Tava Cleghon

Tava is a Veterinary Technician, Caregiver, and Patient Advocate. She is passionate about both human and animal rights and advocacy. She worked as a veterinary technician for over a decade, when her father had a cardiac arrest and she performed CPR for 8 minutes while waiting for the paramedics. Subsequently she became his caregiver and patient advocate which assisted her in moving from animal welfare to human welfare. During her time as a caregiver she witnessed the pitfalls of time constraints and communication failures in the healthcare system firsthand. While performing her own medical research, she saw how technology could be used to assist both clinicians and patients. Now she is passionate about the idea of using technology to augment clinician knowledge, and to help patients access medical jargon translation, medical records and reputable research to increase their participation in their own healthcare decisions. She saw how access to knowledge and collaboration with the healthcare team led to better outcomes for both the patient and the provider. Now she wants to use technology as a way to give all patients access to research and knowledge so they can make decisions from a place of informed consent. Because while clinicians may be the experts in medicine, patients and their families are experts in the lived experience of their health issues, and there is truly no substitute for lived experience.