The Behavioral Design Podcast · Samuel Salzer and Aline Holzwarth

Designing for Diabetes with Steph Habif

·45 min·3 clips

Steph says behavioral science has a “major brand problem.”

1. The Behavioral Design Podcast episode with Steph Habif focuses on diabetes technology, basketball, and the branding problem in behavioral science. 2. Steph Habif is the guest and leads behavioral science at Tandem Diabetes Care, while Samuel Sulzer and Eileen Holtzworth host the conversation. 3. The episode asks what behavioral design can change in a medical device company, in women’s basketball, and in the way businesses name the field. 4. Steph says Tandem Diabetes Care makes diabetes technologies for people who take insulin, and she works there in behavioral science. 5. She explains that Tandem’s systems automatically deliver insulin, so users do not need needles, syringes, or finger pricks. 6. She says the system’s algorithm predicts blood sugar 30 minutes into the future and calculates insulin dose and delivery rate. 7. Steph connects automation to reducing the daily burden of managing diabetes. 8. She says the healthcare industry is “ripe for automation design,” and points to price transparency in the United States as a specific burden. 9. She argues that many people in the United States cannot tell how much healthcare will cost, which makes navigation of the system difficult. 10. The episode shifts to basketball after Steph says she learned about the sport through her husband, friends, and a dearest friend who has worked for the NBA for 20 years. 11. She says she became an avid collegiate basketball fan over the past couple of years and now follows March Madness closely. 12. Steph proposes the NIL era as a major design change in women’s basketball, because Caitlyn Clark and Angel Reese can now earn more as collegiate athletes than as professionals. 13. She says those economic incentives affect athlete decisions, fan experience, and the way the sport is designed. 14. She also argues for more women head coaches in men’s basketball, saying women and men often approach strategy and tactics differently. 15. Steph says her master’s degree in sport and performance psychology included research on men’s and women’s attitudes toward male versus female coaches. 16. She describes a possible experiment that would rotate coaches across teams for about a month and a half to compare performance and self-reports. 17. Steph’s tone is direct and practical, and she often grounds abstract ideas in specific workplace stories from Tandem Diabetes Care. 18. The conversation is interview-style, with quick follow-up questions, a speed round, and a final question about her most controversial opinion. 19. People interested in behavioral science, diabetes tech, and sports strategy would likely get the most from it. 20. People looking for a purely technical diabetes product demo or deep basketball analysis might skip it.

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