Courtney Williams launched Emagine Solutions Technology’s AI-enabled pregnancy app to address Arizona’s maternal health crisis, driven by her own postpartum preeclampsia scare that nearly cost her life. The Journey Pregnancy app, released in early 2024, helps pregnant women track vital signs like blood pressure and heart rate in real time, with an AI-powered assistant called Aria providing 24/7 support and emotional guidance through pregnancy and the postpartum period.
Williams’ personal crisis—a blinding headache, chest pain, and severe swelling that struck days after she came home from the hospital with her newborn—inspired the app’s design. “I didn’t want anybody else to go through that,” she said in a recent interview. “I didn’t have visibility into my blood pressure trends. If I’d had something to monitor my symptoms, I would’ve been able to see the trends.”
Arizona faces a severe maternal health crisis. The state’s maternal mortality rate stands at 30 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, significantly above the national average. Arizona ranks 39th out of 49 states for maternal health outcomes, and rural communities face particularly acute challenges—women in some areas must travel over two hours each way to access maternity care.
The Journey app addresses these gaps by enabling remote monitoring and providing accessible health information. When vital signs fall outside normal ranges, the app alerts users to check again, then directs them to seek medical care if needed. Sharon Thompson, a longtime physician and science advisor for Emagine, emphasized the urgency of the work: “One of the problems in the United States is that our maternal mortality rate and also morbidity—meaning complications in pregnancy—is way too high.”
Early results show promise. Over 45% of Journey app users reported feeling safer during pregnancy, according to data from KGUN9. The app is free to download, though Emagine is developing a paid version and companion software for physicians’ offices. The company is also expanding through a new study funded by the Arizona Commerce Authority, which provides health tech bundles including a Fitbit and blood pressure monitor to Arizona women participating in pregnancy monitoring research.
Williams’ journey to founding Emagine reflects both personal conviction and entrepreneurial achievement. As a biracial woman, she is acutely aware that Black women face disproportionate maternal health risks—they are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. Emagine received $30,000 in funding from the Flinn Foundation’s Bioscience Entrepreneurship Program in 2019, a critical boost that helped the company achieve FDA approval for its other product, VistaScan, a software platform that transforms mobile devices into ultrasound tools now deployed in Haiti, Ghana, and other settings.
The broader context underscores why Williams’ work matters. Approximately 71 pregnant or birthing people die each year in Arizona, with roughly 87% of those deaths deemed preventable. Mental health conditions are the leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths in the state, followed by cardiovascular complications. Access to timely, high-quality prenatal and postpartum care remains a critical gap, especially for women in rural areas and communities of color.
Sources
- Business Journals — Courtney Williams’ profile and founding of Emagine to address Arizona’s maternal health crisis through The Journey Pregnancy app
- KGUN9 News — The Journey app’s features, user safety outcomes, and Arizona Commerce Authority study funding
- Flinn Foundation — Williams’ personal preeclampsia experience, company history, and Bioscience Entrepreneurship Program funding
- U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — Arizona’s maternal mortality rate of 30 deaths per 100,000 live births
- Arizona Maternal Health Resources — Statistics on preventable deaths and leading causes of maternal mortality in Arizona
