Empowering patients to influence what matters most to them
Our company story
Meraki means doing something with so much love and devotion that you leave a piece of your soul in it. As key online influencers (koi’s), our patient experts offer pieces of their souls in the form of advice and support for millions of patients online every day.
Our story began in 2012
We were both working in the pharmaceutical industry helping teams to tap into the wide range of conversations, that patients worldwide were having online. We set-up multi-language databases of patient conversations in multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, and lung cancer.
Communites & Discussions
We discovered that most patient communities and discussions were tightly knit around key online influencers – patients who were actively present, moderating forums, answering questions and sharing their own stories. But this feedback didn’t find it’s way back into healthcare companies.
Our idea for merakoi was born. In 2016 we founded our company to integrate patients’ voices into healthcare companies critical business decisions.
Social Impact
As a company we aim to pursue both purpose and profit. We thus measure our success both in terms of our commercial as well as social impact.
To deliver on our social impact goals, we partner with patient advocacy groups, academia and non-for-profit institutions to :
• provide an independent, neutral training ground for patients to become experts
• help build beneficial healthcare solutions for patients.
Silja Chouquet
Basel, Switzerland
Silja’s fields of expertise are the creation of patient-focused social media communications and marketing campaigns.
She built a solid track record as a consultant and line manager in the healthcare industry with over fifteen years of experience.
She worked for major pharmaceutical companies, where she held senior positions in sales, strategic planning, market research and business intelligence.
Silja successfully ran her own social media strategy agency, whydot for almost ten years, serving Global healthcare clients in Europe and the US.
Silja started her career as a senior consultant at Mercer Management (now Oliver Wyman) and holds a BS in International Business and Marketing from Georgetown University in Washington DC and an MBA from INSEAD.
Kevin Michels-Kim
Zurich, Switzerland
Kevin’s field of expertise includes patient engagement and digital strategy in healthcare.
Kevin has 20+ years of experience in technology and innovation roles across the product development and commercialization lifecycle in major pharmaceutical companies (Roche, Merck & Co).
He is co-founder and product commercialization lead of merakoi. As practice lead, he integrates merakoi’s global network of data-informed patient experts in the development of patient-beneficial healthcare solutions.
Kevin holds a BA in Economics and Computer Applications from University of Notre Dame and a MSc in International Business and Diplomacy from Georgetown University.
