2024 Distinguished Alumna

Dr. Ann Jarris is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer for Discovery Health MD, a medical services company for remote worksites. She is a Board-Certified Emergency Medicine physician formerly at Swedish Medical Center. Ann has a passion for remote medicine and telemedicine, seeking to integrate innovative technologies into healthcare and to drive health information into the hands of the consumer. She believes medicine is ready for a more proactive approach.

After attending Forest Ridge, Ann earned her undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College where she majored in Drama and Art History. She then attended medical school at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and completed her Emergency Medicine residency at the University of Arizona. She practiced as an Emergency Medicine physician for over 15 years, with experience in rural and remote settings. She is a Diplomat of the American Board of Emergency Medicine, a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians and received her Masters of Business Administration at Seattle University.

As a business owner, she guided her company through explosive growth during the COVID pandemic, growing from 8 employees in 2019 to over 300 in 2022. Her company was a pioneer in COVID testing, working with the Pacific Northwest and Alaska seafood industry to develop the initial protocols for occupational testing and COVID response in March 2020. This work led to the development of a platform for COVID travel testing and for employers to manage workforces. Through partnerships with the Port of Seattle, SEA airport, and the Washington Department of Health, Discovery Health MD operated 8 sites for community testing and vaccination statewide and 7 travel testing sites in the Puget Sound area in addition to mobile teams assisting with COVID vaccination, testing, and treatment for vulnerable communities.

Ann’s passion for remote medicine and travel has led her to sail as expedition physician with trips to Antarctica and the Arctic. She served as a physician for Oceangate Expeditions on their manned submersible dives to the Titanic for the past three years and just completed a five-month sailboat journey through the Northwest Passage on a 60-foot steel schooner.