From Clinical Medicine to Digital Wellness: The Origin Story of Breathe Healthy Interactive
In this chapter of our Breathe Healthy Interactive series, we're going back to where it all began. We believe it's important to share not just our vision, but also the journey that shaped it.
Our story originates not from a tech-saturated office in Silicon Valley, but within the confines of a Midwest hospital, where I was working to get my medical degree. It was here that I realized that clinical medicine although necessary, had limitations in its ability to help individuals. The desire to contribute and affect greater change eventually led me to the University of California, Berkeley, where the idea for Breathe Healthy Interactive germinated.
Berkeley's vibrant academic ecosystem was the perfect breeding ground for our innovative venture. Here, I encountered a group of brilliant, forward-thinking individuals who shared my passion for healthcare innovation. Among the many, a few deserve special mention. Kaushik Ranjan, an insightful MBA student, was the first to appreciate the potential of our concept, encouraging us to forge ahead. We were fortunate to assemble an incredibly diverse and talented product team, including Cathy Zhang, an ace in design and AR; Hanze (David) Tan our wizard Unity builder, and Vittoria Barone, our gifted Narrator. We were also privileged to have industry veteran Pamela Iluore mentor us. Our journey has also been significantly helped by the financial gift from the Berkeley Haas Seed Fund and the legal guidance from Goodwin Procter.
With our team, we set out to solve a problem that I had personally encountered during the demands of my medical residency training. As I grappled with the high-intensity and emotional toll of patient care day and night, I realized that maintaining mental well-being was not just important, but a necessity. In my story and those of my colleagues and teammates, our team became dedicated to developing better solutions to enhance mental wellness, especially for those battling stress, anxiety, burnout, and depression.
Our goal was to create a solution that was inclusive, rooted in science, easily adoptable, and engaging enough to cultivate retention. The result? A mobile game that taps into the transformative power of deep, slow breathing.
Stay tuned over the coming weeks as we reveal more about our game and our approach to revolutionizing mental wellness through the simple act of deep, slow breathing. We're excited to share more about the journey we've embarked upon, and the exciting milestones yet to come!
James Xu MD, MPH
CEO and Co-Founder, Breathe Healthy Interactive
