In our latest HealthTechQuity Spotlight, PerrinJoel sat down with Ariel Katz, Co-Founder and CEO of H1, to talk about his journey, what drives him, and how his company is working to close healthcare equity gaps while shaping the future of health tech.
Ariel describes his life as being grounded in people and connection. Personally, he set his sights early on being a present parent and eventually a grandparent, a “long game,” as he calls it, and professionally, he’s built his career around working with teams he enjoys and on projects that feel meaningful. “The best team is a team that can celebrate wins together and laugh at losses together.” For Ariel, success isn’t about money or status. He shared how he once believed wealth equalled happiness, but learned that purpose, collaboration, and joy in the work itself are what truly matter.
His entrepreneurial journey began in college with Research Connection, a platform connecting students to research opportunities. That company was eventually sold, and a pivotal trip to India in 2017 set the stage for his next venture. He recalls trying to raise funding for an ambitious space-agriculture idea, but when investors weren’t ready for that vision, he pivoted back to a proven theme, connection. Drawing from the success of profiling professors for Research Connection, he launched H1, with the mission to connect the world to the right doctors. Within just a few months, H1 had signed several top global pharma companies.
When asked about the best business advice he’s received, Ariel didn’t hesitate: “Listen to nobody, they have no idea what they’re talking about.” He explained that after years of second guessing his instincts and following outside advice, he realised that no one could know the business better than someone who spends 21,000+ hours thinking about it. This shift, from external validation to trusting intuition, transformed H1’s trajectory.
Ariel is clear that healthcare has a long-standing equity problem, especially in clinical research. For decades, trials were overwhelmingly conducted on white men, a misrepresentation of the diverse populations affected by illness. H1 is working to change that in two major ways, first by providing life sciences companies with data on physicians’ demographics, patient populations, and languages spoken so that studies reflect the real-world diversity of conditions like sickle cell disease or HIV. Second, by supplying data that helps millions of Americans choose doctors who share their background, culture, or language, ensuring care feels more personalised and accessible.
Looking ahead, Ariel is fascinated by how the role of doctors is shifting. He foresees many administrative and intake tasks being automated, freeing doctors to focus on empathy, diagnostics, and direct patient care, the reasons most went into medicine in the first place. At the same time, he’s watching closely for the moment when AI moves from clinical decision support to actual clinical decision-making. That leap, he believes, will transform early detection and treatment outcomes, though he insists there will always be moments where only human compassion can carry the message.
Ariel left us with two thoughtful prompts for upcoming spotlight guests, what keeps you motivated to work hard every day, and what’s your unique “work hack” that gives you an edge?
Key Takeaway: Ariel Katz’s story highlights how curiosity, intuition, and a focus on people can drive meaningful impact. Through H1, he’s not just building technology, he’s helping ensure that healthcare and clinical research reflect the diversity of the people they serve.