Heart disease is the number one cause of death for women in the U.S., but women with cardiovascular risk factors often don’t get the treatment they need until it’s too late. In response to emailed questions, Systole Health CEO and Co-founder Dr. Simin Gharib Lee talked about how her company is addressing this medical need.
Why did you start this company?
I started Systole because I kept seeing the same problem over and over again: women showing up in my clinic post pandemic with weight gain, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, new diagnoses of prediabetes or diabetes, and some with their first heart attacks. They were stuck in a fragmented system that wasn’t built to help them. They bounced between overwhelmed primary care doctors and specialist waitlists, sometimes waiting up to two years to even start treatment.
The reality is, we don’t have enough cardiologists to take care of every woman at risk for heart disease. And the ones who do get through often spend just a few rushed minutes with their doctor before being sent on their way.
I knew there had to be a better way. What if we gave women time, access, education, and a sense of community before they ever developed a heart attack or stroke? That’s why I built Systole — group virtual care for women’s cardiometabolic health, led by expert clinicians, designed to actually move the needle on prevention and treatment.
What need are you seeking to address in healthcare?
Heart disease is the number one killer of women, but our healthcare system still doesn’t treat it that way. Women’s cardiovascular risk factors — high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, metabolic dysfunction — are underdiagnosed, undertreated, and often ignored until it’s too late. By the time many women receive treatment, they’ve already suffered a heart attack, heart failure, or other serious cardiovascular event. And even then, their care remains fragmented, with little structured guidance on how to prevent another event from happening.
We also have a massive access problem. There are simply not enough cardiologists, and the pipeline isn’t growing fast enough to keep up with demand. That means long wait times, brief visits, and countless women left in limbo without the care they need.
Systole is solving both problems — by offering comprehensive, accessible, and evidence-based group virtual care that scales. Whether a woman is at risk for heart disease and wants to prevent it, or has already had a cardiovascular event and needs expert support to recover and stay healthy, we provide the education, treatment, and community that traditional healthcare fails to deliver.
What does your product do? How does it work?
Systole runs physician-led group virtual visits for women with heart disease and those at risk. Think of it as a modern, scalable approach to cardiovascular care — where patients get more time with expert clinicians, more education about their condition, and more peer support, rather than just a rushed 15-minute appointment that barely scratches the surface.
Each 60-min session includes 8-10 women, guided by a physician and health coach. Patients receive structured medical care, personalized treatment adjustments, education on lifestyle interventions, and a collaborative space to actually understand their heart health. Some are trying to prevent their first heart attack or heart failure episode, while others need ongoing guidance to avoid another one.
And unlike many digital health startups that operate outside of the system, we integrate directly into existing healthcare structures — partnering with health systems to extend their reach, reduce specialist bottlenecks, and improve clinical outcomes. Whether a woman needs to prevent her first cardiovascular event or her second, we make sure she’s getting the right care, at the right time, with the support she needs to succeed.
Is this your first healthcare startup? What’s your background in healthcare?
I’m a Harvard-trained cardiologist with an MD/MBA, and I founded Systole because I knew I could have a bigger impact outside of the traditional healthcare system. After years of seeing women struggle to access the right care — whether trying to prevent heart disease or recovering from their first heart attack — I realized that our current model simply doesn’t scale.
This is my first startup, but in many ways, I’ve been preparing for this my entire career. My MD taught me how to treat heart disease. My MBA taught me how to fix the system that keeps failing women. Systole is my way of doing both — building a care model that is not only clinically rigorous but also scalable and financially viable, ensuring that more women get the expert-led cardiovascular care they deserve.
What is your company’s business model?
Systole partners with health systems and physician groups to expand access to cardiovascular care, reduce wait times, and improve outcomes for women’s heart health — all while generating new revenue for providers.
Our model is built on shared medical appointments (SMAs), a reimbursable, evidence-based approach that allows providers to see multiple patients in a structured group setting, improving engagement and outcomes while easing the burden on overextended clinics.
For health systems, Systole offers:
- Scalable access expansion – We integrate directly into existing workflows, helping cardiology and primary care teams manage at-risk women who might otherwise face long wait times or fall through the cracks.
- Financial upside – Our visits are billed under standard E&M billing codes, creating a new revenue stream while opening capacity to increase patient throughput.
- Stronger patient retention and satisfaction – Women in our program feel more supported, more engaged, and more informed, improving outcomes and loyalty to the system.
While we do offer direct-to-consumer access, our primary focus is partnering with health systems to extend their reach, offload stable but high-risk patients, and create a more sustainable and accessible model for women’s heart care.
Who is your customer?
Systole’s primary customers are health systems and physician groups looking to expand access, improve patient outcomes, and create a more sustainable model for cardiovascular care. Our virtual shared medical appointments allow them to offload stable but high-risk women into a structured, scalable program — helping overburdened cardiologists and primary care doctors manage demand while keeping patients engaged in their health.
Beyond health systems, we see growing interest from payers and employers who recognize the long-term cost savings of proactive cardiovascular care. With rising rates of cardiovascular disease and obesity-related conditions, early intervention and risk factor optimization are critical cost-control strategies. They can keep patients healthier, reducing avoidable hospitalizations, and preventing downstream complications.
Our typical patient is a woman in midlife — often navigating hypertension, high cholesterol, metabolic dysfunction, or recovering from a recent cardiovascular event. Many of these women struggle to get timely care, either due to long specialist wait times or a lack of structured support in primary care.
By working with health systems, payers, and employers, we ensure these women don’t get lost in the system, while giving providers a tool to manage risk more effectively.
How do you generate revenue?
We generate revenue through three primary streams:
- Insurance reimbursement for group virtual visits, which are billable services covered by CMS and private insurers.
- Health system and employer partnerships, where we offer a turn-key solution to help them expand their specialty care offerings.
- Direct patient enrollment, allowing women to self-pay for immediate access to expert heart health care.
This diversified revenue model enables us to scale sustainably while ensuring affordability and accessibility for patients.
Do you have clinical validation for your product?
Yes, we do! Systole’s model is rooted in strong evidence for shared medical appointments, which have been shown to:
- Improve patient engagement and adherence
- Reduce specialist wait times
- Enhance clinical outcomes for chronic disease management
Beyond published data, we’ve already seen real-world impact: many of our early cohort patients have achieved blood pressure, cholesterol, and/or weight control, while also being screened for high-risk lipid disorders — all within an efficient 6-week timeframe.
We’re also tracking patient engagement and health outcomes closely to build a growing body of clinical evidence specific to Systole’s program. Our long-term vision is to set a new standard for scalable, high-quality virtual cardiovascular care for women.
Photo: BrianAJackson, Getty Images
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