framework served as the foundation of my company, Equify Health, and guides my approach toward promoting health equity.

Why has Genentech’s continued investment been critical to your work?

I am truly grateful to Genentech for their significant contribution to my work. The first grant was instrumental in refining and validating my approach, which is often a critical phase that founders tend to rush due to the lack of funding. Thanks to Genentech’s continued support, I am able to research ways to refine my approach and scale the impact of my work. This has allowed me to dedicate time to research, write articles to disseminate my ideas, deliver keynote speeches at medical conferences and improve my workshop.