Could Healthcare Really Be That Simple?
Tapping Colby graduates, UBERDOC hopes to take mystery out of accessing medical care
Showing up to a doctor’s appointment often feels like rolling the dice. Even with insurance, complicated rules of engagement mean there’s no way to know how much the bill will be.
That’s what UBERDOC hopes to change. The Boston-based tech startup directly connects patients with doctors with a set price for services, prescriptions, and appointments. “Somehow, that’s a revolutionary concept in the healthcare market, that it really can be that simple,” said Craig Zevin ’11, COO.
When Zevin’s former advisor Sandy Maisel, Goldfarb Family Distinguished Professor of American Government, contacted him about the Pay It Northward initiative, Zevin opened two internships specifically for Colby students—one of which went to Ava Colarusso ’20.
“Obviously, Covid messed up my job search, like everyone. I felt so lucky with DavisConnects after spending the summer unsure what to do. This internship is directly related to my thesis research in that UBERDOC is trying to make healthcare more accessible for everyone. I really resonated with the mission.”
Ava Colarusso ’20
As a global studies and science, technology, and society double major, Colarusso found herself drawn to the intersection of healthcare and government policy. She spent her senior year researching the impact of the 1996 healthcare privacy law HIPAA on electronic health records for her honors thesis.
“Obviously, Covid messed up my job search, like everyone,” she said. “I felt so lucky with DavisConnects after spending the summer unsure what to do. This internship is directly related to my thesis research in that UBERDOC is trying to make healthcare more accessible for everyone. I really resonated with the mission.”
Colarusso helped the team apply for a series of government grants. As a five-person startup, she tried projects from a variety of areas, from operations to customer support. “Craig definitely let me run with the program. He completely trusted me to get the job done, and it felt amazing to have that kind of responsibility and trust right out of the gate,” she said.
“There is clearly such a great pipeline of talent available from Colby. I look at the students coming out now and I’m just so impressed at how prepared and professional they are. DavisConnects has opened up this pipeline of phenomenal candidates from diverse backgrounds and experiences I can easily plug into our team.”
Craig Zevin ‘10, COO, UBERDOC
And she hit the ground running. “What I love about DavisConnects is it just made it easy for us to meet students who have the right kind of skills and knowledge for our team,” said Zevin. “We needed someone with experience in healthcare, and Ava was already three steps ahead because of her thesis research. We were so lucky to have her—it makes a huge difference in getting somebody new up to speed.”
For Colarusso, interning with UBERDOC gave her the confidence she needed to start her career, eventually accepting a full-time offer at the Bowdoin Group, an executive search firm in the healthcare space.
Meanwhile, Zevin plans on hiring more Colby graduates in the future. “There is clearly such a great pipeline of talent available from Colby. I look at the students coming out now and I’m just so impressed at how prepared and professional they are. DavisConnects has opened up this pipeline of phenomenal candidates from diverse backgrounds and experiences I can easily plug into our team.”
Pay It Northward and DavisConnects
Pay It Northward, overseen by DavisConnects, is the Colby campaign to provide postgraduate opportunities to the Class of 2020. Last year’s graduates entered a job market profoundly impacted by Covid-19. Hiring freezes, withdrawal of jobs and fellowships—all of this threatens to derail graduates’ careers and keep them out of the workforce when the world needs their talents most.
