In 2020—right about when much of America might’ve been using Instacart for the very first time to avoid COVID at the supermarket—the company’s soon-to-be CEO, Fidji Simo, was “falling apart from head to toe,” health-wise. She was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition, learned that the level of research being done on such illnesses was “appalling,” and was prompted to cofound the Metrodora Institute, enrolling patients in studies and using AI to gather “all 360 data points on them," including genetics, immune profiling, reported symptoms, and environment.
Years before, another leader was dealing with her own health woes: Arianna Huffington, who famously passed out at her desk in the midst of working 18-hour days to get the Huffington Post up and running. She broke her cheekbone in the fall, woke up in a pool of blood, and was soon diagnosed with burnout.
