Dr. Jennifer Shannon is a child and adolescent psychiatrist with a private practice, director of a residential facility that specializes in eating disorders, and founder of Digital Brain Consulting.
Dr. Shannon has a passion for digital health which started with her desire to find a creative way to utilize her clinical expertise and increase access to mental health treatment.
She is a clinical advisor to several behavioral health digital therapeutic companies and on the healthcare advisory board for the Digital Therapeutics Alliance. She enjoys bridging the gap between clinicians and tech companies and increase education and adoption of digital health tools.
Jennifer, welcome onboard the team as our Digital Health Today Ambassador!
- Tell us a bit more about yourself, your background and what you’re doing now.
I was born in St. Louis, MO and grew up in Stockton, CA, only to return to Missouri for medical school where I completed a 6 year BA/MD program at UMKC.
I chose psychiatry because it was a combination of science and psychology. I specialized in children and adolescents because I like the idea of being able to change the trajectory of a child’s development with early intervention (and I love their innocence!).
I currently have a part-time private practice in Seattle, WA and am the staff psychiatrist at The Emily Program, which is an eating disorder specialty program.
- How did you get involved with digital health?
I have always had a creative side and was getting burned out with patient care. I was seeing so many problem areas in clinical care where digital health could provide a solution. I began searching for ways to utilize my clinical background and creative side. I first got inspired when I attended a Design in Healthcare seminar at the American Psychiatric Association last year
I love the fast paced world of digital health and how it allows me to connect with energetic and innovative people!
I started a digital health consulting business and am a clinical advisor to several digital therapeutic companies. I also started a Seattle mental health innovation group in Seattle, and am on the healthcare advisory board for the Digital Therapeutic Alliance which is helping develop an industry standard for digital therapeutics.
My hope is to educate clinicians about digital health by focusing on how it could help reduce burnout and improve access to patient care and help tech companies align their interests with what clinicians, patients, and payers want.
- Tell us about where you come from and some of the health and technology innovation that’s happening there.
Seattle is bustling with technology and innovation (and rain!) and is considered to have the second strongest tech market in the US and Canada. We have homegrown companies like Amazon and Microsoft and big out-of-town companies like Facebook and Google that feed the energy.
We have over 400 health tech startup companies in Washington as well as Cambia Grove in Seattle which is a healthcare innovation hub that helps healthcare startups grow and connect.
- Tell us a bit more about yourself, your background and what you’re doing now.
