Every founder eventually faces the same question: How do you build faster without building the wrong thing?

As organizations race to innovate in an increasingly technology-driven world, the challenge isn’t simply writing the code, it’s understanding the people, workflows, and problems that coding is meant to serve.

On this episode of Hope, Power & Healthcare, our hosts Melissa and Chris explore the rise of Forward Deployed Engineers (FDE) and why this emerging role is capturing the attention of startups, healthcare organizations, and technology leaders alike.

Using their own experience, working directly alongside operational teams, Chris shares what happens when technical talent moves closer to the people using the solutions being built.

Together, Chris and Melissa discuss how FDEs help bridge the gap between strategy and execution, accelerate learning, and create products that are more likely to drive meaningful adoption and outcomes.

This is a conversation about building with people, not just for them. Because the most successful innovations emerge through collaboration, curiosity, and a deep commitment to solving real problems.

Whether you’re a founder navigating your next hire, a healthcare leader driving transformation, or a builder looking to create greater impact, this episode offers practical insights into what it takes to turn ideas into solutions that people actually use.

#ForwardDeployedEngineer #HopePowerandHealthcare #HealthcareLeadership

Hosts:Chris Hemphill – Chris’s 17 years in healthcare technology have spanned sales, operations, data science IC, and AI leadership. Chris couples this with a focus on health equity and serves as the NYU McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy Research Fellow for Healthcare AI. Chris’s currently leads Modular Feedback, which focuses on helping healthcare innovators find and build thoughtful AI use cases: https://modularfeedback.com

Melissa Reilly – Melissa spent the last 20 years leading innovations at major payers: UnitedHealth Group(Optum Ventures), Aetna, and Evernorth/Cigna. She’s helped drive and commercialize multiple startups in AI & consumer testing, and she is now driving product and commercialization for healthcare innovators full-time. She brings industry expertise as well as a background in law, negotiation, & real estate. Her company’s name is STLTH.

Production:Edited by Alyssa SchrollMusic by Chris Hemphill