Ontada Health
Scaling UX from a 0→1 Patient Portal to an Enterprise Oncology Platform
Role: Sr. Manager, UX/UI
Team: 4 UX Designers, PM, PO, 15+ Engineers, Scrum Master, 2 BAs
Timeline: 2022–Present
Responsibilities: UX Leadership, Product Strategy, Design Operations, Research, Team Management
Overview
Ontada Health began as a greenfield patient portal initiative and evolved into a connected oncology platform supporting patient onboarding, communication, education, and practice workflows.
Over multiple years, I led UX strategy and delivery efforts while helping scale both the product and the UX organization. As the platform expanded, my focus shifted from designing individual features to establishing the processes, partnerships, and operating model that enabled UX to influence product decisions at scale.
The Challenge
As Ontada Health grew, new workflows, integrations, and user needs increased product complexity across both patient and practice experiences.
The challenge was not only delivering new capabilities, but ensuring UX could scale alongside the platform while maintaining consistency, usability, and alignment across teams.
My Approach
I helped evolve UX from a discovery-focused function into a continuous part of the Application Development Lifecycle (ADLC) by:
Embedding UX into agile planning and delivery
Establishing Sprint +2 design readiness practices
Introducing cross-functional design reviews
Standardizing research, feedback, and validation processes
Strengthening collaboration between UX, Product, and Engineering
This created a repeatable framework for bringing user insights into product decisions from concept through release.
Key Contributions
Platform Foundation
Defined core patient portal workflows
Led discovery efforts around appointment reminders, broadcast messaging, patient experience surveys, patient education, and more.
Established foundational UX principles for future platform growth
Scalable Onboarding & Registration
Designed workflows supporting patient intake, forms, insurance, and health history collection
Helped create scalable onboarding experiences across practices
Led “Forms Productization” process improvements for scaling eRegistration practices
Platform Expansion
Supported EHR integrations, messaging, workflow automation, caregiver access, and patient engagement initiatives
Introduced usability measurement (UMUX Lite) and feedback mechanisms to inform roadmap priorities
Shifted UX focus from feature-level design to system-level experience strategy
Impact
Helped scale Ontada Health from a patient portal into a broader oncology engagement platform
Established a UX operating model that reduced ambiguity and improved delivery efficiency
Created stronger feedback loops between patients, practice users, and product teams
Expanded UX influence from feature design to roadmap and product strategy
Key Takeaway
The most significant outcome was not a single feature launch—it was building a UX practice capable of scaling alongside the product. By embedding UX throughout the product lifecycle, we created a foundation for continuous learning, better decision-making, and improved experiences for both patients and oncology practices.