Case Study - A virtual coach platform supporting caregivers across the country

Overview

The TLC (Taking Care) project at the University of Utah Genetic Science Learning Center needed a web application to deliver a structured virtual coaching program to caregivers enrolled in a longitudinal research study. Participants needed personalized study timelines, automated reminders, and a way to record and submit video check-ins — all within a secure, HIPAA-aware environment.

We designed and built the complete platform from the ground up, handling everything from architecture to deployment.

What we built

Key features

Participant onboarding and authentication — Secure user registration with password hashing, session management, and participant data synced from the study database via automated CRON jobs.

Personalized study timelines — Each participant received a custom program schedule. The application tracked where each caregiver was in their journey and surfaced the right content at the right time.

Automated notifications — Twilio and SendGrid were integrated to send SMS and email reminders to participants at key points in the study timeline, significantly improving engagement and data collection rates.

Video submission system — Caregivers could record and upload video check-ins directly from the platform. Submissions were stored securely in Azure Blob Storage.

Analytics and tracking — Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager were configured to capture participant interactions, giving the research team behavioral data to complement the study findings.