THE VISION FOR TRUEPATH emerged 10+ years ago when our founder, Julie Wheelan, was diagnosed with stage 3.5 colorectal cancer. Julie was 38-years-old at the time, with a husband and two young children (ages 1 and 5) and a flourishing career in marketing. Facing a daunting prognosis, Julie knew she needed to look beyond conventional medicine to other healing practices that could help optimize her chances of survival. And so, with deep determination and resourcefulness, she researched, vetted, and pieced together holistic healing support for herself and her family that included services such as nutrition counseling, exercise coaching, guided imagery, acupuncture, massage, horse therapy, jin shin jyutsu, and more.
After completing treatment, Julie went on to partner with leading oncologist, Dr. David Gullion, in co-founding Marin General Hospital’s Center for Integrative Health & Wellness (CIHW), an in- and out-patient department serving hospital patients — namely oncology, cardiovascular, diabetes, urology, and gastroenterology — as well as caregivers and community members interested in prevention and wellness. In building CIHW, Julie brought a deep understanding of true customer-centricity, which she learned after spending 20+ years at world-class global consumer brands such as Harley-Davidson, Gap, Williams-Sonoma, Visa, and Jamba Juice.
As Director of CIHW and through her own cancer journey, Julie came to realize the importance of meeting patients where they are in life (rather than treating them as robots who need to be “compliant” with often emotionally and physically challenging treatment protocols) as the key to improving health outcomes and quality of life. And yet, in today’s healthcare environment, most health systems lack the time, incentives, training, funding and infrastructure to create holistic healing programs themselves, so patients miss out on proven healing solutions and providers, payers, pharma and employers capture only a fraction of the value available to them and their patients from the dynamic health ecosystem.
The vision for TruePath was born out of Julie’s desire to bring the healing powers of integrative medicine and supportive services to patients worldwide, wherever and whenever they desire, while simultaneously overcoming the limitations that physical programs embody by delivering healing care through a customer-friendly digital platform.