This Women’s History Month, as in years past, we reached out to our network to showcase women who are working in technology, education, and civic spaces, paving the way for women’s leadership in our community and beyond. Follow along with us in Chicago, New England and New York as we celebrate Women Rising.
Jenni Goodman’s mission is to use technology to provide access to quality healthcare for all.
“Digital Health startups are of utmost importance given Boston’s plethora of hospitals and biotech companies,” says Jackie Lender, Startup Manager for the City of Boston. “Jenni is a pioneer in her field.”
Here in Massachusetts, we’re continually proud of our partners and neighbors continually driving leadership in innovation. MassChallenge, drives that innovation forward by providing the means for startups to grow and flourish in the economy and provide social impact — and its digital health cohort, PULSE@MassChallenge, is repivoting this initiative in the healthcare space.
As Community Manager for PULSE, Goodman is helping to shape the culture of the accelerator. Since her start with PULSE in 2016, Goodman has guided two cohorts through the incubator, scaling it to match the heights of MassChallenge and driving the importance of healthcare into the local startup economy. Through her efforts to make PULSE@MassChallenge open, collaborative, and inquisitive, she has facilitated a community that is accepting and inviting to women.
“Every day Jenni empowers female founders and entrepreneurs in the PULSE program to reach their full potential,” explained Lender, who nominated Goodman as a Woman Rising. “She is a mentor, program manager and champion in the field of digital health startups. We need to support more female founders in this space and Jenni, acknowledging this need, is helping other women succeed.”
One major accomplishment of Goodman’s is PULSE’s new Women in Digital Health initiative. Out of this year’s 32 startups, 56% of the cohort comprises those with women founders.
“A huge majority of women are now coming to this space,” Goodman tells us. “It’s so important to let our voices be heard, especially in what once was such a male-dominated field.”
By diversifying the portfolio of startups within PULSE, Goodman is helping to shape the makeup of Boston’s innovation ecosystem — and we’re already seeing an impact.
“Right now in this day and age, working specifically in healthcare tech is the place to be,” she explains. “Healthcare obviously has always been so important, but in a digitalized age we’re able to expand even greater not only to more people but more places. We’re able to benefit more of the masses.”
In PULSE’s first cohort, Goodman helped guide successful healthcare startups such as SyncThink, Twiage, and Rendever, which are using bleeding-edge technology to transform healthcare on the ground. This has inspired her to work further and continue to drive these innovations into the digital health space.
“Technology to me is really what connects everyone,” she says. “Being able to work in that field and be a connector is really a thrill and an honor.”
As Goodman leads the way for PULSE startups, she’s seeing more women apply to and engage in the cohort, bringing new perspectives to the realm of digital healthcare and innovating the space daily. To her, the biggest priority is changing the way these women see the landscape of health technology.
“I love the fact we have all these female founders in PULSE that show woman today you can do this as well,” says Goodman. “It’s a statement to all women in tech: you don’t have to sit passively by.”