Lyra Health’s Connie Chen stands out as a compelling and dynamic leader in the health-tech world, blending clinical precision with strategic vision. As the CEO & CMO of Lyra Health, Connie Chen channels her expertise in internal medicine, technology, and healthcare delivery to transform access to mental health services. In this profile, we explore her early life, education, leadership approach, and the decisive ways she is shaping Lyra’s future.
Early Life and Education
Born to Taiwanese immigrant parents, Connie Chen grew up within a family steeped in medicine her maternal grandmother was Taiwan’s first female anesthesiologist, and her paternal grandmother built a business from scratch after fleeing Communist China. These powerful influences stories of courage, resilience, and pioneering spirit shaped her worldview profoundly.
Connie earned a BA in Economics (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from Harvard University, also completing a health-policy certificate. She then pursued her MD at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), followed by internal medicine training at Stanford Hospital. Today, she serves on UCSF’s Board of Overseers, reinforcing her deep ties to academic medicine.
Career Trajectory and Lyra Health Role
Connie began her career in health technology: she worked at HealthTap (2010–11) and served as medical director of StartX (2012–13). In 2012, she co-founded Vida Health, serving as its Chief Medical Officer until late 2017. Her leadership there paved the way for a move to Lyra Health, where she became Chief Operating Officer and Chief Medical Officer around 2018 and continues in that dual role, overseeing clinical, product, and operational strategy.
At Lyra, she plays a central part in shaping how the company blends clinical care with digital tools to deliver evidence‑based mental health support. She leads the design of Lyra’s “blended care” programs a combination of in-person therapy with digital resources while ensuring Lyra’s provider network operates at the highest standards.
Publications and Thought Leadership
A physician deeply committed to innovation, Connie Chen has published widely on frameworks for mobile health, comparative effectiveness research, and digital care delivery in top-tier journals such as JAMA, Archives of Internal Medicine, and the Journal of Medical Internet Research. Her work blends clinical rigor with health-tech insights, reflecting her dual identity as doctor and innovator.
Leadership Style and Vision
Connie cultivates a leadership ethos grounded in authenticity and empowerment. In a Lyra blog post, she shared how her grandmother’s fearless spirit encouraged her to “persevere” through startup challenges. She also emphasized self‑trust and resilience while urging women leaders not to let others define their path.
Her leadership at Lyra shines in its human‑centered approach: she balances operational excellence with empathy, ensuring Lyra’s growth is powered by both smart strategy and clinical integrity.
Impact at Lyra Health
Under her stewardship, Lyra has scaled rapidly serving more than 15 million people globally through leading mental health services powered by AI provider‑matching, personalized care plans, and outcomes‑focused delivery. Independent, peer‑reviewed research shows that Lyra’s model can help users recover twice as fast compared to traditional approaches.
As COO & CMO, Connie drives this mission aligning operations, product, and clinical teams and steering Lyra’s blended care models to meet each user’s unique needs.
Authenticity, Expertise, and Future Growth
What makes Lyra Health’s Connie Chen such a powerful figure in health-tech leadership is her ability to marry clinical credibility with operational vision. She isn’t just a medical expert; she’s a strategist who understands how to scale innovation in healthcare without losing sight of patient outcomes.
Her authenticity rooted in personal history, academic excellence, and a clinician’s heart resonates deeply. Her voice has been featured in Forbes Business Council, where she writes on ROI in healthcare and workplace mental health, bringing insight and clarity to complex issues.
Looking ahead, Connie is poised to lead Lyra through expanding workforce mental health demands, new product innovations, and further integration of digital care.
Redefining Leadership
Lyra Health’s Connie Chen is a powerful leader who embodies thoughtful, clinician‑led innovation. From early inspiration by trailblazing grandmothers to earning top honors at Harvard, UCSF, and Stanford and steering care model transformation at Lyra her journey is both inspiring and impactful. Whether for employers looking to support mental health or for students watching career paths unfold, her story is a testament to the real change driven when vision, empathy, and strategy unite.
