Director of Clinical Programs — Jon Ide-Don

This week’s spotlight is on Jon Ide-Don, PT, DPT, a non-clinical physical therapist who is now Director of Clinical Programs for Medbridge!

What is your full name, title, and company name for your current, primary role?

Jon Ide-Don, PT, DPT — Director of Clinical Programs at Medbridge

Where are you located?

Seattle, WA.

Where did you go to PT school, and what year did you graduate?

University of California, San Francisco — San Francisco State University, graduated in 2009 with Master’s of Science in Physical Therapy and in 2010 with Doctorate of Physical Therapy.

What did you do when you first finished school, and for how long?

I practiced for 14 years in a variety of outpatient settings.

My first role was in a hospital-based outpatient clinic in San Francisco where I practiced for six years. I was simultaneously completing a mentorship and fellowship in Orthopedic Manual Therapy with the Kaiser Hayward (now Kaiser Northern California) program.

In what setting(s) did you work, and what types of patients did you treat?

I moved on to be a combination of a physical therapist, personal trainer, and CrossFit coach at San Francisco CrossFit for five years. I worked with CrossFit athletes, runners, triathletes, and everyday people looking to improve their health and fitness.  

My final chapter was co-founding and building a concierge private practice with my wife (who is also a physical therapist, pilates instructor, and personal trainer) that we ran for six years.

What did you enjoy about your early roles? What didn’t you enjoy?

Very early on, I loved the opportunity I had to continuously learn from people who were more experienced than I was. Both in the clinic, during the fellowship, and at the CrossFit gym, I constantly was exposed to different ways of thinking and practicing. That kept pushing me to seek out what else is out there, and ultimately led me to my role today.

The biggest challenge I had was a constant feeling of having to get better at the small stuff and not having enough time to really take a step back and re-evaluate on a more frequent basis. I felt pressure to keep pushing, take as many continuing education courses as possible, and become the best treating clinician I could be because that was what I thought you did as a PT. 

It wasn’t until I branched out of in-person care into virtual care and digital health that I realized how to leverage my skills and knowledge in new ways. That was something I had to learn the hard way.

What else have you done since then, prior to your current director of clinical programs role?

During my time working in the clinic, I also dabbled in teaching. I was a lecturer at UCSF—SFSU for a few years teaching orthopedic PT classes. I taught MobilityWOD seminars with Kelly Starrett and his team, and I co-developed a course with two close colleagues on strength and conditioning for PTs. 

Prior to joining Medbridge, I joined Hinge Health back when they were relatively small and played a bunch of different roles there over a five year period. I’m most proud of my time leading their clinical operations team, helping to stand up their first nationwide PT practice, and leading two teams of PTs who were internal consultants and subject matter experts for the product and commercial teams.

When and why did you decide to do something non-clinical?

I joined Hinge Health in October of 2019. I wanted to try out a different way of applying my skills and knowledge in a tech setting. Having spent the critical first 10+ years of my time in San Francisco practicing, I was constantly exposed to startups, people working in tech, and different ideas and entrepreneurs. 

I started at Hinge Health as a physical therapy consultant, which really gave me the chance to still be a “clinician” but in a truly non-clinical, tech-forward company.  I continued to practice one day a week for the first year of my time at Hinge Health, but I took the leap to full-time non-clinical work once I got my feet under me.

What are you doing these days?

Now, I lead Clinical Programs at Medbridge with our new product, Pathways. I oversee the team of clinical program managers. We’re responsible for the clinical effectiveness, clinical rigor, clinical safety, and ultimately the success of the clinical product.

We work closely with content production, product, design, customer success, commercial sales, and implementation teams to build clinical Pathways that are evidence based and patient centered.

Are you still treating patients, or are you solely non-clinical?

I am solely non-clinical.

How long have you been in your current director of clinical programs role?

January 2024.

How did you find your job? Did you apply or find it through a connection?

I found the job through LinkedIn and applied online.

How have people reacted to you leaving patient care?

Overall, people’s reactions have been ones of support and curiosity. The concept of being a clinician operating in a non-clinical role is still a new concept for most people, and they assume I’m treating until I tell them more about what my actual role and responsibilities are.

What’s a typical day or week in the life like for you? What types of tasks and responsibilities fill your time?

A typical day and week varies quite a bit, depending on what we’re working on as a team and company.

I spend a good amount of time collaborating with the product managers to guide and inform them on the product itself. I also spend a lot of time meeting with clients to understand their needs and to get feedback on the Pathways we’ve built or are planning on building next. I also meet with a lot of different leaders across the company to make sure we’re all swimming in the same direction and to get different perspectives on where they see challenges and opportunities for the product I’m focused on.

What are some of the rewards of your role? What are the biggest challenges?

Rewards: I get to still very much leverage my clinical expertise and knowledge but apply it in a brand new way. I’m still continuing to learn and grow, especially on the business strategy and product strategy parts of the job. I get to work with people who are really good at what they do and are extremely smart and resourceful. I also get to work from home most of the time, which is great for being able to walk my kids to school and be home most nights.

Challenges: Working in a tech-forward company is a very different context than treating. There are no hard boundaries to the day or work, and often I find myself thinking about work-related things late at night, while I’m running, and early in the morning. It takes discipline and constant awareness to make sure I stay focused on the things that are really important, both at work and outside of work.

How did your clinical background prepare you for this role? Which skills transferred?

My role is unique in that I still very much use my clinical knowledge and expertise on a daily basis. I utilize clinical decision making, leverage my direct patient care experience, and dive into the research a few days per week to help our teams make better informed decisions.

Ready to launch your own non-clinical career?

What type of person do you think would do well in your director of clinical programs role?

First and foremost, you need to be adaptable, flexible, and able to handle constant changes in priorities and workflows. This is just par for the course at any company that is looking to build a new product or launch a new service. 

Secondly, you have to be willing to take risks and learn really quickly. Failures will happen, and you will learn every day, but taking that and finding a new solution to move forward is critical for the job. 

Finally, you need to be very proactive and excellent at communicating with others. In a remote environment and with cross-functional teams, Slack, Google Meet, and Google Docs are the way you get things done. The clinical background and expertise are table stakes for this role—bare minimum that you know your stuff.

Do you work remotely or onsite?

I work remotely.

Did you read any books, take any courses, or do anything special overall to get you where you are today?

I started my own practice, which was very much a trial by fire. I read a lot of different books and blogs over the years. The ones I’ve found particularly helpful were:

• Building a Clinical Team in a Large Technology Company (an article in The New England Journal of Medicine written by Karen DiSalvo, Chief Medical Officer at Google)
• The Making of a Manager by Julie Zhuo
• Greg Lehman’s course: Reconciling Biomechanics with Pain Science. This course taught me a framework for thinking about clinical treatment of people in pain that scales up and down so well.
• Permission to Move by Dave Moen. Just a great book that finally made me understand pain neuroscience education after years of just not getting it.
• Becoming a Supple Leopard by Kelly Starrett. This book taught me how to think in frameworks and translate really complex concepts into clear strategies and ideas for non-clinicians.

What is a typical career path for someone in your director of clinical programs role?

Honestly, there is no typical career path for a role like mine. The only path I can think of is to pursue different opportunities as they come, especially in ways that flex your brain in ways that are not treating patients, and see what sticks.

What is next for you? What are your high-level career aspirations?

I want to keep growing within my role at Medbridge and within the profession as a whole. 

I feel fortunate to have had the opportunities I’ve been given so far, and I want to continue to elevate the role of clinicians within non-clinical settings.

Growing and leading teams of clinicians in tech companies is a privilege, and I hope to continue to do that with ever-higher levels of impact.