Rasi Wickramasinghe
If there’s one word that captures the arc of my life, it’s “pivot.”
I’ve pivoted across oceans, disciplines, and mindsets—sometimes by design, often by accident, and always with purpose. Born in Sri Lanka, I was the kind of kid who could quote medical textbooks and win a debate tournament in the same breath—a proud nerd with a loud laugh and a love for stories, science, and strategy.
I met Chalinda—my co-founder at Healthy Inc.—back in middle school when I was about eleven. We bonded over marathon debate preps, where we’d flip topics on their heads with verbal gymnastics and sheer audacity. Our friendship became the throughline of my life’s story, even when I accidentally followed him to America. He had started college in Atlanta, and I had already started med school in Sri Lanka when I was unexpectedly awarded a full scholarship to Stanford— Oh yes, and I kid you not, I had forgotten I had applied for it. Sometimes the universe has a sense of humor. I pivoted.
Stanford taught me how to think big. I just didn’t know how to bet big. When a roommate invited me to join a little startup (now called Google), I declined. Risk felt too risky. So instead, I took the “safe” path and earned an MD/PhD at Johns Hopkins, diving headfirst into developmental neuroscience—and falling in love with both the brain and my future wife. Neurology felt like my destiny.
Then she got sick.
And just like that, my path changed again. I decided I wanted to be more doctor than scientist, and Cardiologist than Neurologist. Each pivot felt less like leaving something behind and more like carrying everything forward.
Eventually, after training in Cardiology and Interventional Cardiology at Penn, I traded the temperate coast for the muggy humidity of Texas, where I joined the faculty at The University of Texas Medical School. For six years, I tried to do it all: teach, research, heal, lead. But I needed something more agile, more integrated. Another pivot to administration brought me to Houston Methodist where I now lead the Cardiovascular Service Line and direct Translational Research while still seeing patients, performing procedures, and making an impact every day.
On the rare weekend, when I sometimes have time to breath, I also cook a mean curry, love creating and watching movies, and once built a coffee table out of reclaimed wood just because I wanted to figure it out.
Healthy Inc. is my latest—and perhaps boldest—pivot. It is the pivot where my past and future converge, and it lets me scratch two lifelong itches: working with my childhood friend on something that matters, and finally stepping into the world of entrepreneurship I once shied away from. This time, I said yes.
Today, health and wellness is the fastest growing consumer segment in the world, yet our health data is fragmented, siloed and alienated. At Healthy, we are bringing clarity to that chaos. I’m super excited to create a platform (with some amazing people like Arjuna, David, Pradeeban and Forrest) that empowers people to truly own their health—not just through better data, but by creating an ecosystem that translates this noise into insight, and individual health into global transformation.
In my clinic I help one person at a time. With Healthy, I can help millions.
This is the shot I’m taking. And I’m all in.
