Meet Samira Daswani

We recently connected with Samira Daswani and have shared our conversation below.

Samira , we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

On January 10, 2020, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I had just turned 30. I’m a bioengineer by training, and have worked in healthcare my entire career. Over the 2 years of getting treated, I began to realize that the trauma of being treated was far worse than the trauma of being diagnosed.

When I heard the words “you have cancer” I was thrown into the deep end of a brand new universe – CancerLand. However, I didn’t know anyone there. I didn’t speak the language. I didn’t have the tools to figure it out. I didn’t have a map to navigate this new world. Despite having incredible support, a great medical team, and good insurance, it was hard to figure out where I was and what was next. That feeling of being lost is largely unnecessary. Patients & families like me need better tools to help us understand what is happening, and to do our part in managing the treatment.

That is what prompted me to start Manta Cares. I firmly believe that patients are capable of understanding our diagnoses and treatment more than we are given credit for. I’m dedicating my life’s work to help cancer patients & families get the treatment & life they desire.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

During treatment for cancer I began to realize that as a patient I didn’t have adequate tools. If you think about living & working in 2024, we have access to so many products to make our day-to-day life manageable. However, as patients we don’t have access to products to help us manage the disease, treatment and our lives.

I began with a rather tech-forward platform – paper. I designed a simple paper-planner for myself. I read a lot of the research about “self-management”. Very often we don’t realize that over 90% of cancer care actually happens in the home. The doctor will give you instructions – take this medicine if this happens, or take a specific action if this other thing happens. But the burden of remembering, and then actually managing treatment is on the patient & their loved ones. The paper planner – Manta Planner has now helped thousands of patients across the US.

We learned from the paper planner. We learned what patients & families liked, disliked, wanted more of, and other areas of gaps. That’s what led us to building a digital version of the platform called “Your Cancer GPS”.

We’ve expanded the platform from a digital notebook, to providing A to Z support for patients & families managing cancer. We are in a private beta for the digital platform.

If you are a patient or family going through cancer treatment, do reach out to us, and we can get you access to the platform.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

1. Human Centered Design: I was fortunate to study & train under some of the best minds of human centered design thinking. I went to the d.school at Stanford University for my graduate studies. I learned the process, and have been practicing the methodology. That has been essential to us being able to build a product for cancer patients & families.

2. Exclusively focusing on the patient: A lot of time in healthcare we focus on the system. Because I happened to be going through cancer myself, I have a first hand experience navigating the broken system, and realized that a lot of companies don’t take the time to really dive deeply into the patient’s experience.

3. Collaboration with other organizations & clinical experts: Cancer is a big mission, and we cannot go at it alone. We’ve been very intentional about trying to partner with organizations from across the industry to make sure that we are able to get the patient everything they need when they need it the most.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?

I owe my life & career to my parents. My father embodies unconditional support. He’s always shown up for me, guiding me to live a life of moderation and pursue my dreams. My mother has been my pillar of strength, guiding me to stay grounded, reinforce my faith, and dedicate my life to service of others. My parents dropped everything and showed up to take care of me through treatment. I would not have survived those 2 years without them.

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