Sarah Oltmans of Robin Hood Joins StartUp Health’s T1D Moonshot
Sarah Oltmans, Chief of Grant Strategy for Robin Hood, has a passion for ensuring healthcare access for everyone regardless of income and geography. She brings a deep understanding of equity and grantmaking to the Type 1 Diabetes Moonshot and will help guide the Impact Board towards issues of access and inclusion.
This week we continue to introduce the cross-disciplinary Impact Board of StartUp Health’s Type 1 Diabetes Moonshot, led by entrepreneur and T1D advocate David Weingard. This week we meet Sarah Oltmans, Chief of Grant Strategy for Robin Hood. Sarah has a passion for ensuring healthcare access for everyone regardless of income and geography and brings a deep understanding of equity and grantmaking to the T1D Moonshot. As this initiative gathers steam and invests in T1D startups, Oltmans will help guide the Impact Board towards issues of access and inclusion, particularly for underserved populations.
Q&A
Why are you passionate about Type 1 diabetes?
Sarah Oltmans: I’ve been working in the health sector for about 20 years now on a dozen different issues like HIV but have since expanded into chronic diseases like Type 1 diabetes. It affects so many people and doesn’t get the attention it deserves given its reach and the impact it has on people’s lives. I’ve worked with David Weingard (Chief Impact Officer for StartUp Health’s T1D Moonshot) for years, originally on Type 2 diabetes, and his background and history connected me with this issue. It’s a great opportunity to make a real difference in people’s lives.
Is it challenging to decide which health issues to focus on given the wide scope of Robin Hood’s work?
Oltmans: Robin Hood is different in that we focus on a range of health conditions that can affect people living in poverty, and we make sure people have access to health and healthcare resources. We don’t necessarily zero in on one specific chronic disease, however this is an issue where access to healthcare is so important. People need access to the latest treatments for conditions like Type 1 diabetes, so it definitely touches the work we do at Robin Hood.
The Impact Board is designed to bring people from different disciplines together and break down barriers. You bring the unique perspective of health equity related to poverty and access. Why is that perspective important? What do you bring to the table that another professional might not?
Oltmans: We need to make sure that treatments and cures are reaching underserved communities, across a range of issues, but especially on something like Type 1 diabetes. We’ve seen from the pandemic that we need different strategies and approaches to reach different communities, and that’s true for Type 1 diabetes. People face different barriers. For example, we’ve seen that telehealth and digital health are not adapted to underserved populations, so we have to consider what needs to be changed in order to reach all people impacted by Type 1 diabetes. That’s the lens I bring: how do we need to adapt things, what are solutions that at first glance might not have as much reach but do have a different depth in terms of the lives they’re able to change.
Can you give an example of what that looks like in real life? When you implement on-the-ground projects that need to work for specific groups, how have you seen that accomplished?
Oltmans: Back to the telehealth example, during the pandemic it was really common for people to get care through telehealth, which is set up primarily by video done on the phone, with billing and reimbursement structured that way as well. A lot of the communities we work with don’t have phones that allow them to do video calls, so telehealth that needs to be done that way has to be adapted. We have to reach out to people in different ways like text messaging. Language barriers are a huge issue, so adapting language and cultural competency strategies to reach populations that may require different approaches is essential. It plays out in a wide variety of ways in practice. Sometimes you have to take something that reaches one population effectively and adapt it to different groups. Working in a place as diverse as New York City, that adaptation is a huge piece of how we accomplish our goals.
How can you see adaptations such as these taking place within the moonshot of Type 1 diabetes?
Oltmans: I think it will be something that needs to be included in every conversation, especially in the way that health works with entrepreneurs. It may not be the first thing they think about, but over time, as they grow and expand their reach, it should be kept in mind.
An interesting piece of this work is our relationship with hundreds and hundreds of startups and thousands of founders in the community. Has that been a group that you’ve been in touch with in the past? If it’s new, what excites you about working with a community of entrepreneurs?
Oltmans: Robin Hood’s work is specifically focused on New York City, so we have worked with some entrepreneurs here, but it’s exciting to think about the StartUp Health reach geographically and the depth of different disciplines working together. It’s a really exciting opportunity. Entrepreneurs bring an incredible set of lessons and I’m sure the network from StartUp Health has people in all different steps of the process. It will be really interesting to work with some of those early entrepreneurs and learn from that network.
Where have you specifically seen barriers or hurdles as you’ve proposed solutions to challenges you’ve tried to tackle?
Oltmans: It’s been hard sometimes for entrepreneurs to get traction, especially working with hospital systems — trying to get into each system takes a lot of work. California operates differently than New York, and entrepreneurs have struggled in that stage of getting traction in the early months, especially when they have to go state by state. Once they get into some health systems, they see growth, but it can be hard to get in the door. I remember working with David on Fit4D, now Cecelia Health, and that was part of what I worked with him on, connecting him with healthcare partners we had worked with, which lended credibility and allowed them to build a partnership and see the value of getting through the first initial meetings. That can be a huge barrier for entrepreneurs.
One of the most interesting things about your involvement is that it’s an important reminder that innovation in this sector isn’t always technological, but in innovative business models which are accessible to all. A lot of times it’s rethinking distribution — a new supply chain can be the innovation rather than a new chip in the monitor
Oltmans: I agree, and when you talk about reaching underserved communities, that is the more important element that comes into play. How can you build on different disciplines and things that have been successful in other areas? This may be particularly important when trying to reach people in rural communities or countries with less infrastructure. The lessons from the pandemic on vaccine distribution are relevant with other chronic diseases like Type 1 diabetes. Just getting insulin consistently to some communities may take innovation, for example.
When you think about a startup that’s trying to reach underserved populations, how do you think about the divide between the right product and the right mindset — having a team that understands the needs and has the right empathy required for that business model?
Oltmans: I think it’s about constantly learning. Are the entrepreneurs adapting as they go? That’s one of the exciting things about StartUp Health and its network because if somebody has the right mindset and they’re able to leverage that, the entrepreneurs can be successful by consistently learning and tapping into other people’s expertise. My experience is that nobody knows everything from the beginning.
How important are specific leadership traits or mentalities like understanding or empathy when you’re thinking about having access and equity at the core of building a product or service?
Oltmans: What we think about is proximity to the problems and communities, being able to develop an approach that taps into the knowledge or expertise of the communities that are impacted. We have seen a variety of different ways and design processes that can be done. The key to success is focusing on proximity. Part of the reason that communities that are underserved stay underserved is that if we only try to create one thing or do things one way, it never has the impact you hope for.
Your title is Chief of Grant Strategy — what role do grants play in today’s startup landscape? Should startups be seeing grants as a stronger strategic piece?
Oltmans: It can be an important way to allow for innovation and early flexibility. The longer-term funding streams and dollars available are important for ultimately getting that reach, but philanthropic dollars can often be used at the innovation and flexibility stage, so I think it’s an important piece early on.
Being that you’ve worked with some startups, is there a certain leadership quality that you look for in someone you want to support?
Oltmans: I’ll go back to the constantly learning entrepreneur, in a variety of different ways — learning about reach and how you’re having impact, how you’re raising money, all of those aspects. It can be a muscle not everyone comes with initially. Learning how to do that is very important. Persistence and belief in their potential to create change are first steps I see as really important.
Any final words?
Oltmans: I’m excited for the opportunity to bring so many different types of people together. A challenge for the T1D community has been bringing more awareness to the issue, so that’s an important role the Impact Board members bring, especially someone like me, representing the general public, learning to understand how much it impacts people’s lives.
Passionate about Type 1 diabetes? If you’re an entrepreneur or investor, contact us to learn how you can join our T1D Moonshot.
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