By Sophie Shah
For most of my childhood, I was the kid who never left the doctor’s office with clear answers. Pain, fatigue, and neurological glitches formed a puzzle no one seemed able – much less willing – to solve. I moved through appointment after appointment without a name for what was happening to me, just a growing sense that I was navigating it alone.
In trying to make sense of it all, I dove into research. I read medical journals late at night, joined forums, and scrolled through comment sections hoping to find just a single person who understood. Instead, I found thousands. I found massive communities of young people who had been dismissed, misdiagnosed, or caught in an exhaustive and long diagnostic limbo.
That’s when it clicked. This wasn’t just about me. The struggle to be heard went beyond a personal conflict, into an institutional one. There was a clear gap, one deeply entrenched into how modern healthcare functions – and I decided I wanted to do something about it.
I created Chronically Me as a space for people to share their stories – a platform built to “create comfort in our community” and to foster connection and visibility for those navigating chronic illness. Very quickly, it became more than that. I built it entirely on my own – from designing every aspect of the website, to growing the audience, developing content, and creating the community structure.
As the platform grew, I launched an ambassador program that brought together teens and young adults from around the world who shared my passion for improving healthcare equity. Together, we called on larger audiences, and began to ship resource and awareness boxes nationwide, and connected with hundreds of people who reached out simply to say, “I feel seen.”
As the platform grew, so did my vision for it. I added a patient forum called Voices, where people could share their experiences openly in their own words. I began forming partnerships and collaborating with researchers, digital health experts, and advocates – working to take this movement further. From the beginning, I understood this wasn’t just about sharing stories – it was about building real support systems where none existed before.
Still, even as Chronically Me expanded and became a staple in many patient’s lives, I kept returning to a familiar challenge: how to organize complex health information in a way that truly helps patients and providers. I knew how hard it was to walk into a fifteen-minute appointment and try to explain everything from the last six months. I knew exactly what it felt like to forget half of what I wanted to say or to feel like there was no proof of what I’d been through. I recognized that the administrative burden was too large for patients to carry alone, especially ones who were already consumed with their illnesses.
That’s why I created myCM, a health-tracking app that allows users to record symptoms, medications, pain levels, and more, then generate clear, comprehensive reports to bring to appointments. It’s flexible, accessible, and built with patients at the center. It’s designed for anyone who wants to better understand and communicate their health.
Alongside building and growing these platforms, I’m also conducting research to better understand patient-provider communication and digital health tools. This work informs everything I do and helps me sharpen the solutions I build. As part of this, I’m leading efforts to collaborate with schools to improve how educators support students with complex medical conditions – integrating educational modules that help teachers better understand and accommodate these students’ unique needs.
All of this happens while I’m still in high school. Managing meetings, coding, ambassador calls, research, and strategy on top of classes and teenage life is intense, but it fuels my drive to change a system that often feels slow and unresponsive.
Being a young woman founder in healthcare comes with its own set of challenges – but it’s also incredibly empowering and rewarding. My age, gender, limitations, and health haven’t limited me; they’ve instead fueled my creativity, determination, and commitment that has allowed me to build tools that benefit patients around the world.
This journey started because I refused to accept a system that didn’t listen. Today, I’m proud to be building something better – one story, one tool, and one partnership at a time. I’m still a student. Still a patient. But I’m also a founder, a researcher, a designer, and a leader.
And I’m just getting started!
Sophie Shah is a high school student, teen founder, and patient advocate reshaping the future of healthcare through lived experience. She is the creator of Chronically Me, a global platform for young people navigating chronic illness, and myCM, a patient-first health tracking tool currently in beta testing. Sophie leads ambassador teams, collaborates with physicians and researchers, and is conducting ongoing research in patient-provider communication. She’s passionate about building systems that listen – especially for the voices often left out. Follow Chronically Me on Instagram, and connect with Sophie on her personal account.
