Dr. Kate Wolin

Bio

Dr. Kate Wolin is an entrepreneur, investor, advisor and behavioral epidemiologist. She brings over 20 years of experience combining behavioral medicine, user-centered design and outcomes science to deliver effective health behavior change solutions. Dr. Wolin’s unique combination of academic and commercial expertise threads the needle between evidence-based approaches and commercialization. Forbes named her an innovator changing the face of healthcare and Crain’s named her a notable woman in STEM.

Dr. Wolin is the founder of Circea where she consults with a wide-range of companies on integrating behavioral science into product strategy to drive adoption, create a more personalized experience and extend user engagement in service of better results. She is also an advisor at PACE Healthcare Capital, which investing in early stage digital health companies. Dr. Wolin was CEO and co-founder of ScaleDown, a clinically-proven weight loss program that leveraged the science of self-regulation and daily self weighing. ScaleDown was acquired by Anthem, Inc. She was a co-founder of Coeus Health, which translated research tested health and wellness programs to the real world. Coeus Health was awarded a SBIR by NIDDK to develop a white-labelable evidence-based weight management program with a goal of easing the integration of cost-effective solutions into a wide range of settings. Dr. Wolin also served as Chief Science Officer and a member of the executive leadership team at a private-equity backed employer health company leading the product, clinical and data science teams. She previously lead Product for Optum’s Direct-to-Consumer business. Dr. Wolin was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the University of Chicago.

Dr. Wolin teaches entrepreneurship at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, where she was previously a faculty lead for Zell Fellows Entrepreneurial Fellowship Program. She is a mentor in the UnitedHealthcare Accelerator and Northwell’s Maven program. She is a member of the Women’s Health Innovation Council at Springboard. Dr. Wolin also serves on the board of Prismatic, a non-profit dedicated to teaching Chicago youth the skills to advance, lead and pivot with resiliency.

Dr. Wolin spent her early career conducting academic research at the intersection of lifestyle behaviors and chronic-disease outcomes before transitioning to the private sector. She built an international reputation, generating more than $4 million in federal research funding and contributing to over 75 peer-reviewed publications and numerous books. She served on the faculty at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis / Siteman Cancer Center and Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School of Medicine. Dr. Wolin was a member of the leadership group that developed the first set clinical exercise guidelines for cancer survivors and contributed to the development of the first validated disease risk assessment tools. She was a frequent presenter on the science behind prevention in community settings and national news media. She continues to serve on NIH Study Sections, scientific advisory panels and national research committees.

Dr. Wolin obtained her bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Tufts University, summa cum laude. She earned her doctorate in epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, with minors in biostatistics and health behavior, where she was an NCI pre-doctoral fellow. She completed a NCI post-doctoral fellowship in cancer epidemiology in the Department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University.

You can find Dr. Wolin on LinkedIn and Substack.