Ellen Rudolph is the CEO and co-founder of WellTheory, a digital health company that is revolutionizing the way consumers with autoimmune disorders receive care. Today, the more than 50 million Americans who suffer from an autoimmune disorder face an incredibly fragmented experience, leading to many years of misdiagnosis, limited access to specialists, and reactive, symptom-suppressing care. WellTheory seeks to reimagine this process by bringing evidence-based clinical programming, personalized coaching, and AI-powered tools that address root causes and not just the symptoms. Prior to founding WellTheory, Ellen led Product at Oscar Health and at Everlane.

Could you share a little bit about your childhood background?

I grew up as a curious, independent kid who caught the entrepreneurial bug early—both of my parents were entrepreneurs, so that mindset was modeled for me from a young age. I was the kid who resold my mom’s clothes on eBay for a profit. I loved building things, experimenting, testing ideas, and seeing what worked.

When we were young, my cofounder (and sister!) Claire and I actually started our first “company” together in elementary school: Backyard Fun Camp, a summer camp we ran for kids in the neighborhood. We pooled together our babysitting clients, charged a small daily rate, and ran all kinds of activities in our backyard (face paint was my forté!).

Sports, especially playing competitive soccer growing up, shaped a huge part of who I am. That environment taught me discipline, teamwork, punctuality (or else: sprints), and the value of work ethic.

Those early experiences gave me both the resilience and the systems-oriented mindset that later became essential as I spent nearly a decade navigating unexplained autoimmune symptoms. I didn’t know it at the time, but my childhood laid the foundation for how I build, lead, and approach problems today through experimentation, iteration, and a relentless drive to figure things out.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

For most of my childhood, I wanted to be a professional soccer player. That was the dream. I lived and breathed the sport, and Mia Hamm was my idol. I watched her obsessively, read her autobiography front to back more times than I can count, and truly believed I could follow the same path if I worked hard enough.

When I landed at Stanford, that ambition started to evolve. I studied engineering, and specifically product design, which taught me how to take complex problems and build solutions that people actually want and use. It was the first time I saw how creativity, rigor, and empathy could come together to create real impact. I fell in love with the process of identifying a problem, forming a hypothesis, testing it in the real world, and iterating quickly—and that ultimately sparked the desire to one day start a company.

What inspired you to start WellTheory with your co-founders?

WellTheory was born out of personal necessity for us. In my own health journey, I spent many years navigating a fragmented healthcare system while living with unexplained autoimmune symptoms, experiencing firsthand how lonely, expensive, and inefficient the process can be. When I was eventually diagnosed, it became clear just how broken the system was and how many patients like me were being left to navigate it alone.

Finding a root-cause, whole-person approach that helped me reclaim my health changed everything. It also made the gap impossible to ignore. I became determined to build something that made this kind of care accessible and affordable for others.

Along the way, I connected with my co-founders, Claire and Wallace, whose lives had also been shaped by autoimmune disease. We shared a simple but powerful belief: autoimmune patients deserve better—better answers, better support, and better outcomes. That conviction has guided WellTheory since day one.

How is WellTheory’s approach differentiated, and what excites you most about the future of the company?

WellTheory is differentiated because we’re one of the only companies building a care model designed specifically for the complexity of autoimmune disease. Autoimmune conditions don’t fit neatly into specialties, which is why they’re so often missed, misdiagnosed, or treated piecemeal.

We approach autoimmune care by starting at the root cause and treating the whole person, not a collection of disconnected symptoms or body parts. Autoimmune disease impacts everything—from digestion and hormones to energy, mental health, and daily function—yet the traditional system treats each issue in isolation. Our model is designed to look across those systems, understand how they interact, and address what’s actually driving symptoms, not just where they show up.

On top of that, we bring true autoimmune specialization. Our care team members are trained specifically in autoimmune pathophysiology, nutrition, and behavior change—expertise that remains incredibly rare in traditional healthcare given the complexity of these conditions. That combination of whole-person, root-cause care and deep autoimmune expertise is why our members see meaningful improvements in symptoms, quality of life, and reduced total cost of care.

What excites me most about the future is how AI is finally making personalization and always-on support possible. Autoimmune patients need guidance between appointments, not just during them, and until now, the system wasn’t set up to deliver that level of continuity. AI changes the equation entirely because it allows us to scale high-touch support without sacrificing quality, anticipate needs earlier, and tailor interventions to each individual in ways that would have been impossible even a few years ago. The combination of deep human expertise with intelligent, adaptive AI gives us the ability to deliver the right support at the right moment at scale. To me, that’s the future of autoimmune care, and it’s why I’m so energized about what we’re building.

What is your superpower?

My superpower is my perseverance and grit. As a kid, I was very stubborn—if someone told me something couldn’t be done, I immediately wanted to prove otherwise. Maybe it’s the youngest child in me, but that instinct has followed me into every chapter of my life.

My autoimmune journey required that same level of persistence. I had to keep pushing for answers when the system repeatedly told me “nothing was wrong,” and giving up was never an option.

Company-building is similar. You get told “no” a million times. Whether it’s investors, partners, advisors, or people weighing in from the sidelines, someone always has a reason why something won’t work. My instinct is to listen to the feedback, absorb what’s useful, and keep going. I don’t get paralyzed by rejection; I get motivated by it.

It’s that combination of stubbornness, curiosity, and disciplined problem-solving that enables me to stay focused through ambiguity and keep moving forward, even when the path is steep at WellTheory.

Are there any specific books or podcasts that have had a significant impact on your personal growth or leadership style?

Definitely. I’m constantly learning, and a few books and podcasts have meaningfully shaped how I think about leadership, company-building, and even our care model at WellTheory:

• Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara — In this book, Guidara talks about how world-class experiences are created through intentionality, surprise-and-delight moments, and doing things that don’t scale. It really influenced how I think about bringing elements of hospitality into healthcare (which is so direly needed!) and in particular, making our member experience feel warm, human, and deeply cared for.
• Atomic Habits by James Clear — I love this book because it’s essentially a blueprint for behavior change, which mirrors our philosophy at WellTheory. Sustainable autoimmune care isn’t about massive overnight transformations—it’s about small, compounding shifts that are shaped by systems, accountability, and iteration. That philosophy is core to how we help members build momentum over time.
• Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman — A needed recalibration around time, focus, and what actually matters. It’s a humbling reminder that our energy and attention are finite resources and that saying “no” is often the most strategic decision.
• Podcast: The Founders Podcast — I’m fascinated by how iconic companies and leaders were built, and this podcast is basically a masterclass in disciplined execution and long-term thinking. Shoutout to my cofounder Wallace for introducing me to it!

What’s one piece of advice you would offer to other healthcare startup CEOs navigating today’s challenges?

Look for the win–win–win because in healthcare, that’s the only way anything truly scales.

The system is complex and full of stakeholders with competing incentives. If your solution only works for one party but creates friction for another, it won’t sustain. The companies that break through design models where everyone benefits: patients see better outcomes, employers and health plans reduce costs, clinicians feel supported rather than burdened, and the business becomes stronger as a result.

Once you understand the incentive landscape, you can design a strategy that works with the system instead of fighting it in the wrong places. It shifts the question from “How do I sell this?” to “How do I create value that compounds across the entire ecosystem?” which creates a much more durable approach.

Pair that with staying relentlessly focused on the problem you’re solving. Healthcare is full of noise—complex regulation, long sales cycles, economic uncertainty, and endless people telling you “no”. But if you build something that meaningfully improves people’s lives, aligns incentives, and creates shared value, you’ll successfully find your way through the system.

And, just as importantly: take care of yourself. Company-building in healthcare is an endurance sport. The way you manage your energy, make decisions, and support your team shows up in the culture you build and the outcomes you deliver. Walking the walk is part of the work.