The new, streamlined Verily will have one very recognizable component: its virtual care company Onduo, whose prodigious data collection from chronic disease patients will help power Verily’s significant push into research into new drugs, devices, and treatment approaches.
Onduo was largely absent from a memo released last week in which Verily’s new CEO said that the Alphabet spinout was cutting 15% of its workforce and focusing on efforts that could either improve clinical research or serve health care providers or consumers. But STAT has learned that Onduo is very much part of Verily’s plan, and that its leader, Vindell Washington, will remain at the company in a new role. The company announced in a town hall Wednesday that Washington will now serve as chief clinical officer and director of the Health Equity Center of Excellence at Verily.
“The strategic imperative at Verily, and I’d say it’s even sharper now, is to bridge that gap between research and [care] delivery,” said Erich Huang, the chief science and innovation officer at Onduo. “And so obviously you have to have a foot planted in both of those spaces no matter what.”
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