# Farid Vij

> Farid Vij is the co-founder and CEO of Citizen Health, a San Francisco startup building an AI Advocate for patients living with rare and complex conditions. He turns fragmented medical records, genetics, and lived patient experience into proactive guidance families can act on. Before Citizen, he co-founded Ciitizen in 2017, sold it to Invitae, and ran its patient-data business. He is a Wharton graduate who believes patients, not systems, should own and benefit from their own health data.

- **Role:** Co-Founder and CEO at Citizen Health
- **Organizations:** Citizen Health, Ciitizen, Invitae, ZL Technologies
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** BS, Finance and Entrepreneurship, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
- **Known for:** Co-founded and sold Ciitizen to Invitae, reported at around $325 million., Built Citizen Health to 60+ engaged patient communities across 123 rare and complex conditions., Partnered with 70+ patient advocacy groups, roughly 70% of which joined organically.

## Career timeline

- **pre-2017** — Early employee at ZL Technologies, an enterprise SaaS company focused on big data management for the Fortune 500, holding commercial and operational roles.
- **2017** — Co-founded Ciitizen to give cancer patients seamless access to their own medical data.
- **2018** — Co-founder Nasha Fitter joins; the company pivots toward rare and complex disease.
- **2021** — Ciitizen acquired by Invitae (reported around $325 million).
- **2021-2023** — Served as President and General Manager of Invitae's patient network and data business.
- **2023** — Invitae divests the platform; Vij and Nasha Fitter co-found Citizen Health.
- **2024** — Citizen Health officially relaunches with a $14.5M seed round led by Transformation Capital.
- **2025** — Raised $30M Series A led by 8VC; first AI Advocate launches to select communities in Q3.

## Achievements

- Co-founded and sold Ciitizen to Invitae, reported at around $325 million.
- Built Citizen Health to 60+ engaged patient communities across 123 rare and complex conditions.
- Partnered with 70+ patient advocacy groups, roughly 70% of which joined organically.
- Achieved a 98.3% data-sharing consent rate among patients on the platform.
- Distributed over $1 million in value back to patients from commercial data use.
- Citizen Health data accepted by the FDA for regulatory submission.
- Raised a combined $44M+ in venture funding since the December 2023 launch.

## Latest updates

- **2025-08** — Citizen Health raised a $30M Series A led by 8VC to build an AI Advocate for every patient.
- **2025-Q3** — First version of the AI Advocate launches to select patient communities.

## Links

- Website: https://www.citizen.health
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/faridvij
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@citizen.health

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/farid-vij
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-12