Stephanie Ostroff is a speech-language pathologist and journalist. She enjoys blending knowledge from both fields to shine a light on innovators and changemakers in health care.
Vu Van, MBA, MHCI '24, is growing a digital health program that delivers innovative insulin therapy faster
About 1 in 8 Americans has diabetes. Of those, an estimated 25% require insulin therapy. But for many, quick access to effective treatment is out of reach. A national shortage of endocrinologists leaves diabetic patients waiting months for appointments. And, once they connect with a specialist, logistical barriers often delay therapy.
Vu Van, MBA, MHCI '24, and his team at Sequel Med Tech are rewriting that narrative. In 2026, they began piloting SequelConnect. The digital health program puts cutting-edge insulin therapy into the hands of patients sooner, with the potential to save lives and reduce health plan costs by more than $18,000 per year per member.
The wraparound digital health service is designed to help people with diabetes easily access and adopt Sequel Med Tech’s Automated Insulin Delivery (AID) system, called twiist™. Approved by the FDA in 2024, twiist™ provides a multi-pronged approach to insulin management to fill gaps in the traditional health care system. It identifies insulin-dependent patients with high costs of care, provides education about AID systems, offers virtual support, and delivers direct-to-home or through retail pharmacy. The program relies on partnerships with health plans, employers, health care networks, and telehealth providers.
[The MHCI] helped me build the confidence and knowledge.
Vu became National Director of SequelConnect the year he obtained his Master of Health Care Innovation (MHCI) from Penn. The broad health care innovation experience he gained in the MHCI, he says, prepared him for his role designing and launching a game-changing digital health solution.
“Most of the time you get siloed into a specific role,” he says. “But I have my hands in everything. I build it. I sell it internally. And then I go out and find the partners and sell there as well. It’s kind of like another MHCI project.”
Piloting a diabetes management solution
In early 2026, Vu forged a partnership with one of the largest health care networks on the West Coast to trial SequelConnect.
The pilot, called Project Octopus due to its many arms, includes patients with Type 1 diabetes. The goal is to formulate a standard, replicable process, while considering risks, opportunities for improvement, and scalability.
Vu had built custom programs based on existing ones at digital health companies Livongo and Transcarent. As an early hire at Sequel Med Tech, he helped develop Project Octopus from scratch.
“[The MHCI] helped me build the confidence and knowledge,” he says. “I know the full end-to-end process, so I see the whole product. I know each part of the sequence and what needs to be done.”
One arm of the diabetes management program involves direct contracting with health care systems to make the twiist™ AID system available at on-site pharmacies, reducing the lag between doctor’s visits and therapy.
Another arm provides virtual training for clinic staff and patients, so they’re ready to use the device the day of their appointment. Education is crucial, since the twiist™ is built on new technology. It uses acoustic volume-sensing to act as an artificial pancreas, determining and delivering the precise amount of insulin needed.
For people with diabetes who require insulin, the program increases awareness and access to high quality therapy sooner. The effects could ripple across the health care system. SequelConnect predicts use of the digital health service will result in an avoided hospitalization rate of 80%.
I thought I was going to sell. The program helped me become a builder. I can do my core role better because I know the whole health care system.
Scaling impact
Vu is working to build more partnerships with health care systems, health insurance providers, and employers. In doing so, he leverages his understanding of stakeholders’ pain points—such as health care costs and risk aversion—to communicate value.
“That's one of the biggest challenges,” he says. “Just to find the innovative thinker to get on board and try it out.”
He hopes to partner with telehealth endocrinologists and primary care physicians. Both offer more efficient pathways to diabetes management in the face of long waitlists for in-person specialists. Often, Vu says, primary care physicians feel uncomfortable prescribing a complex medical device like twiist™, but SequelConnect has the potential to change that.
“It takes the risk away from primary care because we are supporting them and offering specialized back-up,” he says. “They oversee it while we support questions.”
While twiist™ is currently FDA-approved for Type 1 diabetes, Sequel Med Tech will seek approval for Type 2 patients, increasing the program’s potential impact. As he works to expand the program, Vu is also expanding his reach as a health care innovator.
“I didn’t think I was going to do something like this,” he says, reflecting on his career before the MHCI. “I thought I was going to sell. The program helped me become a builder. I can do my core role better because I know the whole health care system.”