This week’s spotlight is on Jenna Chase, DPT, a Non-Clinical 101 graduate who is now Senior Product Manager, Population Health Management at Medical Guardian!
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What is your full name, title, and company name for your current, primary role?
Jenna Chase, DPT — Senior Product Manager, Population Health Management at Medical Guardian
Where are you located?
Philadelphia, PA.
Where did you go to PT school, and what year did you graduate?
Arcadia University, 2007.
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If you’re a Non-Clinical 101 student, you can network with many of our spotlight participants in the alumni groups!
What did you do when you first finished school, and for how long?
When I first graduated, I worked in hospital-based outpatient. This position exposed me to inpatient acute as well as inpatient rehab, which I’m very thankful for. I worked here for about a year until I decided I wanted to focus on the geriatric population.
In what setting(s) did you work, and what types of patients did you treat?
Throughout my clinical career, I worked primarily in outpatient orthopedics but also spent a good amount of time in skilled nursing. I treated primarily adults and all your typical outpatient orthopedic ailments.
In the skilled nursing facilities, it was also your typical case mix. Along with being a clinician in these settings, I took on management roles.
What did you enjoy about your early roles?
I loved my coworkers! We always had so much fun together. I also really loved watching patients progress and hit big and small milestones in their recoveries.
What else have you done since then, prior to your current role?
Since those early clinical roles, I also spent time as a director of rehab, a consultant, a telehealth physical therapist, a director of clinical product and a customer success manager.
When and why did you decide to do something non-clinical?
Honestly, I was really tired of all of the complaints from patients. I found that after listening to their complaints all day, I didn’t have much left to offer to friends and family, and I didn’t like that.
I started considering non-clinical options in late 2019/early 2020. I was seeing more and more how broken our healthcare system was, and I wanted to be part of the change to improve our healthcare delivery. I believed I could make a bigger impact outside of the clinic.
What are you doing these days?
Currently, I’m working as a product manager for Medical Guardian. I work to develop the software used by clinicians, primarily nurses, to provide remote patient monitoring. The goal is to provide a platform that is a more encompassing population health management tool.
Are you still treating patients, or are you solely non-clinical?
I am solely non-clinical.
How long have you been in your current senior product manager role?
Since March 2025.
Did you get any special certifications or training along the way to help you get into your current role?
After deciding I didn’t want to do full-time direct clinical care any longer, I started with the Non-Clinical 101 course. It really opened my eyes to how many career paths are out there for those with a rehab background. It also really helped me build my resume and craft it for the non-clinical world.
Plus, you’ll get early access to curated non-clinical job listings and a bonus lesson on AI!
Beyond that, I did a good amount of reading but no other specific courses.
How did you find your job? Did you apply or find it through a connection?
I found it on LinkedIn.
Did you do anything special to your resume and cover letter to land the job?
I crafted my resume to highlight my experiences and skills that were pertinent to this specific role.
What was the interview like for the senior product manager role?
The interview was three rounds—first with the human resources representative, then the hiring manager. The third round was one-on-one conversations with the hiring manager, the Chief Operations Officer, and the Chief Commercial Officer.
How have people reacted to you leaving patient care?
When I first stepped away from direct patient care into telehealth, most people didn’t really understand what I did. Now that I’m in a more common role, people think it is pretty cool that I’m applying my clinical background to this non-clinical role.
What’s a typical day or week in the life like for you? What types of tasks and responsibilities fill your time?
Typically, my days are filled with meetings and product development tasks. Some days, I’m working on building out the roadmap while other days I’m focused on the specifics of the requirements for a particular feature.
As a product manager, I am always working cross functionally to ensure the product is going in the direction it needs to and to ensure open communications optimizing output.
What are some of the rewards of your role? What are the biggest challenges?
One of the most rewarding moments is when you see the planned feature or function come to life. A lot goes into planning a particular feature and how it is designed, so when it gets to the final stage of testing and release it is very rewarding.
One of the biggest challenges is prioritizing, particularly because often every team member believes their request is the most urgent.
How did your clinical background prepare you for this role? Which skills transferred?
Clinical knowledge is very important in my current role. Just understanding clinical workflows and medical information allows me to make better choices about the product development.
As for specific skills, one of the biggest crossover skills is multitasking and prioritizing in a busy environment.
Roughly speaking, how are the hours and pay compared to patient care?
I probably work a bit more hours than I did in patient care, but I typically don’t do nights or weekends. On average, I would say the pay is greater than in patient care.
What type of person do you think would do well in your senior product manager role?
Someone in this role needs to be comfortable handling multiple projects at one time. Additionally, they need to be someone who can navigate various personalities and communicate effectively in different ways so that there is as much alignment as possible.
Do you work remotely or onsite?
I work in a hybrid position, three days remote and two days in office.
Does your organization hire PT, OT, or SLP professionals into non-clinical roles? If so, what type of roles?
They don’t specifically seek them out, but they aren’t averse to it.
Did you read any books, take any courses, or do anything special overall to get you where you are today?
I read a lot of articles. Following particular people and groups on LinkedIn helped keep me abreast of developments in the field. I also read Productize which was a very helpful book.
What is a typical career path for someone in your senior product manager role?
That is hard to say because I think people step into these roles in different ways. I don’t know any other PTs, OTs or SLPs in a product manager role. Often the path is started as the lowest entry level and then worked up to higher positions.
What is next for you? What are your high-level career aspirations?
I’m not sure about that yet! I love working in product and strategizing the development. So maybe I’ll continue towards Chief Product Officer!
What would you recommend to someone who is considering going into a role like yours? Do you have any special words of wisdom for the readers?
Start by really looking to understand why you want to leave clinical care. I think “burnout” is a very broad term. Oftentimes, there are things that you still love about patient care and other parts that are just really weighing on you. Look into those bright spots and use them to help guide you into your next role.
Beyond that, continue talking to people and exploring opportunities. You never know where a conversation will lead or what you may discover in certain opportunities or experiences.
