Read the summary and watch or listen to the interview here: https://www.crowleylawllc.com/podcasts/using-digital-health-app-to-help-seniors-with-dr-jeannette-mahoney/
Episode Introduction: Welcoming Dr. Jeanette Mahoney
Voiceover: Welcome to the From Lab to Patient, Garage to Market podcast with your host, Phil Crowley. In each episode, we discuss professionals serving the tech startup market and explore key issues for those companies. You can find this show on all major platforms—including YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and on our website, CrowleyLawLLC.com. Now, here’s your host, Phil Crowley.
Phil Crowley: Hello and welcome. Thanks for tuning into our podcast. We bring you individuals with expertise in life sciences, technology, and startups to demystify the process, highlight success strategies, and share insights you might not get from your current experience.
Meet Dr. Jeanette Mahoney
Phil Crowley: Today, I’m delighted to have Dr. Jeanette Mahoney as my guest. She’s a professor of neurology at the State University of New York in Stony Brook. She’s had a distinguished academic career and used her research as a springboard to start her company, CatchU. We’re proud to include CatchU among our clients.
Be sure to stay tuned—at the end, I’ll ask Dr. Mahoney for some actionable tips based on her journey as both an academic and an entrepreneur.
Jeannette Mahoney: Thank you so much for having me. It’s a complete honor to be here.
Dr. Mahoney’s Academic Journey
Dr. Mahoney’s Academic Journey: From Neuroscience to Senior Health
Phil Crowley: Can you tell our audience a bit about your background and how you chose this path?
Jeannette Mahoney: Sure! I’m a neuroscientist studying how the brain integrates information across sensory modalities—especially visual and somatosensory input—and how this relates to daily life.
Imagine being in New York City, constantly bombarded with sensory stimuli. Our brains are wired to automatically process what’s relevant and ignore what’s not, especially things that require immediate responses.
I earned my bachelor’s in psychology from Stony Brook and became fascinated with the brain. I went on to study clinical health psychology and worked as a research assistant at the Nathan Kline Institute with my mentor, John Fox.
That’s where I began studying how the brain adjusts to multisensory input. We looked at how timing and space manipulation affected the brain’s ability to integrate multiple sensory signals, like combining visual and tactile cues.
I continued that work through my PhD at Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology in the Bronx and later as a postdoc at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. I started focusing on how multisensory integration changes with aging. We found that older adults vary greatly—some integrate sensory information well, others struggle, and those who struggle are more likely to have poor balance and slower gait, both predictors of falls.
From Research to Entrepreneurship: The Birth of CatchU
Jeannette Mahoney: Eventually, Einstein encouraged me to disclose my work—they believed there was commercial potential. That’s when I connected with you, Phil. The choice was between letting the university license it out or starting a company myself. It was scary, but the idea of handing over 15 years of work was even scarier. So I decided to build a business.
The Birth of CatchU
Jeannette Mahoney: Right before COVID, I was accepted into the Westchester County Bio Accelerator program. I went in thinking, “This isn’t for me—I’m a scientist, not a businessperson.” But after one day, the program director encouraged me to stay. I did, and with your help, we secured an exclusive license with Einstein.
We founded CatchU in 2021, following the disclosure in 2020. Since then, we’ve gone through fundraising and a host of other steps—and now, it’s 2025. I can’t believe it’s been over five years.
Phil Crowley: Just to clarify, when you say “Einstein,” you mean Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where your research was based. And it’s important to note you filed a patent application within a year of publication, which preserved your rights in the U.S.—though worldwide protection would’ve required filing before disclosure.
That’s a lot to juggle. Many academics stop at publishing, but you took it further and formed a company. Why?
Challenges and Motivation: Impact Beyond Publications
Jeannette Mahoney: I felt we had something special. At the same time, my grandmother suffered a fall that led to a decline in her health. It really hit home. I promised myself I’d get this technology into the hands of people who need it, not just into scientific journals.
Some people ask why I don’t just give it away, and I wish I could, but commercialization requires funding. It was never about making money; it was about making an impact.
Phil Crowley: What surprised you most about becoming an entrepreneur?
Jeannette Mahoney: Finding time! I’m a professor, a mom of two, with a husband and two dogs. But academic roles often allow time for related ventures, and the rest you make up during nights and weekends. It’s a lot, but it’s worth it.
Phil Crowley: It sounds like Einstein was supportive. What can institutions do better to help faculty commercialize their research?
Jeannette Mahoney: Yes, Einstein was great. They gave me options and encouraged me. But institutions could do more to demystify the process and actively promote support systems. Just knowing you’re not alone makes a big difference.
Building a Strong Team: The Power of Accelerators
Phil Crowley: Startups need more than just science. How did you build your team?
Jeannette Mahoney: The Westchester County Bio Accelerator program was key. During the boot camp, I met mentors and professionals in business, regulation, and marketing. My coach, Lori Lonzak—who knows you well—was an incredible asset. She believed in me and stayed on board. Through the program, I met others like Bob Cox, who helped with our license agreement and now serves on our board.
Every time I had a question, someone was there to help—usually within hours. That kind of support was invaluable.
Crowley Law: Empowering Innovators in Tech & Life Sciences
Phil Crowley: Let me take a moment to share a bit about our firm. At Crowley Law, we’re a boutique firm of experienced lawyers passionate about helping life sciences and tech entrepreneurs bring ideas from the lab to the market.
As a former research physicist, I understand the challenges of creating new knowledge. As lawyers, we also understand how hard it is to bring those innovations to life commercially.
Visit our website, CrowleyLawLLC.com, for resources and tools focused on legal questions startups face. Also, subscribe to this podcast and stay tuned for our upcoming book: Avoid Startup Failure: The Top Ten Causes of Failure for Technology Startups and How to Turn Them to Your Advantage, releasing later this year on Amazon.
Now, back to Jeanette.
Understanding Fall Prevalence: Why CatchU Is Essential
Phil Crowley: Jeanette, you learned a lot about marketing, and it was some surprising information that you were able to garner about fall risk in the United States and worldwide that I think impelled you and Lori to really focus on this. Can you give us kind of an outline of how prevalent falls are, particularly now as we have seniors who are living longer and longer—and surviving—and you know what happens when they have that fall, like your grandmother did?
The Alarming Cost of Senior Falls
Jeannette Mahoney: Yeah, it’s really bad news. One in three older adults is going to go on to have a fall after the age of 65. And it costs our society—well, the cost is over $50 billion a year. And that number is about to double. In five years’ time, it’s going to be over $100 billion a year that we spend on falls.
The question I have is, why are we spending so much money on this? When we did our marketing and research to find out what’s currently available, we looked at things like the annual wellness visit that starts when someone turns 65—you know, the “Welcome to Medicare” visit. And yes, there are specific questions about falls. When you go to your doctor, they’ll ask, “Have you had a fall in the past year?” and “Do you have a fear of falling?” You check yes or no, and that’s it. You’ve now fulfilled the fall assessment for the annual wellness visit. But that’s not good enough.
The Need for Better Fall Assessment and Intervention
Especially when you think about older adults—those who are maybe 80 or 90 years old—who may also have cognitive complaints or impairments. They may not even remember whether or not they had a fall. So I said to myself, we have to do something better. We need a test—something so simple that anyone can do it, anywhere in the world, that acts as a window to the brain. And based on your performance, we could say, “You’re at high risk for a fall.” Then what are we going to do about that?
The answers are there. The CDC has large datasets on the best interventions for someone at risk, whether it’s Tai Chi, core strengthening, home safety evaluations, installing grab bars in the shower. The tools are there—we’re just not getting them to the people.
So what was really important for us when we put together CatchU was to use this scientifically based, 15-year-worth-of-work test, get it on the phone, and get it to the people. Let them take the test, answer some demographic and medical questions, and with that data, we use algorithms to determine the top 10 recommendations that a physician should give to that patient. And if they’re found to be at risk, we want them back in six months to see if they followed through and if anything has changed.
The hope is that it will—because the patients will realize, “Wow, I had no idea I was at risk for a fall. I took this 10-minute test. It says I am. I need to do something.” Hopefully, that motivates people. Everyone I talk to has a sad story—whether it’s a grandparent, family member, or neighbor—someone who’s had a fall that changed their life. So this is really important. I think you can tell I’m pretty passionate about it, and I’m hoping that we can be the ones to change the standard of care and really give people their independence back.
The CatchU Application: How It Works and Benefits Physicians
Phil Crowley: Can you tell us a little bit about your application? I know you have an app for the iPhone. How does it interact with the patient, and how does that information get to the physician treating the patient?
Patient-Doctor Interaction via CatchU App
Jeannette Mahoney: Sure. The current model is that the test is commercially available through the App Store. You can download it, but that’s about all you can do without a code. Let’s say, Philip, you go to your doctor for a general checkup, and your doctor says, “We should do this test, just in case.” That doctor would have a special code. You’d enter it into the app, and it would open up the test. That code links you to that specific doctor and ensures that the doctor gets your report as soon as you complete the test.
The test itself takes about ten minutes. You cradle your phone, and the bottom eighth of the screen becomes a gray area. You fixate on a cross, and when you see stars—either alone or in pairs—you respond as quickly as possible. The phone also vibrates, and you respond to that, too. It’s all about reaction and coordination. It’s simple, and all the data goes straight to your doctor in a fancy one-page report.
Streamlining Doctor Workflows and Reimbursement
We understand how busy doctors are and how much they need to get through in a 10- or 15-minute appointment. We didn’t want to give them more work. So we asked, how can we make this easy for them? How can this be a win?
We were able to find a telehealth reimbursement for providers. And we’re also talking to non-physicians—like personal trainers—who could use the test to assess whether someone’s at risk, and then move forward with a personalized training program to increase strength and mobility. The test can be used in various settings. The most common would be a doctor onboarding, using the special code, and either handling it via telehealth or, if reimbursement isn’t available, having the patient pay a small fee out of pocket. But it’s a small price to pay for avoiding a life-altering fall.
Securing Reimbursement: Key for MedTech Commercialization
Phil Crowley: That’s another capability that you’ve acquired—and something I think people in life sciences and medical product development really need to keep in mind: the work that you did to find a way to get the test reimbursed. Payment can be a sore point, and taking the steps to find a reimbursement code—or even working with CMS to create a new one—is essential. It ensures patients can afford the test or have it covered.
That speaks to the importance of having a holistic view of the process. And it sounds like the Westchester Accelerator helped you think that way. Have you entered any pitch competitions or similar opportunities to test your ideas and get them out there?
Jeannette Mahoney: Yes, we’ve entered a few—some are in the “no,” “some,” or “maybe” categories—but others look promising. I’ll share more when I know for sure. But one thing I wanted to say to your listeners is that what really stood out to me, Phil, was that one-hour talk we had before we became client and lawyer.
You really took the time to ask, “What do you think you have? Where do you want to go? How do you think I could be useful?” It wasn’t just, “I’m taking you on as a client.” You were interviewing me, too, to see if you could help. That moment established a lot of trust, and I felt really fortunate to have been selected to work with you.
Tips for Aspiring Entrepreneurs: Perseverance and Seeking Help
Phil Crowley: Thank you, Jeanette. I was a physics researcher, working in superconductivity—one of the technologies that helps make MRI scanners work. But as I was going deeper in my graduate program at Harvard, I realized I was getting about seven miles deep and only a half-inch wide. I wanted to have a greater impact and feel like I was helping people.
That’s why I admire people like you—people who have taken a personal story and built something that can help others. Many of the most passionate innovators in life sciences have a story like yours, where tragedy sparked action, and even though it’s scary, they move forward anyway.
Actionable Advice for Health Tech Innovators
Phil Crowley: Do you have any tips for aspiring entrepreneurs—anything from your experience that might help others on their path in life sciences or health tech?
Jeannette Mahoney: The biggest thing is: don’t give up. You need to persevere. If you have something, and you believe in yourself, and you’re surrounded by people who also believe in you, it would be a shame to give up when you’re so close. Even on the hard days, when you wake up and think, “Forget it, I’m done,” you can’t. You’ve got to push through and make your dreams a reality.
There are so many people willing to help—not just investors, but people who are generous with their time and knowledge. Being part of an accelerator can seem daunting—like going back to school—but it’s not just about learning. It’s about the opportunities and the doors it opens, the connections you make that keep paying off even five years later.
You’ve got to keep showing up. Be the first one in line to believe in what you’re doing. If you don’t, others will see right through it.
Phil Crowley: I’d add that one of your success factors has been your ability to reach out and ask for help. You’re constantly learning—not just in an academic setting but in a commercial one. There are different lessons and different people to learn from. And you don’t have to do it all alone. Just like you found Lori Lonsack.
Jeannette Mahoney: So lucky. And yes, don’t be afraid to ask for help. You’ll be surprised what you can learn. And if someone doesn’t know the answer but wants to help, they’ll find someone who does. It’s a long haul, but it’s worth it.
Phil Crowley: That’s terrific.
Conclusion and Resources
Phil Crowley: This half hour has really flown by. I’ve enjoyed this conversation so much and have great admiration for the work you’re doing. I wish you continued success.
For those of you listening, please subscribe to our podcast and visit our website, CrowleyLawLLC.com. Make use of our resources and remember—we’re here to help. Thank you.
Voiceover: Thank you so much. You’ve been tuning in to the From Lab to Patient, Garage to Market podcast with your host, Phil Crowley. You can find this show on all major platforms, including YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and our website, crowleylawllc.com. If you found this information helpful, please subscribe, leave a positive review, and share with others.
