Dare to Disrupt Episode 8 – Gaming your Health with Litesprite Founder Swatee Surve

In 2013, Swatee launched Litesprite, a health tech startup developing award-winning digital therapeutic purpose-driven games for chronic conditions. Litesprite has the mission of destigmatizing mental health issues and removing barriers to the tools people need.

In this episode, Swatee talks about how her love for interdisciplinary fields, or “mashups,” grew, starting with her biomedical engineering studies in undergrad. She discusses the difference between gamification and creating a full game experience. Litesprite’s flagship clinically-validated mental health mobile game, Sinasprite, provides players with a full game experience, including a storyline and an animated character, Socks the Fox, who guides players through each game interaction. She also shares success stories from individuals who have used Sinasprite and seen positive results in their mental health. 

At the end of the episode, Jeff Brozena, a graduate student at Penn State studying informatics, joins the conversation. He is working on an app to help identify personalized early-warning signs in financial data from individuals with serious mental illnesses. Brozena talks to Surve about the importance and usage of data in the mental health industry, as well as the concept of readiness, both on a personal and professional level. 

Episode Chapters

0:00 – 11:30 Finding passion at the intersection of technology and healthcare

11:30 – 18:32 Industry experiences at Eastman Kodak and Nike

18:32 – 25:13 Founding Litesprite

25:13 – 31:37 A mental health game designed for adults

31:37 – 34:56 The story the data tells

34:56 -40:54 Accessing the app

40:54 – 51:50 Student section

About Swatee Surve

Swatee Surve is the founder of Litesprite, a health tech startup developing award-winning digital therapeutic purpose-driven games for chronic conditions. She received her MSME in Control Systems and Biomechanics from Penn State. 

Download the full episode transcript

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Dare to Disrupt is a podcast about Penn State alumni who are innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders, and the stories behind their success. Learn more.