Arad’s story
Arad Cohen-Halls is the founder of Wellrun, a health tech and practice-efficiency company, and the co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Found Health. Holding both an MSc and an MSc Med, she has a deep understanding of the impact of disease on the human body.
Her MSc Med in Medical Biochemistry from the University of Cape Town (UCT) was a laboratory-based degree, focused on identifying novel compounds produced by indigenous bacteria that could prevent HIV infection in women with Bacterial Vaginosis. Here she mastered the skills of microbiology, virology, pharmacology and extensive research. This work sparked an interest in public health, specifically for women living in Sub-Saharan Africa, and led her to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) to complete an additional MSc.
Her MSc in the Control of Infectious Diseases at LSHTM had a strong focus on disease epidemiology, transmission patterns, designing disease-prevention programmes and medical anthropology. Her thesis highlighted the gaps in the quantitative and qualitative tools used to measure well-being in those who menstruate in low-to-middle income countries. This sparked a profound passion for women's health, resulting in Arad becoming the Director of Product Development and Strategy at OSKE Wellness, a sexual health and wellness company in South Africa.
Arad entered private healthcare through medical writing, as the medical writer for the UK's first preventative healthcare clinic. There she progressed to Scientific Affairs Manager, overseeing patient data management systems and all medical and scientific content delivered to clients, ensuring the treatments offered were scientifically sound, and managing a multidisciplinary team of GPs, physicians, nutritionists, physiotherapists and psychologists.
After returning to South Africa, Arad became a Scientific Affairs consultant, offering her services to private GPs, private hospitals such as One Welbeck, and healthcare start-ups in both South Africa and the UK. Working as a consultant, she developed a firm understanding of the scientific foundations needed to build a healthcare company, and joined the Found Health team for her passion, skills and expertise. That same combination of clinical rigour, medical writing and hands-on practice management is exactly what Wellrun is built on.
Kayla’s story
Kayla Gischen-Sherman is the co-founder of Wellrun, where she combines scientific expertise with a passion for clear communication and thoughtful healthcare systems. Holding an Honours degree in Human Genetics from the University of the Witwatersrand and a Master’s degree in Human Nutrition from the University of Pretoria, she has built her career around one central idea: making complex medical information easier to understand and easier to use.
From the beginning of her career, Kayla has been fascinated by the gap between scientific knowledge and everyday practice. While research has the power to improve lives, its impact depends on how well it is communicated. That belief led her into medical communications, where she found her passion for transforming complex evidence into content that supports clinicians, empowers patients and improves healthcare experiences.
Over the years, Kayla has worked with pharmaceutical companies, healthcare agencies and private healthcare organisations across South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States, creating patient education materials, clinical reports, scientific content and educational resources across a wide range of therapeutic areas. Working across different healthcare systems gave her a deep appreciation for the role that clear, consistent communication plays in improving patient care and helping healthcare teams work more effectively.
Through this work, Kayla also gained firsthand insight into the unseen administrative demands placed on healthcare professionals. She saw how inconsistent documentation, repetitive writing and inefficient systems consumed valuable time that could be better spent with patients. Rather than viewing communication as the final step in healthcare, she came to see it as an essential part of delivering better care.
That perspective became the foundation for Wellrun. Together with Arad, Kayla is helping healthcare practices simplify documentation, improve communication and build smarter systems that give clinicians more time to do what they do best: care for people.
