Meet Dr. Giovannie Jean-Louis
Dr. Giovannie Jean-Louis brings a grounded, purposeful energy to every space she enters. Her approach to healthcare blends clinical expertise with a deep awareness of how people’s stories, backgrounds, and lived experiences shape their outcomes. She speaks with clarity and intention, rooted in a commitment to ensuring that no community is overlooked in the research and systems that influence their health. Her work reflects both her mastery as a clinician and her belief that real progress begins with truly seeing the people we serve.
Dr. Giovannie Jean-Louis carries a calm certainty about why she does the work she does. A neuro-disability physiotherapist by training and the co-founder of PROBr, she is driven by a simple belief: people deserve to be seen in treatment rooms, in research studies, and in the systems that decide their health outcomes.
Early Journey
Giovannie’s path began far from the world of tech and research infrastructure. She started with a bachelor’s degree in health at Florida International University in Miami, then crossed continents to pursue a master’s in physiotherapy in Glasgow. Later, she completed her doctorate in Pennsylvania before building her clinical career across the NHS and private sector in the UK.
It was in these settings moving between neuro-disability, respiratory care, and community practice that she began to understand how fragmented healthcare could be.
“I learned a lot about fragmentation in many specialties of healthcare and how research is needed in all aspects,”
Her work showed her the gaps, but it also revealed how hungry patients were for answers, for options, for better outcomes.
The Turning Point
The idea for PROBr wasn’t born in a boardroom. It came from observation, empathy, and the repetitive heartbreak of watching preventable harm.
“What drives my work are the constant publications of underserved people being misdiagnosed, dying from preventable conditions,”
Those stories real people with names, families, histories — stayed with her.
Small affirmations became defining moments: the University of Cambridge signing on as an early customer, interviews on BBC Manchester Radio and ITV News, and messages from patients who finally saw a way to participate in research that felt accessible to them. “Many patients have found hope and interest in wanting to participate in studies. This made me want to pursue this project even more,” she says.
Yet the path into entrepreneurship wasn’t smooth. Being a woman — particularly a woman of color — added layers of friction.
“Being a female founder is difficult because of unconscious bias and having to prove yourself more than your male counterparts,”
Convincing institutions to adopt a new solution meant constantly showing why a more inclusive system wasn’t optional — it was overdue.
Still, humility and persistence anchored her. She describes her motivation as a loop she returns to again and again:
“Remembering why I am doing what I love… it keeps reigniting that motivation.” And on days that felt heavy, she drew strength from the people around her. “healthcare workers that show up every day with the purpose to make their patients feel seen and heard.”
Their Work Today
Today, PROBr is her way of rebuilding a part of the system she once navigated as a clinician. The platform connects people from diverse communities to research studies, ensuring that the treatments of tomorrow are shaped by the people who will truly use them. It’s simple by design — a research matchmaking tool that removes intimidation and replaces it with transparency and choice.
For Giovannie, the mission is both technical and deeply human. She wants to reduce stigma around research participation, expand representation, and support the breakthroughs that only inclusive data can produce. “Success for me would mean I helped put more emphasis on representative treatments,” a quiet but powerful vision for a different kind of healthcare future.
Closing Reflection
Giovannie is clear-eyed about growth — both personal and professional. “Life is not linear,” she says.
“Embrace every turn, every diversion because it will lead you to where you are meant to be.”
In her work, those turns have led her toward a purpose she continues to build with steadiness, conviction, and an unwavering belief that equity in healthcare isn’t an aspiration, it’s a responsibility.
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