We help our clients enhance patient outcomes, accelerate access to life-saving medications, and drive sustainable growth through innovative solutions, strategic insights, and unwavering support.
OUR MISSION
OUR VALUES
These principles guide our work.
GROUND RULES
We build long-term relationships with our clients.
Generally, this means we won’t engage with a client for less than a one-year commitment. We’re willing to listen if you have a great idea that needs to get off the ground right away, but please understand that the heart of what we do is the creation of things that become meaningful parts of your organization. Some of our subsidiary and affiliated companies can take on projects with much shorter horizons because of the nature of their work—but Think Patients itself isn’t focused on that.
We turn down projects if someone else will better fit the client need.
This may happen if you need a different set of skills and services than we typically provide. If we think another consultancy would be a better fit, we will happily refer you to them. We don’t accept referral fees, because that would impair our ability to direct you to the companies we think are truly the best match. Yes, that means we miss out on some money. And yes, we’re fine with that.
We hold firm to boundaries that protect our employees.
A good team is hard to build, and even harder to keep. We’re a small team by design, and finding people that work well as part of that team, with the levels of expertise and professionalism our clients demand, is something that we take very seriously. To that end, we are fiercely protective of our employees’ job satisfaction and work-life balance. We will always do our best to be available when and where you need us, and we communicate and stick to realistic and reasonable timelines, but we do not ask our teams to be available outside of working hours and do not expect them to take on urgent deadlines if their quality of work will suffer for it.
We ask: Is it legal? Is it ethical? Is it likely to make a difference?
We decline work immediately if we can’t answer “yes” to the first two questions; and, while that may seem obvious, those barriers have helped some potential clients “self-select” out (which saves us all significant time and aggravation). As for the third question, please understand that if we think a project isn’t likely to have a positive impact on patients, providers, or the healthcare industry as a whole, we’re probably going to pass. That doesn’t mean it’s a “bad” project. There are lots of projects and initiatives that are legal and ethical, but just sort of…“vanilla.” We’re a bad fit for those projects, and you probably don’t need us for them. Thankfully, we’re pretty good at knowing whether or not we’re a good fit for your project.
We’re terrible lackeys and “yes” people.
If you’re looking for a consultant that agrees with whatever you propose, or that tells you how great and smart you are even when they don’t like your idea or plan, you’ve come to the wrong place. We’ll always help you look good in front of others, but when we are working with you one-on-one, it’s part of our job to be critical. We’ll poke holes in your thinking, pressure test your ideas, and tell you when your work isn’t clear and convincing. Some people hate that, because they want praise and validation more than they want to perform at the top of their game. While we often generate new ideas and create winning processes for our clients, most also view us as coaches, trainers, and advisors focused on making them look great in front of their customers and their leadership, because those are the people who can make or break our client’s career.
Bringing innovation to the pharmaceutical space.
LEADERSHIP
Founder and CEO
Think Patients was founded by pharma veteran Joe Meadows in 2011. Joe’s first role in healthcare came before he had finished his undergrad degree, when he served on the Board of Directors for a community health center. After a short stint with a financial services firm and a tech company, he found his way back to healthcare and has been active in the industry for more than three decades, serving as the VP of Marketing for a pharma company, and the VP of marketing, creative services, and product development for a leading patient and HCP engagement company. He helped take a privately-held, VC-backed pharma company through its successful IPO, then helped rescue, rebuild, and sell a prominent industry supplier to one of the world’s most successful private equity firms. Before that he led multiple brand teams, developed and launched more pharmaceutical, biological, and vaccine products than he can remember, piloted and grew a first-of-its-kind pharma market research group that became an industry standard. Somewhere in his distant past he managed salespeople and “carried the bag”, calling on payers, health systems, academic medical centers, government, hospitals, and doctor’s offices. Don’t get him started on pharma war stories – you don’t have that much time!
Joe Meadows
Chief Operating Officer
Think Patients’ first employee, Jacquelyn Crane, is now a co-owner and serves as the company’s Chief Operating Officer. Jackie completed her nursing degree and gained clinical experience with early health IT offerings, rising quickly to management roles in an east coast health system. After starting her family, she decided she wanted a better work-life balance and joined a company focused on the claims and reimbursement side of healthcare, but soon found that wasn’t allowing her to make the kinds of contributions she envisioned when she entered nursing school. When an early Think Patients client was looking for the company’s help to staff an innovation center with someone who had clinical experience, Jackie joined the team to fill that role. The rest, as they say, is history. It didn’t take long before she was an integral part of that client team, serving as the right hand and operations lead for that innovation group’s founder. After maturing that effort within the client, Jackie “came inside” to help manage Think Patients’ growing business, employee base, and roster of clients. In addition to her role as Think Patients’ Chief Operating Officer, she serves as Managing Director of the company’s Corvus brands.
Jacquelyn Crane
SUBSIDIARY LEADERSHIP
Our exceptional leadership doesn’t end there.
President & Co-Founder of Health Accelerators
As an EMMY-award winning filmmaker and digital health pioneer, Joe infuses storytelling with strategy, design and technology to systematically move customers to action. He led global marketing, new product development, digital transformation, strategic planning and enterprise innovation for Fortune 100 companies in specialty chemicals, telecommunications, biopharmaceuticals, medical devices and diagnostics.
Joe is currently President and Co-founder of HEALTH ACCELERATORS, the premier B2B marketing agency that helps leading professional services, data, technology and media solutions companies effectively reach, engage, and grow their business with pharma prospects and customers.
Joe Shields
President & Co-Founder of Crimson Digital Media
A senior leader with over 20 years of management experience across multiple industries. A strategic thinker who excels in fast paced environments requiring a hands-on creative approach. Dynamic business leader with a continued track record of success, leading to roles with increased scope, responsibility and financial impact. A big picture visionary with the skill to focus on the details. An MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with a strong corporate and entrepreneurial career.