Leadership: Making It Personal

Instacart's Fidji Simo applies tech lessons to healthcare

- YASMIN GAGNE

ON THE EIGHTH AND ninth floors of a pristine building in a research park in Salt Lake City, employees in gray uniforms tread under gold light fixtures, past abstract artwork, and around plush couches in the waiting area where they check patients in. This isn't a high-end spa, though the gentle intake process was designed to mimic exactly that kind of environment. It's the Metrodora Institute, a $35 million clinic and research facility co-founded last year by Instacart CEO Fidji Simo. Metrodora is dedicated to treating women with neuroimmune axis disorders: diseases including endometriosis, GuillainBarré syndrome, long COVID, multiple sclerosis, lupus, and more, in which the immune system appears to attack the nervous system. It opened to the public in March, and by the end of the year it expects to be treating 15,000 women, both at this outpatient facility, where there are currently thousands of people on the waitlist, and remotely, via telehealth consultations.

The hospital-like aspects of the clinic the gurneys, feeding tubes, pelvic exam rooms-exist alongside the VR-assisted treadmill area, serene yoga space, and cozy suite where patients with mobility issues can practice getting in and out of bed. Simo says that the arrangement is designed to identify and treat the poorly understood combinations of symptoms associated with neuroimmune disorders, which can include anything from nausea and food intolerances to brain fog and more.