Meet Jason Prestinario. He describes what it’s like leading Komodo Health’s newest division, Healthcare Solutions, and shares his passion for data-driven innovation.  

What brought you to Komodo Health four years ago?

I was looking for a company that was trying to figure out how to make healthcare better by leveraging health data in new, innovative ways and I serendipitously found Komodo. After meeting the leadership team and learning about the mission I knew this was going to be the place for me to try and positively affect the healthcare industry using data.

Before coming to Komodo, I was at Palantir working with lots of different industries, leveraging all kinds of data to solve a variety of problems. It was super fascinating and I got a chance to hone my data science skills and grow the client-facing data science organization. My interests shifted to healthcare because it’s a huge part of the economy that also has such a deep impact on peoples’ lives. And as I learned more about the industry, I saw that the current data out there was fractured, siloed, and compounded with privacy concerns. I wanted to find a place where I could try to fix some of the big, thorny data challenges in healthcare.

The Healthcare Solutions (HCS) team is relatively new. How did the HCS team come about and how did leadership decide to make HCS it’s own division?

The mission of the HCS team is to enrich our Healthcare Map as well as enter into strategic partnerships to test new markets and products. We know fighting disease burden is not limited to Life Sciences, but we wanted to approach the broader healthcare market differently than everyone else. We have started working with payers to develop and deploy data-driven solutions to challenges like disease management and risk mitigation, and we are expanding to other parts of the healthcare market from there.

Walk me through a day-in-the-life of your job

My day is typically filled with a fair amount of meetings, particularly during COVID-19 times when quick conversations by the watercooler, so to speak, are a bit harder to come by. I generally prioritize my time in three ways: creating new opportunities to further expand our Healthcare Map, helping my team to achieve our goals, and finally, strategizing around the future of the business. We’re still very new with almost exponential opportunities for growth.

What advice would you give a prospective candidate looking to join Komodo?

As cliche as it sounds, my advice to them is to bring your true self and show your passion. What I look for in a candidate is curiosity, a desire to learn, and grow. To me, that’s more important than memorizing a bunch of information.

How is Komodo Health working to help during COVID-19?

During the trying times of 2020, we’ve been finding ways to leverage our capabilities to help address whatever issues in the world today we can help with. We have been applying our data to generate insights on the ripple effects of the pandemic and doing more to invest in understanding and alleviating healthcare disparities. We are also very passionate about partnering with mission-driven organizations doing their part to help with the pandemic and reduce the burden of disease.

What are you reading right now?

I am currently reading “The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz,” by Erik Larson. It’s about Winston Churchill during the Battle of Britain. I’m really liking the book and it’s fascinating to compare leadership from the WWII era to the historic situation we are in today.