Good morning! Cynthia Fisher will inherit her husband's stake in the company that brews Samuel Adams, Lara Trump removes herself from the running for Florida senator, and Fortune’s Ellie Austin covers a founder's efforts to democratize nutrition.
- Food matters. We all know that healthy eating leads to better health outcomes. So in her work as a dietician at Mount Sinai hospital in New York City, Vanessa Rissetto had a big question: Why wasn’t insurance paying to help people eat better and avoid expensive procedures and costly management of chronic conditions?
During her time at Mount Sinai and later, as the dietetic internship director at NYU, Rissetto became passionate about making nutrition care not only more financially accessible, but also more culturally inclusive. In 2020, she cofounded Culina Health, a virtual nutrition startup, with Tamar Samuels, a dietitian and former student of Rissetto’s. The pair had one goal: to deliver high-quality, culturally competent care to patients across the country, regardless of their income level. “We wanted to democratize access to the dietitian and we wanted to normalize using your health insurance to do it,” says Rissetto.
Patients can approach Culina directly or via a referral from a physician. They are then matched with a dietitian based on their goals and personal needs. Next comes an initial consultation via the company’s online platform where patients are asked about their lifestyle, history, and relationship with food. “What happened to you as a kid?” says Rissetto. “What do you like? How do you work? Do you have $20 at the end of the week to pay for groceries?” This process results in a personalized care plan, punctuated by regular check-ins with the dietitian for accountability, that aims to improve a patient’s diet and overall confidence in navigating food choices.
Fast-forward almost five years and the company has 90 clinicians that have served over 10,000 patients. Earlier this month, it announced a $7.9 million Series A funding round led by Healthworx, CareFirst’s innovation and investment arm. Revenue has also more than doubled year-on-year: “Last year we ended at $3 million and this year, we’re ending at $6.5 million,” Rissetto says.
Culina Health operates in all fifty states and accepts all commercial insurance and Medicare, Rissetto says. (It does not accept Medicaid because doing so would result in “very low” margins for its dietitians who conduct sixty minute sessions and are paid “above market” rates, she says.) According to the Commission of Dietetic Registration, more than 80% of registered dietitians in the United States are white. The breakdown of Culina’s employees, however, is deliberately far more representative of the general population. “Our clinician base is 42% Caucasian and then the rest is diverse on purpose,” says Rissetto. The company’s patient base skews female and is made up of about 40% people of color. While weight loss is a priority for many, others are seeking preventative care for conditions such as heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.
The new influx of funding will help the company improve its user experience and technology so that clinicians have “less admin time, more time with patients,” says Rissetto. She also wants to raise awareness of its work in rural communities. Ultimately, she hopes that Americans of all backgrounds will come to see visiting the dietitian as a nonnegotiable part of their well-being. “You go to the physician once a year. You go to the dentist twice a year,” she says. “You go to the dietitian twelve times a year and the dietitian will be in contact with your physician for you. That’s really the goal.”
Ellie Austin
ellie.austin@fortune.com
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