For most parents, health concerns do not arrive on a schedule. Fevers show up in the middle of the night. A strange rash appears during dinner. A milestone question pops up between errands. Yet access to pediatric care has traditionally relied on real time visits that require appointments, availability, and coordination.
Episode 10 of A Dose of Optimism takes us inside a different approach. Asynchronous care, sometimes referred to as message based care, is giving families faster and more flexible access to credible answers.
Ellen Da Silva, CEO and Founder of Summer Health, describes it clearly: parents want help now. Text messaging allows them to reach pediatricians within minutes, often while holding a crying child or trying to document a cough as it happens. Photos and videos help physicians evaluate symptoms more accurately than rushed video calls. Most importantly, families feel permission to ask questions they might hesitate to bring up during a yearly well visit.
Her insight is simple and powerful. When parents can ask anything, they ask more. They ask early. And they avoid unnecessary urgent care visits.
Arna Ionescu Stoll brings another dimension to this conversation. As CEO of Wavely Dx, she is building what she calls a “virtual medicine cabinet.” The idea is to let parents use their own phones to gather the type of information clinicians need. Wavely’s first tool detects middle ear fluid, a key step in diagnosing ear infections. Her next product can help identify a potential concussion by scanning a child’s eyes.
This blend of home diagnostics and asynchronous physician review could shift millions of visits. As Arna explains, seventy one percent of suspected ear infection visits are reassurance visits. They are not actual ear infections. Giving parents clarity before they step into a clinic has the potential to save time, cost, and worry.
Both guests highlight a future where clinicians reserve more synchronous visits for cases that truly require real time interaction. Asynchronous care does not replace pediatricians. It gives them time back and gives families a new level of support between visits.
This is a moment when technology, design, and clinical expertise are coming together to strengthen the relationship between parents and pediatric care teams. And that is a dose of optimism worth sharing.
Key Topics Discussed:
- What asynchronous care looks like for families
- Why text messaging is often more practical than video
- The role of photos and videos in remote diagnosis
- How parents use asynchronous services for everyday questions
- Avoiding unnecessary urgent care and emergency room visits
- The limits of virtual care and when in person care is required
- Wavely Dx and smartphone based diagnostics
- Detecting ear infections through acoustic reflectometry
- The concept of a virtual medicine cabinet
- How asynchronous tools can expand pediatric access
- Reimbursement challenges and opportunities
About Ellen Da Silva:
Ellen is the Founder and CEO of Summer Health, a company with a mission to raise the healthiest generation of children. Summer Health offers message-based pediatric services within 15 minutes. She’s also an active angel investor, serving as a Sequoia Scout for Seed and Series A consumer tech companies.
Ellen earned her MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School. She is the co-author of “Pitching & Closing: Everything You Need To Know About Business Development, Partnerships, and Making Deals that Matter”—a guidebook for business development and revenue-generating partnerships at tech startups.
About Arna Ionescu Stoll:
I am a design-biased leader with deep expertise in complex, multi-touchpoint products that span the physical, digital and service spaces. I lead the creation of innovative products that feel simple and integrate seamlessly into our lives. I have a passion for healthcare, where I ensure a human lens balances the economic pressures and technology advancements that often lead.
