Grand Strides in healthcare: On better data for better care with Dr. Amy Abernethy

In our Grand Strides series—a continuing education opportunity for Marathon Health physicians and advanced practitioners—we bring leading voices in healthcare forward to share fresh perspectives, practical insights, and inspiration for the work ahead. 

During our latest session, Dr. Terry Layman, corporate medical director at Marathon Health, sat down with Dr. Amy Abernethy, cofounder of Highlander Health, oncologist, and former FDA deputy commissioner, to discuss driving collaboration across sectors and what makes her optimistic about the future of data-driven decision making and advanced primary care.  

The career throughline: Better data, better care

Q: If you had to distill your career down to one core problem you’ve sought to solve—as an oncologist, regulator, researcher, and entrepreneur—what would that be? 

Dr. Abernethy: My focus has always been on one question: How do we get promising treatments from the lab to the patients who need them—quickly and responsibly? From Duke to Flatiron Health, FDA, Verily, and now Highlander Health, I’ve focused on turning everyday care into actionable insights—and reinvesting those insights to improve care and policy. At its core, it’s always been about the patients in front of me, and that focus has driven every step of my career. 

Q: In healthcare, communication is everything. But complex medical terms and cultural nuances can make it hard for patients to fully understand their care. Thinking about your patients, how did you approach that challenge? 

Dr. Abernethy: This is one of the biggest hurdles in healthcare. As clinicians, it’s not enough to speak a common language with each other—we need to translate that language so that patients and their families or caregivers can truly understand, embrace, and incorporate it in their daily lives. 

That requires both the right words and the right timing. Too often, we focus on delivering information quickly and moving on. Part of effective care is preparing the ground—recognizing when a patient is ready to hear and act on information, and when we need to slow down, listen, and meet them where they are. 

Q: Can you share a formative milestone that you’ve leaned on throughout your career? 

Dr. Abernethy: Back in 2001, I ran a coordinated care trial in Australia, asking a simple question: Do home-based palliative care models improve patients’ and families’ well-being? Clinicians visited patients at home, collecting outcomes—pain, fatigue, quality of life—to guide care in real time while measuring the impact of interventions. 

Why is this foundational? Twenty-five years later, my work still revolves around the same principle: capturing the right data to help the person in front of you today, in a way that’s reliable enough to inform research and improve care. That dual-use principle—help today’s patient, generate evidence for tomorrow—has guided me ever since. 

Breaking down silos in a complex industry

Q: Fast forward and you’ve founded Highlander Health. What brought you to this point? 

Dr. Abernethy: At Highlander, we believe that demand for evidence will soon outpace our capacity to run traditional clinical trials. We have two arms: a public-interest platform to influence industry and policy toward better evidence generation, and an investment arm backing companies building the modern research infrastructure. Our strategy is intentionally cross-industry. Scalable solutions live at the intersections. 

Q: Your passion for collaboration is clear. How do we make cross-industry collaboration work—and what advice do you have for clinicians and employers innovating with new care models? 

Dr. Abernethy: The key to accelerating innovation is to stitch together diverse perspectives and build a shared language. When regulators, public sector, pharma, device makers, providers, and employers come together, we learn faster and move further. 

For clinicians delivering new models of care—or employers sponsoring it—my advice is simple: get clear on your “why,” then go to the intersections. Set shared goals and invest in mutual understanding, that’s where the breakthroughs happen. 

Advice for the future

 
Q: Thinking about advanced primary care and Marathon’s model, what gives you optimism for healthcare of the future—and how can research continue to support this approach? 

Dr. Abernethy: What gives me optimism about advanced primary care is that the human side of care still matters. Technology can help “wick away” administrative work, but the data generated through your everyday care are incredibly powerful. By working with research experts, you can evaluate what’s working, identify areas to improve, and share insights that move the whole industry forward.  

Modern research designs make this more achievable than ever. The result? A care model that serves individuals in the context of their families, communities, and workplaces—and generates evidence to show impact across the industry. 

What this means for you

Whether you’re an employer, clinician, or patient, we’re all here because we believe there’s a better way to deliver care. Remember to: 

• Seek opportunities to convene stakeholders outside your role or sector to generate new ideas and find common ground
• Lean into your data—understand what it tells you and how it can inform better care
• Build for what's next, because change happens faster than we think, and care should evolve with your people

The future of care will be built at the intersections—where clinicians, employers, and researchers come together with the right data and shared purpose. Ready to co-design evidence-driven care that improves outcomes and lowers avoidable costs? Let’s measure what matters and scale advanced primary care—together.