MHA Candidate Meghan Weihmuller Creates Children’s Health Startup PediaBright

12/13/2021

As a first-year Master of Health Administration candidate, Meghan Weihmuller was looking for a way to foster health literacy while incorporating innovation and health equity. With this in mind, Weihmuller started the children’s health-focused startup, PediaBright.

The focus of PediaBright is to advance communication in children's healthcare while supporting children on their journey to health. Oftentimes when children are diagnosed with a health condition they have trouble comprehending what they are going through.

My goal is to foster progress in health care delivery, ultimately growing a culture of community wellness and health equity,” she said.

PediaBright creates communication materials, such as children’s story books, designed to aid children in their understanding of complex health conditions.

These story books provide pediatric patients with the opportunity to relate to characters who have the same health condition as them.

These communication materials address a gap in communication between pediatric providers and patients, ultimately leading to children having a deeper understanding of complex health care conditions and improving health literacy.

The first children’s book series is centered around Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). PediaBright’s CKD series will be available for purchase on Amazon and Kindle in early 2022.

Weihmuller found that pursuing a career that she's passionate about makes work exciting and engaging, but it can also lead to the need to address work-life balance.

“I would encourage everyone, especially those interested in founding a startup company, to set and enforce boundaries between your work and personal life. Allowing yourself time and space to recharge is key to being a resilient leader,” she said.

College for Public Health and Social Justice

The Saint Louis University College for Public Health and Social Justice is the only academic unit of its kind, studying social, environmental and physical influences that together determine the health and well-being of people and communities. It also is the only accredited school or college of public health among nearly 250 Catholic institutions of higher education in the United States.

Guided by a mission of social justice and focus on finding innovative and collaborative solutions for complex health problems, the College offers nationally recognized programs in public health, social work, health administration, applied behavior analysis, and criminology and criminal justice.