I’m officially wrapping up my time at Amazon and One Medical — and what a journey it’s been.

Eight years ago, I walked into One Medical as a patient and thought, this is what healthcare should feel like — no paperwork, thoughtful design, warm people, on-time care. A few years later, I took a leap and joined the team to lead member experience design. I didn’t come from healthcare, and I nearly let that stop me. I’m so glad it didn’t.

Over five unforgettable years, we scaled through an IPO, weathered a pandemic, joined Amazon, and laid the groundwork for something much bigger: care that’s more human, more affordable, and more accessible at scale. I’m proud of what we built — and even more proud of the team that’s continuing the mission.

What I’ll miss most are the people. Brilliant, compassionate, mission-driven humans who showed up every day to make healthcare better.

One Medical: The Power of a Human-Centered Culture

One Medical fostered the most deeply human and empathetic culture I’ve ever experienced. If you’ve been a patient (and I hope your experience was a good one), you may not know about the framework behind those interactions: C-I-CARE.

This approach emphasizes clear, respectful, emotionally intelligent communication — and it shaped how we interacted not only with patients, but with each other as teammates. It stands for:

• Connect – Build rapport and trust
• Introduce – Share your name and role clearly
• Communicate – Explain what you’re doing and why
• Ask – Invite questions or concerns
• Respond – Address needs promptly and empathetically
• Exit – Close with clarity and care

We even sought to embed C-I-CARE into our digital products — so the same empathy and clarity patients felt in-person could come through in every tap, screen, and message.

Leading Through Connection

I joined in late 2020 — peak pandemic, fully remote. What stood out immediately was how intentionally One Medical prioritized emotional connection. Every meeting made space for icebreakers, stories, and honest check-ins.

That consistent space for vulnerability built bonds that carried us through relentless change — rapid growth, new team structures, and an industry under strain.

Lesson learned: Make space for real human connection. It creates psychological safety, strengthens teams, and sustains culture through any storm.

Amazon: How Culture Scales

In February 2023 we were officially acquired by Amazon. Work launched immediately to integrate our product, including the ability to afford it more cheaply and more easily access it.

Amazon is one of the most successful and effective companies in history — and the reason becomes clear when you’re inside. Its Leadership Principles aren’t posters on a wall. They’re embedded into every conversation, every doc, every decision. And they scale.

Despite the size and complexity of Amazon, the transition from One Medical felt natural — both shared a mission to transform healthcare, and both treated culture as something to actively shape and sustain.

Three Principles That Shaped Me

Customer Obsession Every role, every level — everyone advocates for the human they serve. This culture pushes teams to make the harder, better choice — not just the faster or easier one — because it’s right for the customer.

Invent and Simplify Innovation isn’t always flashy — especially in healthcare. Often, it’s in simplifying complexity, streamlining a flow, or unblocking a bottleneck that prevents someone from getting the care they need. I was constantly inspired by how teams found creative ways to move fast and still innovate meaningfully.

Think Big Amazon says it well: Thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Even as we delivered rapidly, we kept one eye on the long-term, designing toward a future experience — a bold, lovable vision we could work backward from. That north star thinking helped us ship value today while still building toward what the future of healthcare could be.

What’s Next?

This summer, I’m hitting pause. More time in nature. More music. More time with family.

I’m also taking space to reflect on the deep lessons from my time at One Medical and Amazon — and to consider what might come next. Where can I have the most impact? How can I keep building meaningful, human-centered experiences that matter?

For those who shared this journey with me, thank you, I hope our paths cross again before long.