Introducing Leona: scaling human connection in healthcare
The day 50+ taxi drivers found our unidentified Uber HQ in Uruguay, they surrounded us like a moat. My team and I had to escape down a secret stairwell, pile into a windowless van, and take off while police blocked off the highway so we wouldn’t be followed. As my colleagues were understandably concerned, I was…weirdly calm. I knew that in order to disrupt the status quo and build a new system, there was going to be friction. It’s an adrenaline I don’t shy away from, because I know it’s foundational to the large-scale impact that’s possible.
Once, it was ridesharing, and then on demand food delivery.
But now, it’s healthcare – which I believe takes even more ambition.
My desire to disrupt existing systems, and build new ones that were once hard to imagine, took on new meaning when my daughter Lucia was born. I immediately saw the challenges of our healthcare system in a new way, and began to envision a way to build a better future for Lucia, and now my sons Oliver and Sebastian.
Ultimately that led me to start Leona Health. At Leona we have a big idea that I think will one day feel obvious: building the future operating system for healthcare as mobile-first, starting in Latin America and expanding to the world.
What you see: a system built around waiting rooms
When my daughter was not yet two years old and my son was only four months old, they both caught bronchiolitis, which can be quite serious for an infant. Over three exhausting weeks, I made six visits to the pediatrician, fighting endless traffic, juggling countless work meetings, and hoping my kids wouldn’t pick up yet another bug while waiting to be seen around other sick kids.
As I sat there in the waiting room I thought to myself: how is there not a better way to do this? We’ve optimized every other part of our lives, yet healthcare – arguably the most important service – remains so inconvenient and stressful.
At the time, I had just left my role as COO of Rappi, having spent nearly a decade building on-demand consumer experiences at Uber and Rappi. Working alongside incredible operators like Arela Solis, co-founder and Head of Operations at Leona, I'd seen technology transform how we move, eat, and live. And yet the one system that mattered most, healthcare, felt frozen in time.
Turns out, it isn’t just stressful and inconvenient for patients. It is breaking doctors, too.
What you don’t see: doctors stitching the system together without the right tools
In Latin America, the economy runs on WhatsApp. That’s not an exaggeration. You use it to book a haircut, check if a retailer has an item in stock, and schedule a dental cleaning. It’s the universal operating system of daily life, installed on every phone and included in every data plan. Naturally, doctors use it to run their practices, too.
We also have very personal relationships with our doctors. In Mexico, only 8% of the population has access to private insurance, and ~50% of healthcare is paid directly by patients. Most doctors are independent operators who build their own practices and sustain them through lifelong patient relationships.
But that relational strength is also a burden. On average, doctors receive more than one hundred work messages via WhatsApp a day, often on their personal phone numbers. With 3 billion monthly users worldwide, WhatsApp is the tool that 95% of doctors across Latin America report using to manage their practice. Mixed with their personal messages, Doctors face a constant stream of medical, administrative and logistical questions – all disorganized and in one inbox. This makes it impossible to prioritize and catch a break. And in our on-demand world, patients expect instant replies, leaving doctors perpetually “on call.”
I was one of those people impatiently WhatsApping my kids’ pediatrician. I even changed pediatricians because the first one I had did not respond quickly enough on WhatsApp.
After what felt like forever, with a crying infant in my arms, the light on my phone lit up: the doctor messaged me back. On WhatsApp, of course. He was confirming dosage for a medication, and needed my son’s weight. I didn’t remember the exact latest number, which was in a paper medical chart locked in the doctor’s office. Ever the resourceful one, the doctor scrolled up though old message threads to find the last dose he prescribed.
That’s when it hit me: this wasn’t a small inefficiency. This was the invisible infrastructure of care in Latin America – a place powered by human connection but unsupported by technology.
And it was failing the very people working so hard to hold the system together: doctors.
What we’ve built: a new operating system, through WhatsApp
Today, we are launching Leona Health to help doctors scale human connection in healthcare, not replace it. Leona is the world’s first AI co-pilot for doctors built to integrate seamlessly with WhatsApp.
Even two years ago, this wasn’t possible. The technology simply wasn’t there. But with the latest breakthroughs in AI and large language models, Leona can now help doctors manage their practice with ease, all through existing workflows.
Our SF-based engineering and product team – led by Tom Chokel, co-founder and former CTO of Modern Fertility – has built a mobile operating system for doctors that securely, accurately, and instantly integrates with WhatsApp. Leona transforms an overflowing inbox into a secure and intelligent workspace, turning the world’s most common messaging app into healthcare’s new operating system. Its AI co-pilot separates personal from professional WhatsApp messages, organizes them by type, suggests responses and enables staff to help triage and respond. Soon, the product will also include AI conversational scheduling and full automation for non-clinical tasks.
Leona saves doctors up to three hours a day on administrative work, allowing them to reclaim time and energy to deliver care or spend more time with family. Their patients are thrilled too: Leona means faster and more accurate communication with their doctor, all while still using the WhatsApp interface they’re familiar with.
We might be starting in Latin America, where there is no legacy operating system for healthcare, but we are building for the world. We believe the key to better care is connection - with the right caregivers and the right information, at the right time. To make that possible, doctors need to be unburdened by the time-consuming side of running a business.
We’re proud to be doing it with the backing of Silicon Valley’s top investors from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), General Catalyst and Accel. We’re also proud to have backing from seasoned tech luminaries, including David Vélez, co-founder and CEO of Nubank, Simón Borrero, co-founder and CEO of Rappi, and Kate Ryder, founder and CEO of Maven Clinic.
What comes next: a leona’s approach to care
In Spanish, leona means lioness. Unlike other parts of the animal kingdom, lionesses don’t just protect and raise the cubs; they are also the ones who hunt the prey. Nurturing. Collaborative. Strategic. Fierce. Lionesses are the backbone of the pride.
That’s what we’re building. A new backbone – a new operating system – for doctors that allows them to be both nurturing in how they care for their patients, and strategic in how they grow their practice. We’re building tools that meet doctors and their patients where they are, scaling the humanity of medicine, not replacing it.
Systems that truly transform, and endure, aren't built on strong ideas alone. They’re also built on strong cultures. As we expand Leona beyond our first 14 countries, one of my deepest motivations is to prove that ambition, performance, and grit are not opposites of kindness, integrity, and collaboration. You can build something world-changing and still lead with care. You can be fiercely strategic and nurturing – just like doctors. Just like lionesses.
If my children inherit a world where healthcare feels seamless – and the system powering it becomes as obvious as ordering a ride through your phone and a car picking you up in two minutes – that’s a legacy worth building.
Save time. Download Leona.
