My work in action.

“Jillian Ahrens's creation of the Thanksgiving patient program will be one of the most impactful experiences and memories from my career.”

Going beyond the product.

Organizational leadership

Visionary Leader Driving Patient-Centered Innovation and Collaborative Excellence

Jillian is one of the most passionate & impactful design directors I've ever had the privilege of working with. During our time together at Pear Therapeutics, Jillian created engaging + inclusive user experience for our patients living with substance use disorder using her unparalleled skills as a visual and interaction designer. Then, she grew into a profoundly influential design leader -- managing a team of designers, researchers, and patient advisors to build entirely new experiences that elevated the patient dignity + improved health outcomes for people using our digital therapeutics. Along the way, Jillian connected our entire organization to its sense of purpose. She was strategic in pushing for initiatives that had an impact on both the quality of our patient experience and bottomline revenue for the organization, proving to all of us that our organization would always be most successful when it did right by our patients. Yes, Jillian is a strategic and powerful design leader. But, most of all, I will always remember her for her kindness.

Caricia Catalani
Google Design Leader | Public Health Scientist | Rabble Rouser
Jillian is the exemplar of Pear Therapeutics’ mission of “innovating for patients.” We have collaborated on multiple pivotal projects. As a leader, she always skillfully selected talent and fostered both project-wide and company-wide cultures of cohesion, collaboration, and trans-departmental exchange of expertise. Jillian possesses the impressive ability to ground innovative UX strategies in behavioral science, clinical mechanisms of action, and patient feedback, while not losing sight of patient outcomes and business goals. Jillian is multitalented, ingenious, and resilient. She can conquer any task thrown her way, from filmmaking and script writing to translating clinical strategies into effective human-centered designs and digital therapeutic functionalities. Above all, she has the exceptional ability to empathize, connect and communicate her deep care for patients. During our work together, she continuously advocated highlighting the voices of patients and the stories of providers to reduce stigma and chip away at the barriers to treatment. I am honored to have her as a dear colleague and a friend, and I firmly stand behind my evaluation of her professionalism and skills.

Mariya Petrova, LMHC, PhDMariya Petrova, LMHC, PhD
Clinical Director, Addiction
Jillian is an accomplished design practitioner and people leader with insatiable curiosity and extraordinary empathy. She’s able to frame the unmet needs of users into stories that resonate better than anyone else I know. As a colleague in an adjacent business area, I could always count on Jillian to provide a new perspective and insightful feedback on any kind of problem, from program strategy, to research analysis, to stakeholder buy-in. I admire Jillian’s ability to visualize complex problems — providing both a big picture vision but also articulating the details to get to that vision in ways that bring others along. Jillian is passionate, highly creative, and awesome to work with. She’s one of those rare individuals that immediately build rapport with others and become a vital part of any team that’s lucky enough to have her.

Lauren (Dumm) McAteer, CCXP
Director of Customer Success Strategy & Ops at Pear
Jillian is an exceptional product leader and expert in human-centered design who excels at blending technology and creative thinking to drive innovation at the heart of the healthcare experience. As her direct report, I have witnessed the leadership, partnership, mentorship, and care she invests into every person and product that crosses her path. During our time working together, she has shown an unwavering dedication to my personal and professional growth and created incredible opportunities for me to stretch and learn and fail and succeed and grow in ways I could not have imagined. For her teams, Jillian creates an environment of deep psychological safety where we can freely share our wildest ideas, ask hard questions, and even challenge her thinking without fear of negative consequences. Jillian’s deep empathy (for her teams and her customer alike), spirit of innovation, and unwavering ambition shine brightly in everything she does, making her a beacon of optimism, possibility, and innovation on every team she is a part of.

Rebecca Getto
Senior Product Manager, Thrive Global