Understanding Dying

A shared decision-making platform for clinicians, patients, and families, replacing crisis-driven end-of-life care with the care people actually want.

  • Stage Full Product Ready
  • Industry Digital Health
  • Location San Francisco, CA, USA
  • Currency USD
  • Founded April 2026
  • Employees 8
  • Incorporation Type C-corp
  • Website understandingdying.com

Company Summary

Understanding Dying is a shared decision-making platform for the moment healthcare handles worst: serious illness and the end of life. One deployment serves clinicians, patients, and families in the units where those decisions concentrate: ICU, ER, and oncology. Builders, clinicians, and forty years at the bedside, now piloting with founding partners including Northwell Health, MUSC, OSF HealthCare, UVA Health, and Shellpoint.

Team

  • Eric Verkerke

  • Timothy Short
    Founder & Clinical Lead

    Palliative Medicine at University of Virginia. Previous Hospice Chief Medical Officer. Board-certified in family medicine, hospice, and palliative care. Former UVA Health faculty. Developer of the UD/ADLS curriculum. Deep network of national palliative care and end-of-life leaders and experts.

  • Kelly Short
    Head of Product & AI Strategy

    Data platforms and data-science systems across a career in enterprise software in regulated industries, with recent focus on generative AI (Master’s, UC Berkeley). Applies technologies with human-centered design at the core.

  • Terri Maxwell
    Clinical Operations & Strategy

    Healthcare strategist & advisor, expert in palliative, hospice, & value-based care. Former founder, chief clinical officer, head of clinical education, director of research, & Advanced Practice Oncology Nurse.

  • Chirag Patel
    Head of Engineering

    Engineering & compliance partner.
    HIPAA, SOC 2, security, & responsible AI governance. Partners with multiple exits & product/market scale in remote patient monitoring, nurse recruiting, & point of care education.

  • Chris Otto
    Head of Security and Compliance

    Engineering & compliance partner.
    HIPAA, SOC 2, security, & responsible AI governance. Partners with multiple exits & product/market scale in remote patient monitoring, nurse recruiting, & point of care education.

Advisors

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