Established in Toronto, Canada, Self Care Catalysts Inc., is a patient driven technology and data, company, deriving value from patient-centered, real world evidence to inform  decisions in product life cycle management, clinical care and behavior change. Going back to its foundational roots, Self Care Catalysts believes that when patients are informed, respected, and engaged, they make better choices; ultimately leading to better health outcomes. Therefore, its dedicated team gives major importance towards presenting patients’ views in the healthcare ecosystem through the generation of real world evidence using our Health Storylines software.
The Founder and CEO of Self Care Catalysts, Grace Castillo-Soyao is a passionate visionary and a strong proponent of citizen science, believing in the participation of ordinary citizens in solving problems, with an impressive corporate background. Currently, Grace is involved in building and growing a team of technologists, healthcare informatics and data scientists at Self Care Catalysts to enable patients to finally have a voice and be their own advocates in medical decision-making and healthcare innovation. She brings an extensive experience from corporate world, along with intellectual leadership that is responsible for driving the transformation of her prominent company through healthcare innovation and advancement.
Mirror Review turns the spotlight on Grace Castillo-Soyao to know more about her perception towards healthcare, professional voyage, source of inspiration and a lot more.
What is the present day scenario of the healthcare industry? To what extent, does the healthcare sector define a nation’s progress and economy?
Healthcare is complex, with various stakeholders having goals that are at odds with each other leaving the patient, the ultimate recipient of healthcare, completely almost powerless Until now, they’ve been treated mostly as the recipients of care.
To answer your second question, it’s ironic that healthcare is regarded as the foundation of a nation’s progress and economy, with its ties to productivity and outcomes, and yet the patients as people, are not participating in decisions that drive drug development, access, regulation, costs and payments. Economic transactions are opaque. When the very users of healthcare are not active contributors to healthcare economic transactions, it ultimately impacts nation’s progress.
Tell us about your company and its unique range of services. In the modern era of technology, how Self Care Catalysts has adapted to those changes in its working ecosystem?
Self Care Catalysts is a health technology and data company, deriving value from patient-centered, real world evidence to inform personalized care, behavior change intervention, population health, drug discovery and commercialization. We built an integrated, patient focused, customizable digital platform integrated into the eco-system that enables patient engagement, clinical research, behavior intervention and real world evidence generation, all in real time.
Our readers would like to know about your personal journey. What attracted you to start a venture in the healthcare sector?
Even though I’m not an academically-trained scientist, I love to solve problems and turn ideas into actionable solutions. I’m interested in the intersection of social sciences, basic sciences and technology as they’re applied to the real world. My 25+ years of corporate experience had prepared me to understand healthcare business at a larger, global scale and my entrepreneurial spirit, strong sense of insight and foresight have given me the platform and readiness to start a company.
As the Founder and CEO of a leading healthcare company, what role do you play in its operations and growth? How do you tackle professional crisis?
As a Founder and CEO, I’m privileged to have built a select team of talent who are comfortable with discomfort and uncertainty because they put value on future rewards more than the risks. So, there is a foundation of staff, committed to build under challenging circumstances and all I need to provide is the vision, plan, capital and infrastructure to grow the company. We all play multiple roles; while I provide the vision, direction, shape business model, secure funding, the rest of the team provides critical steps and necessary pivots to to drive the revenue generation, product research, development, validation  and commercialization,
When I experience operational crisis, or need guidance in vetting leadership decisions, I Â have a group of experienced advisors whom I turn to for support and advice. Also, I read a lot about people who have gone through this similar journey.
How does your company stand apart from its competitors? What are your future milestones for Self Care Catalysts?
Self Care Catalysts is unique because we built our company first and foremost to empower patients through building, ownership, sharing and control of their healthcare data. We’re both a patient -driven health tech and data company. We built a SaaS product, licensed to enterprises that’s disease-agnostic, customizable and personalizable and a direct to customer RWE solutions that where our platform or drug development, clinical innovation, patient engagement, evidence generation and research.
On a personal front, who was your source of inspiration during the start of your professional career? And whom would you like to dedicate your success?
As a child, I’ve always looked up to successful personalities, women leaders, the outliers, and the early adopters in their respective fields who made significant contributions to the society. I recall being drawn to reading memoirs and personal histories of people who played pivotal role as innovators and influencers in society. I originally wanted to be a lawyer until I got drawn to business and the corporate world, particularly developing and launching new products, inspiring, collaborating and leading teams.
This accomplishment is dedicated  to my parents and my son. It is their genes that shaped my resilience and goal orientation. For me, they were examples of people who live for a purpose and for my son, who I think turned out to be better than me. He is someone who has the heart to make a difference for others, while also being really ambitious.
