Dr. Heather Underwood is a medical device and health technology entrepreneur with a highly interdisciplinary background at the intersection of computer science, global health, human-centered design, education, and international development. Heather is passionate about the healthcare space and innovative ideas that lower costs, empower patients and physicians, improve health outcomes, and make a meaningful impact on people’s lives.
Heather completed her Ph.D. at the University of Colorado Boulder's ATLAS Institute. She developed and implemented clinical decision support systems for midwives and nurses in Kenya, receiving the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Grant and a Gates Grand Challenges Grant to support her research. Heather received a Bachelor of Science, cum laude, in computer science and engineering from the University of Washington, where her undergraduate research focused on developing multiplayer educational game platforms for primary schools in India.
Heather’s entrepreneurial experience spans more than a decade, founding and leading medical device startups, nonprofit life science organizations, and innovative academic initiatives, including co-founding Inworks – an interdisciplinary initiative offering courses and certificate programs in innovation, prototyping and design — as a professor at the University of Colorado Denver. Dr. Underwood was selected for the 2018-2019 Stanford Biodesign Fellowship Class and left academia to pursue a career in medical device innovation. She was the CEO of a pediatric gastroenterology company out of the Children's Hospital of Colorado from 2020-2023, and is now a consultant and fractional CEO for medical device startups.