Tatiana Fofanova
CEO, Koda Health
Bio: Dr. Tatiana Fofanova is an entrepreneur and clinical scientist who has dedicated her career to patients living with serious illness—she currently serves this population as the Co-Founder and CEO of Koda Health. As an HHMI scholar, she earned her PhD in Molecular Medicine from Baylor College of Medicine, where her work focused on developing experimental treatments for people living with incurable diseases. Since the start of her career, she has been a long-time educator and healthcare advocate for both refugee and unhoused communities. In 2023, she received Cartier’s Young Leader Award for her work in making healthcare more accessible and inclusive for underrepresented communities.
Org Info: Koda Health provides a tech-enabled care coordination service for improving serious illness care planning. Its Advance Care Planning (ACP) solution features an enterprise-wide, EMR-integrated, cloud-based platform, supported by in-house, longitudinal ACP staff for high-risk patients. This allows healthcare organizations to offer scalable, personalized ACP without significant operational lift.
What motivated you to pursue your current work?
When my family and I immigrated to the U.S., we had few resources and zero understanding of the health system so I grew up translating at every medical appointment. As I entered healthcare, I saw how cultural barriers and lack of access led to inappropriate care and loss of dignity for people in my community. In 2020, existing approaches to Advance Care Planning crumbled under the pressure of the Covid-19 pandemic. Although Koda incorporated only a few months before lockdown, we were one of the only solutions available for this population in our community—it was our way to help.
What distinct value does your work bring to the digital health field?
At Koda Health, we call ourselves the “difficult conversations company.” Where existing digital health solutions laser focus on eliminating operational barriers, we acknowledge that emotional barriers and culturally rooted perspectives can be just as much of an impediment. For example, just because a patient CAN sign an Advance Directive form on our platform, doesn’t mean they are comfortable enough to do so. Koda is a scalable tech-enabled solution carefully built to address both operational and emotional barriers to planning for serious illness. In doing so, we help patients advocate for themselves and reduce delivery of unwanted, inappropriate, and costly care.
How does your work impact your target end-users or stakeholders?
Koda serves some of the most vulnerable and overlooked communities in healthcare. Our platform is usable by elderly patients regardless of material or educational circumstances and is accessible from any internet-connected device. Our educational curriculum helps navigate literacy barriers, resulting in equal engagement rates across race, gender, and socioeconomic status. By providing this service, we help providers deliver care people actually want, saving families thousands and reducing upheaval. Delivering desired treatments also decreases resources lost to overtreatment, a critical need for our overburdened health systems.
What is one exciting update or near-term opportunity that you would like to share with the digital health community?
We are officially launching our second product by the end of year! This product focuses on patients living with Kidney Disease, and helps support patients who are making difficult decisions about dialysis or transplant. Similar to Advance Care Planning, these are tough conversations that are often ignored or poorly guided, resulting in misaligned patient care and significant costs. Our first proof-of-concept site is live in Houston, TX.
Bio: Dr. Tatiana Fofanova is an entrepreneur and clinical scientist who has dedicated her career to patients living with serious illness—she currently serves this population as the Co-Founder and CEO of Koda Health. As an HHMI scholar, she earned her PhD in Molecular Medicine from Baylor College of Medicine, where her work focused on developing experimental treatments for people living with incurable diseases. Since the start of her career, she has been a long-time educator and healthcare advocate for both refugee and unhoused communities. In 2023, she received Cartier’s Young Leader Award for her work in making healthcare more accessible and inclusive for underrepresented communities.
Org Info: Koda Health provides a tech-enabled care coordination service for improving serious illness care planning. Its Advance Care Planning (ACP) solution features an enterprise-wide, EMR-integrated, cloud-based platform, supported by in-house, longitudinal ACP staff for high-risk patients. This allows healthcare organizations to offer scalable, personalized ACP without significant operational lift.
What motivated you to pursue your current work?
When my family and I immigrated to the U.S., we had few resources and zero understanding of the health system so I grew up translating at every medical appointment. As I entered healthcare, I saw how cultural barriers and lack of access led to inappropriate care and loss of dignity for people in my community. In 2020, existing approaches to Advance Care Planning crumbled under the pressure of the Covid-19 pandemic. Although Koda incorporated only a few months before lockdown, we were one of the only solutions available for this population in our community—it was our way to help.
What distinct value does your work bring to the digital health field?
At Koda Health, we call ourselves the “difficult conversations company.” Where existing digital health solutions laser focus on eliminating operational barriers, we acknowledge that emotional barriers and culturally rooted perspectives can be just as much of an impediment. For example, just because a patient CAN sign an Advance Directive form on our platform, doesn’t mean they are comfortable enough to do so. Koda is a scalable tech-enabled solution carefully built to address both operational and emotional barriers to planning for serious illness. In doing so, we help patients advocate for themselves and reduce delivery of unwanted, inappropriate, and costly care.
How does your work impact your target end-users or stakeholders?
Koda serves some of the most vulnerable and overlooked communities in healthcare. Our platform is usable by elderly patients regardless of material or educational circumstances and is accessible from any internet-connected device. Our educational curriculum helps navigate literacy barriers, resulting in equal engagement rates across race, gender, and socioeconomic status. By providing this service, we help providers deliver care people actually want, saving families thousands and reducing upheaval. Delivering desired treatments also decreases resources lost to overtreatment, a critical need for our overburdened health systems.
What is one exciting update or near-term opportunity that you would like to share with the digital health community?
We are officially launching our second product by the end of year! This product focuses on patients living with Kidney Disease, and helps support patients who are making difficult decisions about dialysis or transplant. Similar to Advance Care Planning, these are tough conversations that are often ignored or poorly guided, resulting in misaligned patient care and significant costs. Our first proof-of-concept site is live in Houston, TX.