David was the co-founder and CEO of Propeller Health, a digital health company dedicated to improving the management of asthma and COPD. In 2019, the company was acquired for $225M by ResMed, where he continued to lead the business until stepping aside in 2021 to become an Entrepreneur-in-Residence.
Propeller pioneered the application of digital technology to chronic disease management and pharmaceutical therapy – while partnering with leading health plans, provider systems, PBMs, retail pharmacies, and pharmaceutical manufacturers to bring clinically proven digital solutions to clinicians and people with respiratory disease.
Beginning in 2012, with one of the first US FDA 510(k) clearances for a digital health product, Propeller went on to develop and commercialize a portfolio of nine additional 510(k) devices. In 2021, together with Novartis, Propeller received EMEA approval for the first co-packaged pharmaceutical and digital product, which was marketed in 15 countries.
To date, Propeller has published more than 30 peer-reviewed publications demonstrating the clinical effectiveness of its technology, including the results from one of the first randomized, controlled clinical trials of a digital health product, conducted with Dignity Health in California. David raised more than $70M from institutional and strategic investors, including Walgreens, the California HealthCare Foundation, Kapor Capital, Social Capital, Safeguard, SR One, 3M, Aptar, Hikma, McKesson, and ResMed.
David’s work with Propeller arose from his academic and applied public health career. David received his PhD in medical anthropology from the University of Arizona in 2004. His dissertation research, funded by the National Science Foundation, examined the rising prevalence of asthma and allergy in India, a topic he previously studied among Native Americans in Alaska, Arizona, and New Mexico. From 2006 to 2009, David was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health and Society Scholar at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. In 2010, David was named a Champion of Change by the Obama Administration for my work on technology and innovation.
Previously, David was an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, assigned to the Air Pollution and Respiratory Health Branch. During this time, he provided epidemiological support to the National Asthma Control Program and investigated the health effects of various environmental exposures. In addition, David helped establish emergency illness and injury surveillance in coastal Mississippi and New Orleans after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
