Hey Health Tech x Dr. Rinki Varindani Desai

Hey Health Techies!

One reason that I started this newsletter was to share stories and lessons that I wish my former self could’ve read, and that includes stories of other healthcare professionals doing amazing things outside of the clinic. Today, I’m thrilled to spotlight someone who’s walked the nontraditional path and is paving the way for other clinicians.

I’d like to introduce you to Dr. Rinki Varindani Desai, SLPD, CCC-SLP, BCS-S, a talented clinician who is applying her clinical knowledge in health tech and entrepreneurship.

Was there a specific “aha” moment when you realized a nontraditional path might be best for you?

When I think back, I realize how I’d been “product-thinking” and fixing broken processes for years. That mindset led me to take on various side projects, leadership roles, and entrepreneurial projects, often working late nights after long clinical shifts. A series of three “aha” moments specifically stand out that prompted my shift to a nontraditional path.

1. Launching STEP in 2018 was the first aha moment - and my first foray into entrepreneurship! I recognized a critical gap in dysphagia education and realized I didn’t have to wait for someone else to create the change I wanted to see. Seeing our online learning platform upskill thousands of clinicians and measurably improve patient care at scale proved that digital products move the needle faster than any one-to-one training I could ever deliver.

2. COVID was the second life-altering experience. Virtualizing our care and processes showed me how technology can widen access while still preserving the core of healthcare and human connection. It also exposed how unsustainable traditional clinical roles had become.

3. My son’s birth in 2023 solidified my need for greater autonomy, flexibility, and the ability to build a career that aligned with my values and passions, while still being present for my family. I went fully non-clinical to scale my impact — focusing my efforts on online education and digital health solutions that empower clinicians and help improve patient outcomes.

What skills from your SLP background translated most naturally into product building and entrepreneurship?

My clinical background has been the foundation of everything I do professionally (and has taught me many personal life lessons too). There are so many transferable skills we have as speech-language pathologists (SLPs) that we use in our practice but just think of it as routine care. Here are some that stand out:

• Communication: This is the obvious one. We spend years learning about communication and improving these skills in others. Whether you’re pitching ideas, leading teams, or translating complex concepts for different audiences, strong communication skills go a long way, both within and beyond the clinic.

• Empathy: The same skills we use to build trust with patients and caregivers help us design impactful solutions, identify pain points, and meet real world needs.

• Problem-solving: Reasoning and problem-solving turns into product sense: forming hypotheses, testing small, learning fast, and fixing root causes rather than symptoms.

• Outcomes & Documentation: We’re comfortable with data and evidence. Functional goals, outcome measures, and detailed notes become KPIs, OKRs, and SOPs.

• Interprofessional Collaboration: Coordinating care among various healthcare disciplines equates to to aligning cross-functional teams around common problems.

• Behavior change: Products only work if people use them. Our training in goal setting and motivation becomes activation, adoption, and user education.

• Cultural sensitivity & Accessibility: Our lens on speech, language, and cultural contexts shows up as inclusive design and accessibility.

Working as a medical SLP has given me a firsthand understanding of patient needs, caregiver challenges, provider frustrations, and system gaps across healthcare settings. With some reframing, these skills have translated seamlessly into product development, customer discovery, UX research, content strategy, team alignment, and operations.

How has building your network impacted your career?

Every meaningful opportunity I’ve had has come from networking, engaging in professional communities, and consistently sharing my insights and expertise.

I co- founded STEP after meeting my business partner at a conference, got a research and teaching role at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) through my doctorate connections, and secured healthtech consulting projects through relationships built over time. For those looking to pivot, networking and cultivating genuine connections beats cold applications any time.

What types of projects are you working on now, and how do they impact healthcare/SLPs/patients?

My days (and mostly nights) are filled with a variety of exciting and impactful projects:

• Swallowing Training & Education Portal (STEP): Running and growing STEP is my primary focus currently as COO. Our e-learning platform has had over 50,000

  learner enrollments since 2018 and partnered with more than 150 universities worldwide to advance dysphagia education, making specialized training more accessible and affordable for SLPs, ultimately raising the standard of dysphagia care.

• Digital health consulting: I founded Theratactix, a healthtech consulting firm, and offer services related to clinical product strategy, validation, business development, and GTM for digital health startups — bridging clinical needs with business realities.

• Research & education: I stay grounded in evidence and frontline needs through research and teaching activities. At MGH, where I work as a researcher in the Swallowing & Communication Collaborative Lab, we are co-designing digital health solutions for patients with ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases.

  On the education side, I teach and speak about all things medical SLP, dysphagia care, healthcare leadership, and more recently, non-clinical career paths and digital health. I have also partnered with Bitelabs to co-lead the very first Digital Health, AI, and Innovation Fellowship for clinicians in the United States.

• Patient-facing Innovation: Rounding this out, I am involved in a couple of projects centered around building digital tools that advance patient care, primarily related to improving the lives of those impacted by cognitive-linguistic and swallowing disorders.

I’m intentionally building a portfolio career that blends clinician, educator, entrepreneur, innovator, and researcher, so I can stay close to clinical problems while creating solutions that have the most impact. Excited to see where this journey leads…

What does a typical day look like for you?

No two days look the same, and I’m learning to embrace the controlled chaos. My work and time is split between the various projects mentioned above. Currently, I structure all my work around my toddler’s schedule, taking meetings during nap time and working at night after he sleeps, when I need deeper focus. I also plan ahead as much as possible, organizing different days/weeks around different projects that will yield the most impact, and try to prioritize my time effectively. Balancing everything takes a lot of intentional planning, discipline, and adaptability. However, I am grateful for the freedom to build a career that fits the evolving seasons of my life, rather than the other way around.

What was the hardest part of the transition?

The hardest part was the identity shift. After 15 years of working in hospitals, I equated my impact with direct patient care; letting that go was hard. Eventually, I reframed this impact through my work as an edtech entrepreneur and healthtech consultant, while keeping a clinical anchor through research, mentoring, teaching, and community.

Next came the loss of structure: no predictable schedule, shifting priorities, constant context- switching, and a steep learning curve that replaced being “the expert” in the room with being a beginner in many ways. As a new mom, the paradox of choice made everything harder — limited hours and constant trade-offs about where to spend energy for the most impact. Navigating the business side of healthcare has required building new skill sets outside of traditional clinical training. Despite these challenges, I wouldn’t trade this path for anything.

What are some of the rewards?

One of the biggest rewards is being able to turn my clinical insight into products and innovations that scale. I get to close the loop from evidence to practice, collaborate with engineers, designers, and researchers, and see ideas become meaningful tools with real adoption, which is immensely fulfilling. I also love collaborating with people from different disciplines (and parts of the world) who are tackling the same healthcare challenges from unique perspectives. Although income can ebb and flow, overall, it has exceeded a single clinical role, which makes the work more sustainable. Finally, the greatest reward undoubtedly is being able to work remotely and be present at home with my son.

If you could go back, what would you do differently in your education or career?

If I could rewind, I’d invest sooner in the non-clinical soft skills that make a career in healthcare more sustainable — leadership, product thinking, data literacy, communication, and basics of business/finance — while keeping my clinical education the same, since it’s the foundation for everything I do. In fact, I’m now building a course on the essential non-clinical skills for SLPs that will soon be offered through MGH Institute of Health Professions, because the need is so clear. I would also step out of my comfort zone sooner to work on innovation projects and seek mentors beyond SLP to learn more about ways to have impact beyond the bedside. Finally, I would tell my younger self to view my diversity as a strength. The more we lean into our strengths and what makes each of us authentically unique, the greater the impact we can create.

What first steps would you recommend someone take to explore a path outside of a traditional setting?

Start by clarifying your why (“I want to explore nontraditional paths such as ___ because ___,”). Then run a real-world experiment: pick one problem you care about, talk to a few people it affects, and turn those insights into a simple project. It could be process or quality improvement, developing a simple clinical tool, or creating a patient-education asset. In parallel, schedule three informational interviews with people already in roles you’re curious about (with SLPs or other clinicians). Each small project and conversation builds career capital and opens the next door. In summary, if you’re considering a non-clinical path, I would encourage you to explore your interests and strengths, learn from others already doing similar work, and find a version of this path that fits you best.

Where do you see the biggest opportunities for SLPs in health tech?

The next few decades of speech-language pathology will be defined not only by clinical excellence but by how we engage with technology and innovation to expand access, enhance care, and shape the future of rehabilitation.

From AI-powered voice biomarkers and telepractice platforms to mobile apps and wearable swallowing sensors, emerging health technologies are changing how SLPs practice and deliver care. As clinicians, we need to be prepared not just to use these tools, but to shape how they’re implemented ethically and effectively. What I’ve learned is that you don’t need a background in tech to contribute meaningfully. Our expertise as SLPs in communication, accessibility, and evidence- based care makes us natural collaborators in the design and delivery of healthtech products. In a world increasingly filled with AI noise, SLPs are uniquely positioned to find the signal, ensuring that technology enhances rather than replaces human connection.

What excites you most about the future of healthcare?

I’m most excited by a future where evidence, empathy, and engineering finally meet at the point of care. A future where technology augments (not replaces) clinicians and products are co-created with the people who use them. When we design this way, care becomes personalized and more equitable; allowing us to shift from reactive treatment to prevention and allowing clinicians to spend their time on what matters most. If we pair that with rigorous measurement and ethical guardrails, we can scale what works, without losing the human core of healthcare. As healthcare optimist Halle Tecco puts it:

✨ Wow! A big thank you to Rinki for being so generous with her time and advice. She is doing so many amazing things. I truly don’t know how she does it. You can connect with Rinki on LinkedIn to keep up with everything she is working on.

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Until next time,

Lauren