You Can’t Just MVP It: Building In Healthtech
Join Women in Heathtech and Xmartlabs for an engaging fireside chat about what it takes to build in healthtech today. Our panelists include:
Dr. Denise Brown, Partner at Sage Partners
Dr. Mai Shimada, CEO at Isha Health
Fernanda Sesto, Investment Team at Unshackled Ventures
Melissa Wallace, Co-founder at Fierce Foundry
Schedule
5:30-6:00 Gathering
6:00-7:00 Fireside chat and Q&A
7:00-8:00 Networking
About the Panelists
Dr. Denise Brown brings 30+ years of business and clinical experience to her work as a partner at Sage and a general partner in 3rd Capital Management. She has served as CEO, chief strategy officer, and healthcare executive for $2 million to $1.4 billion companies, leading organizational turnarounds, rebrandings, technology transformations, and exits. Denise is the author of The Fairy God Doctor’s Guide to the Good Life and regularly appears as keynote, panelist, and podcast guest. She holds a doctor of medicine degree from The University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine, with residencies at Stanford University Medical Center and Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Fernanda Sesto is an investor at Unshackled Ventures, where she backs immigrant founders at the earliest stages. Originally from Uruguay, Fernanda brings a global perspective to venture capital, combining her background in tech and data with a deep commitment to supporting underrepresented entrepreneurs. She’s passionate about community-building and uncovering high-potential teams before they become obvious.
Dr. Mai Shimada is the CEO of Isha Health and a double board certified physician who founded a leading platform for psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Drawing on her frontline experience during the mental health crisis, she launched Isha Health to make transformative care more accessible. Mai earned her MD from the University of Tokyo, conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard, and completed her MBA at INSEAD. In addition to her clinical and entrepreneurial work, she has advised several healthtech startups at the intersection of technology and mental health.
Melissa Wallace brings over 25 years of marketing experience across consumer, B2B, and agency sectors, with deep expertise in startup growth. She has helped scale over 80 companies— most to profitability, more than 10 through Series B, and 4 to exits totaling over $4B. Her career includes leading marketing efforts at Superfly, DIRECTV, A&E, and eMusic, and driving the early success of Buddy Media, acquired by Salesforce for $689M. In 2018, she co-founded Fivefoottwo, a Marketing Collective for startups, and in 2023 launched Fierce Foundry, the first FemTech Venture Studio focused on closing the gender gap in VC funding.
About Xmartlabs
With over a decade of experience building AI-powered solutions in healthcare, Xmartlabs is an Uruguay-based product studio, offering high-quality nearshoring support through staff augmentation and embedded product teams. We work with clients to design, scale, and launch software and data solutions, partnering with growth-stage startups and visionary CTOs to bring bold ideas to life.