Smitha Gudapakkam: From Postpartum Isolation to Empowerment

Today we’re getting Under the Hood with Smitha Gudapakkam a mother, daughter, sister, women’s advocate and the Founder of Sakhee, a women's health startup on a mission to transform postpartum care for mothers—a period she believes deserves far more attention and resources than it currently receives.Born in Southern India, where she earned her Bachelor's in Biomedical Engineering from Osmania University, Smitha moved to the United States to pursue her Master's in Biomedical Engineering from Syracuse University, followed by an MBA from Babson College. This combination of engineering, business, and international education gives her a unique ability to solve complex problems while building scalable solutions.With over 17 years in healthcare innovation, Smitha has worn many hats—from developing medical devices at Boston Scientific and Covidien to raising over $50 million in grants as Director of Business Development at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, where she expanded quality improvement initiatives across the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. Through her work at eClinicalWorks, the leader in ambulatory care Electronic Medical Records systems, Smitha gained a deep understanding of the internal workings of the US healthcare system while leading EMR implementations across multiple outpatient networks. Her international healthcare experience extends even further through her work at Massachusetts General Hospital's Global Health Department, where she played a pivotal role in growing the Consortium for Affordable Medical Technologies (CAMTech) Program. This initiative took her across India and Uganda, where she witnessed firsthand the stark disparities in maternal healthcare access and quality—experiences that would fuel her passion to improve women's health.Smitha’s own postpartum journey after childbirth was isolating and revealed a critical gap in maternal care. To truly pursue her passion for postpartum care, Smitha became a postpartum doula herself. This hands-on experience provided her with direct insight into both the systemic healthcare challenges and the deeply personal needs of mothers during this vulnerable time. Sakhee has evolved into a Medicaid-approved provider for postpartum support and is actively developing an integrated care model for comprehensive postpartum care.If you haven’t already, please give us a quick review and rating on Apple podcasts and Spotify and don’t forget you can follow us FaceBook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.