Apple's Health Team Reportedly Facing Disagreements Over Direction, Leading to Some 'High-Profile Departures'

Apple's health team has faced a series of "high-profile departures" in the past year due to internal disagreements about direction, according to CNBC's Christina Farr, who cites multiple people familiar with the matter.

ecg watch person
The report explains that some Apple employees feel the company could be taking on more ambitious health-related projects like a telemedicine service or simplified insurance billing, while others are satisfied with Apple's focus on wellness and prevention like its ECG app for the Apple Watch:

Tension has been increasing in the health care team in recent months, according to eight people familiar with the situation, although that undercurrent started several years ago. Some employees have become disillusioned with the group's culture, where some have thrived while others feel sidelined and unable to move their ideas forward. Four of the eight noted that some employees hoped to tackle bigger challenges with the health care system, such as medical devices, telemedicine and health payments. Instead the focus has been on features geared to a broad population of healthy users.

The report acknowledges that it is unclear if the attrition rate within the health team is higher than that of other teams at Apple, so part of this could be normal day-to-day differences in opinions and turnover that a large company faces.

When the ECG app for the Apple Watch was unveiled last year, the report claims that some employees were "frustrated" by the negative reaction from some doctors and others in the medical industry, as these employees are said to have pushed for a "small and focused product launch" that would have involved gathering feedback from the medical community to reduce any potential pushback.

Apple did, however, secretly invite cardiologists and other medical experts to its headquarters in California every six months or so while the ECG app was under development, according to the report.

A recent employee morale survey within Apple's health team apparently "showed signs of discontent," leading Apple COO Jeff Williams to speak with several employees to address their concerns. Williams has overseen the health team at Apple for several years, including development of the Apple Watch.

Leadership changes also may have contributed to some of the recent departures.

Below Williams, the health team's leadership is said to include former Adobe executive Kevin Lynch, who is said to oversee software projects like Apple Health Records; Eugene Kim, responsible for Apple Watch hardware, and Sumbul Desai, who oversees the ECG app, Apple Heart Study, and heart health strategy.

Most of the employees who left the health team worked under Desai, per the report:

Other high-level departures from the group over the past few years are Robin Goldstein, who was at Apple for more than two decades and most recently worked on the regulatory side of health before leaving in late 2017; Anil Sethi, a former Apple Health director who left to form a health-tech start-up in late 2017; Stephen Friend, a top Apple researcher who departed at the end of 2017; Charles Schlaff, who worked on Apple Watch before moving over to special projects and left in November of 2018, according to LinkedIn; Craig Mermel, who was in engineering at Apple Health and left to join Google Brain this February; and Yoky Matsouka, who was brought in to lead health but left after less than a year in 2016 and is now a vice president at Google.

Despite the reported struggles, Apple's health team has accomplished a lot over the past few years, including the potentially life saving ECG app for the Apple Watch and Apple Health Records. Apple CEO Tim Cook has said these health efforts will be the company's "greatest contribution to mankind."

Popular Stories

AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Friday April 18, 2025 5:16 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
iphone 17 air dummy unbox therapy

iPhone 17 Air's Extreme Thinness Demoed in New Video

Tuesday April 22, 2025 10:22 am PDT by
Apple plans to release an all-new super thin iPhone this year, debuting it alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We've seen pictures of dummy models, cases, and renders with the design, but Lewis Hilsenteger of Unbox Therapy today showed off newer dummy models that give us a better idea of just how thin the "iPhone 17 Air" will be. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be ...
iphone 17 dummies sonny dickson

iPhone 17 Air Almost as Thin as Its Buttons, New Images Show

Thursday April 24, 2025 2:14 am PDT by
If you missed the video showing dummy models of Apple's all-new super thin iPhone 17 Air that's expected later this year, Sonny Dickson this morning shared some further images of the device in close alignment with the other dummy models in the iPhone 17 lineup, indicating just how thin it is likely to be in comparison. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be around 5.5mm thick – with a thicker ...
ipad air windows 11 arm

M2 iPad Air Runs Windows 11 ARM via Emulation, Thanks to EU Rules

Tuesday April 22, 2025 5:01 am PDT by
A developer has demonstrated Windows 11 ARM running on an M2 iPad Air using emulation, which has become much easier since the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulations came into effect. As spotted by Windows Latest, NTDev shared an instance of the emulation on social media and posted a video on YouTube (embedded below) demonstrating it in action. The achievement relies on new EU regulatory...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 13 New Features

Wednesday April 23, 2025 8:31 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday April 17, 2025 4:12 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
iOS 18

iOS 18.5 Includes Only a Few Changes So Far

Monday April 21, 2025 11:00 am PDT by
Apple seeded the third beta of iOS 18.5 to developers today, and so far the software update includes only a few minor changes. The changes are in the Mail and Settings apps. In the Mail app, you can now easily turn off contact photos directly within the app, by tapping on the circle with three dots in the top-right corner. In the Settings app, AppleCare+ coverage information is more...
iPhone 17 Air Pastel Feature

iPhone 17 Air Launching Later This Year With These 16 New Features

Thursday April 24, 2025 8:24 am PDT by
While the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" is not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the ultra-thin device. Overall, the iPhone 17 Air sounds like a mixed bag. While the device is expected to have an impressively thin and light design, rumors indicate it will have some compromises compared to iPhone 17 Pro models, including only a single rear camera, a...

Top Rated Comments

cknibbs Avatar
74 months ago
Come on people... just open up the “Breathe” app...
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Baymowe335 Avatar
74 months ago
This is life in corporate America.

This is the biggest non story ever.

That said, I’d agree that moving heavy into billing, insurance, or other nitty gritty healthcare related endeavors is questionable.

The healthcare industry is a cluster. Apple needs to focus on the information, tracking, and features aspects to healthcare. Not billing patients and providing insurance benefits. That’s a cluster.
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NMBob Avatar
74 months ago
I'm starting the rumor that some people in management wanted to have Micky Mouse tap his foot in synch with your heart rate. Worker Bees didn't like that.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple Knowledge Navigator Avatar
74 months ago
Too many Chiefs, not enough Indians
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rogifan Avatar
74 months ago
I’d much rather see Apple expand in the health space than original TV content.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mannyvel Avatar
74 months ago
The problem with the healthcare industry is that everyone talks about better healthcare, but the principals involved don't want to change their behavior. That includes everyone: Providers (Doctors), Payers (insurance companies), and Patients (you and me).

In any case Apple isn't in a position to advocate for change in the healthcare space, so kudos to management. As a platform company they should be an enabler, and they're doing that quite well.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)