Mahad.
User Research Leader and Product Thinker
I lead user research at Included Health, connecting member insights to business outcomes. Previously Managing Partner at Gobee Group, working globally on healthcare innovation and social impact.
Hi, my name is
About Me
I lead user research at Included Health, where I shape product strategy by connecting member insights to business outcomes.
At Included Health, I’ve led discovery for our first new product in three years (achieving 5/5 member satisfaction), transformed research operations to deliver 4x volume at 54% lower cost, and defined multi-year strategies for flagship products addressing $40M+ opportunities. My work spans strategic product innovation, operational excellence, and cross-functional leadership across clinical, product, and design teams.
Before Included Health, I served as Managing Partner at Gobee Group, a boutique global design consultancy. Over 13 years, I managed strategy and vision for 60+ projects across 25+ countries, working with organizations including Microsoft, UNICEF, the World Bank, and the Clinton Health Access Initiative on medical devices, health data products, and technology solutions.
PhD from UC Berkeley with Fulbright research in Egypt.
Core Competencies:- User Research & Strategy
- Product Discovery
- Research Operations
- Cross-Functional Leadership
- Healthcare Innovation
- Human-Centered Design
- Global Health Technology
- Stakeholder Management
Experience
Senior Staff UX Researcher
-
Included Health
August 2025 - present
Promoted to Senior Staff role. Lead user research across organization. Member of product leadership group.
- Led discovery for company’s first new product in three years (Cancer Support Program), achieving perfect 5/5 member satisfaction
- Transformed research operations: 4x volume increase, 54% cost reduction, top 10 globally by study volume
- Defined multi-year strategies for flagship products addressing $40M+ opportunities
- Built research infrastructure enabling evidence-based decision making at scale across organization Research Stack: Maze • Marvin • RallyUXR • Sprig
Staff UX Researcher
October 2022 - August 2025
Focused on internal Care and Clinical teams. Member of product leadership group.
- Led foundational research that created new internal tool stack (Care App)
- Spearheaded 0-1 revamp of multiple service lines including Claims and Concierge Referral services
- Launched product satisfaction tracking surveys across Care and Clinical teams
Managing Partner
-
Gobee Group
2009 - 2022
Managed boutique global design consultancy focused on human-centered innovation in healthcare and social impact.
- Set corporate strategy and vision for 13 years
- Led 60+ projects across 25+ countries
- Worked with Microsoft, UNICEF, World Bank, Clinton Health Access Initiative
- Developed medical devices, health data products, and technology solutions
- Managed multidisciplinary teams across global engagements
Chief Technology Officer
-
Cell-ED
2013-2015
Built foundational business and technology strategy for mobile-first adult education platform serving low-literacy, low-resourced learners.
- Architected location-agnostic micro-learning model delivering 3-minute lessons via any mobile device, even without internet
- Developed scalable platform strategy enabling education delivery through basic phones, smartphones, tablets, and computers
- Created technology framework that proved to accelerate learning by 84% (later validated through randomized controlled trials)
- Established product vision and technical foundation still in use today, serving tens of thousands of adult learners nationwide
- Platform has since won Library of Congress Literacy Award (2016) and Harvard Kennedy School Top 25 Innovations Award (2017)
Education
2002 - 2009
Ph.D.
University of California, Berkeley
Dissertation: “Peeling the Onion: The Case of the Information Technology Club Project in Egypt”
Fulbright Scholar, Egypt. Conducted fieldwork examining technology adoption and social change.
2000 - 2002
Master of Information Management and Systems (MIMS)
University of California, Berkeley
Masters project: Street Stories - a location-based mobile application to gather and present place-based oral histories
Featured Projects
Product Discovery
0-1 Innovation
Member Research
Cancer Support Program
Led end-to-end discovery for Included Health's first new product in three years—a comprehensive Cancer Support Program for members facing cancer diagnoses. Achieved perfect 5/5 member satisfaction across all metrics through extensive member research including 20+ interviews and unmoderated testing sessions. Introduced new platform capabilities including in-app caregiver support and direct provider messaging that now serve as foundation for future product development. Gained CEO-level recognition for innovation and member-centric approach.
Strategic Vision
AI Innovation
Product Strategy
Care & Case Management for the AI Era
Spearheaded comprehensive discovery and strategic vision for major overhaul of Care and Case Management product—a flagship offering addressing $40M+ market opportunity serving high-complexity members who account for 40% of healthcare costs. Delivered transformative 2-year product strategy through rigorous research including 10 member interviews, 20 stakeholder interviews, 60 survey respondents, and 20 unmoderated testing participants. Created vision for AI-driven care delivery with projected 40-50% efficiency gains for clinical teams and ROI improvements from 1.6:1 to 3:1. Strategy received strong executive endorsement with CEO pushing team to "think even further out."
Operations
Research Infrastructure
Scaled Impact
Research Operations Transformation
Led comprehensive overhaul of Included Health's entire User Research technology stack to dramatically scale research capabilities and reduce operational friction. Delivered 4x increase in member research volume (200+ moderated interviews, 400+ unmoderated tests) while reducing costs and timelines. Achieved 68 studies completed annually, placing Included Health in top 10 companies globally according to Maze. Reduced insight development time from 4 hours to 30-60 minutes (4x efficiency gain) and cut cost per moderated study from $1,300 to $600 (54% reduction). Transformed organizational research capability with new research repository, User Research CRM, and expanded toolset for only $20,000 net additional cost.
Analytics Strategy
AI Integration
Cross-functional Leadership
AI-Powered Product Health Measurement
Conceived and led implementation of comprehensive measurement strategy to monitor essential journeys across web and mobile applications. Built measurement framework combining usability metrics, effort scores, journey analytics with qualitative questions and AI-moderated discovery interviews. Coordinated implementation across Legal, Security, IT, Engineering, General Management, and Design teams. Partnered with Sprig to create new organizational capability for real-time product health monitoring. Launching January 2025 to measure flagship product release with company's largest client.
Achievements
Facebook Hackathon Winner
Developed a product using Artificial Intelligence.
Microsoft Imagine Runner
We are developed a product which can help others.
Get in Touch
My inbox is always open. Whether you have a question or just want to say hi, I’ll try my best to get back to you!