Heidi Forbes Öste Keynote Speaker

Behavioral scientist and pioneer in social technology with 25 years of experience in human connection and digital innovation
Founder and CEO of WHOLE, a brain longevity platform advancing women's healthspan
Host of the Evolving Digital Self podcast

Heidi Forbes Öste's Biography

Dr. Heidi Forbes Öste is a behavioral scientist and pioneer in social technology who has spent 25 years designing platforms that harness human connection to solve real-world problems. From early work in social strategy consulting with Fortune 500 brands to founding 2BalanceU in 2005, her career has consistently explored a single question: How does technology amplify what humans do best together?

That question now focuses on women’s healthspan. She is the founder and CEO of WHOLE, a D2C brain longevity platform that leverages peer connection and AI-driven personalization to extend cognitive health in midlife women. Built on the FINGER trial framework and her proprietary CHAINS taxonomy, WHOLE recognizes what research confirms: women’s health compliance and outcomes improve dramatically when supported by community, not isolated tracking.

The platform’s buddy system is not a retention feature. It is the mechanism for both better health outcomes and longitudinal behavioral-wellness data capture—the missing dataset women’s health research desperately needs in Q3. By centering human connection within technology rather than around it, WHOLE generates the rich, longitudinal data that individual wearables and apps cannot.

Dr. Forbes Öste combines 25 years of social strategy consulting and scholarly research in human behavior with credentials as a RYT-500 Yin yoga teacher, Brain Longevity Specialist (ARFP), and behavioral researcher. She hosts the Evolving Digital Self podcast, writes the Midlife, Together Substack on healthspan, and operates Valhalla d’Oc, an applied research and healthspan retreat center in Languedoc, France.

A systems thinker and humanist, her talks provide action-based frameworks for organizations, technology teams, and health innovators seeking to design for human flourishing, not just engagement.

For Health & Wellness Conferences:

Why women’s health technology fails without the relational layer: designing for community, not compliance
Social connection as a primary longevity intervention: leveraging peer support for cognitive health in Q3
Capturing the missing dataset: longitudinal health data through community-centered platforms
From digital wellbeing to brain longevity: 25 years applying social technology to health outcomes

For Tech & Innovation Audiences:

Human connection as infrastructure, not feature: reimagining social technology for health impact
Building platforms women actually stay with: behavioral science + community design
AI, personalization, and peer accountability: the next generation of health tech
Ethical use of behavioral science and data in women’s health applications

For Leadership & Organizational Development:

Social technology as a systems solution: lessons from 25 years scaling human connection
Designing for healthspan in the workplace: why employee wellness requires community scaffolding
Women’s health equity and technology: why the data gap matters for your organization

For Academic & Research Institutions:

Longitudinal health data collection through engaged communities: new methodologies for women’s health research
The CHAINS framework: integrating behavioral science, neuroscience, and social technology for cognitive resilience
Research-to-product: pathways from FINGER trial science into scalable health interventions

25-year track record building platforms that prioritize human connection
Bridges technology design with neuroscience and behavioral health
Founder/CEO launching a consumer health app — an active, credible innovator, not just a theorist
Active researcher and thought leader in women’s healthspan
Platforms for ongoing thought leadership, including Substack, podcast, and retreat center
Speaks fluently to both tech audiences and health/wellness leaders