I spent years inside the healthcare system. Then I saw it from the other side.

My husband is a doctor. The kind who gives out his number.

Neighbors text him when something feels off, swing by after dinner with a question. And he loves it. He's one of those doctors who genuinely enjoys helping people find answers.

And every single time, the outcome was the same: the person felt so much better after just one conversation. I'd see it time and time again — the power of having a trusted ally at your fingertips helps patients feel so reassured.

Then it happened to us.

One evening, my son fell backwards off our swing. First came the rush of realizing he might not be okay. Then the guilt of not being right there to stop it. Then the panic of trucking both kids to the ER for what I knew would be a long night of waiting.

Instead, we texted our neighbor, Dr. Muppavarapu — an orthopedic surgeon. He looked at a photo, talked us through the pain profile, and told us what to watch for overnight. No ER trip. No sleepless night. No $500 bill. Later, a follow-up text to make sure he was still doing okay. The time saved, and the calm I felt from one conversation, was worth its weight in gold.

I started asking: how do I make this kind of access available to everyone — so any family can feel confident they're making the right decisions at the right time?

I'm an operator at heart.

From starting a recycling club at 8, to running a dance team in college, to building commercial programs and care models in healthcare — I've always been drawn to solving problems by building something. I've worked in the healthcare system from different sides and seen firsthand how patients get lost in the shuffle. It's confusing and overwhelming. Consult STAT is designed to cut through that — to provide clarity and direction when patients need it most.