Meet the Makers: Luis Serota

Welcome to our Meet the Makers series, in which we introduce you to some of the great tech talent we’re lucky to have at Cedar.

This month, let’s meet Luis Serota.

Role: Tech Lead

Location: New York, NY

Joined Cedar: 2019

My work background:

I began my undergraduate career on the pre-med track as a biology major. But after deciding to take a chance on an introductory computer science course that piqued my interest, I was immediately consumed and never looked back. I tripled up on computer science courses and spent more free time than any college student should building web apps for orgs around campus. (Funnily enough, one of those projects involved building a custom EHR for the student EMT group I was a member of.)

I went on to pursue a master’s in computer science and founded a startup upon graduation. After raising a small seed round, my co-founders and I spent the next two years building a digital platform for speech therapy. Having gone to speech therapy myself for many years growing up, this project was about as close-to-home and personal as it gets. We developed a technology that would allow patients to receive feedback on the accuracy of their speech in real-time, and built a product around it that gamified the traditionally monotonous speech therapy experience.

Why I’m at Cedar:

Thanks to my experience building a healthcare startup, I realized that my biggest priority was to work for a company with a mission to improve the patient experience. I also knew it was important to join an organization that prioritized the development of its engineers— where I would have the opportunity to work closely with engineering leaders and be mentored by them.

As soon as I walked into the Cedar office for my interview, I knew I’d found what I’d been looking for. It just felt right. Nearly 3 years later, I can say that Cedar has offered me everything I’d been hoping for and more.

What I do here:

I’m the tech lead on one of the engineering teams on the pre-visit pillar. As you can guess from the name, the pre-visit pillar owns and drives the development of products that engage with patients prior to their visit with their provider.

A typical day for me:

It usually involves collaborating with our world-class product and design teams on the greenfield features we’ve got cooking, dedicating focus time to ship new code and supporting the engineering team in as many ways as I can.

My favorite Cedar memory:

My fondest memories at Cedar have been when one of our engineering leaders has taken an unnecessary amount of time out of their day to sit down with me and work through a technical challenge. These supportive, collaborative sessions speak to our engineering culture and how important it is to invest in the team.

Weird fact about me:

I was a ballboy at the U.S. Open in high school. One time, I fell flat on my face at the service line chasing a ball down during an internationally televised match. Federer didn’t even bat an eye.

What excites me most about Cedar’s mission:

I love Cedar’s hyperfocus on providing transparency and effortless actionability to a space that’s otherwise difficult to navigate. All of us have experienced that challenge with the healthcare system, and it excites me tremendously to work on solutions. It’s always rewarding to get positive feedback from friends and family who have benefitted from our products.

My favorite company value:

It’s got to be “Apply a Growth Mindset.” Cedar has undergone tremendous scale, and this value has allowed us to be incredibly resilient through all this rapid growth. Because of how foundational this value is to our culture, I’ve always been confident that Cedar’s positive impact on the patient experience at scale has never been an if—but a when.

Current projects:

We’re working to redefine what it means to engage with your provider before your visit. Our priority is to offer an experience that’s as frictionless as possible so patients can breeze through any administrative burdens and providers can focus on delivering high-quality care. The features I’m most excited about building are real-time validation of patients’ insurance eligibility, and a dynamic check-in experience driven entirely through text message.

For a closer look at one of our newest features, check out this blog post by our very own superstar, senior product designer Ollie Khakwani.

______________________________

Interested in working at Cedar? Check out our current job openings here.