Walgreens COVID Response:

Human-Centered SaaS for Nationwide Testing & Vaccination

Project Overview

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I joined a cross-functional team to help Walgreens rapidly develop and scale a human-centered SaaS solution to support national COVID testing and vaccination needs. This included systems for business clients (e.g., Amazon), individuals, and government partners — all under extreme time pressure and evolving federal guidance.

Human-Centered Design Approach

  • As the HCD lead, I:

    • Led discovery research with internal and external stakeholders (e.g., clinicians, store managers, enterprise clients) as well as surveys.

    • Developed personas and service blueprints to map real-world workflows and bottlenecks

    • Facilitated design workshops and co-creation sessions to inform product direction

    • Collaborated with product and engineering to translate research into features, flows, and policies

    • Supported testing and iteration cycles based on live user feedback and government updates

    • Conducted interviews with:

      • Pharmacists & store teams managing frontline execution

      • Enterprise clients needing at-scale testing and vaccination for employees

      • Patients, including elderly and non-digital users

    • Identified gaps in:

      • Appointment and location scheduling

      • Consent form design

      • Language access and mobile usability

    • Created personas including:

      • "Maria", a Walgreens pharmacy tech juggling testing, walk-ins, and phone calls

      • "Devon", an HR leader at Amazon managing employee safety

      • "Ethel", a mother seeking vaccine access via landline

    • Mapped journeys across digital and in-store touchpoints, surfacing friction around health equity, signups, result notifications, and follow-ups.

    • Ran rapid remote workshops with pharmacists and HQ staff to design:

      • A better intake form process

      • More efficient result reporting

      • A dashboard for B2B clients

    • Aligned on key design principles: speed, clarity, accessibility, and data integrity

    • Rolled out a multi-tenant SaaS system serving:

      • Individuals (including underserved communities)

      • Business clients (Amazon, logistics companies)

      • Government partners (State & Federal)

    • Enabled Walgreens to process millions of COVID tests and vaccinations efficiently

    • Delivered MVPs in phases — testing, vaccines, B2B — with user feedback driving iterative improvements

Why It Matters

This project combined urgency with empathy. It required strategizing and designing for clarity, trust, and safety in a chaotic, high-impact environment, all grounded in real-world user insight. It’s a standout example of human-centered design under LITERAL pressure.

Next

User Experience