Memory Care Innovation Award Winner: Michael Wang, Founder & Chief Clinical Officer, Inspiren

Michael Wang, Founder & Chief Clinical Officer at Inspiren, has been named to the Memory Care Innovation Awards Class of 2026 by Senior Housing News.

The Memory Care Innovation Awards program is designed to recognize passionate and innovative industry members who are shaping the future of cognitive care across behavioral health, home health and home care, hospice and palliative care, senior living, and skilled nursing. To become a Memory Care Innovation Award winner, an individual must be nominated by their peers. The candidate should be a high-performing employee who knows how to put vision into action, serving as an advocate for those living with memory-related disorders and the committed professionals who ensure their well-being.

Wang sat down with Senior Housing News to share his journey caring for patients and residents with cognitive care needs, his thoughts on the future of cognitive care in senior living, and much more. To learn more about the Memory Care Innovation Awards and view this year’s winners, visit https://innovation.memorycarebusiness.com/.

SHN: How long have you been working in the senior housing & senior living industry, and what has your career journey looked like?

Wang: My path to senior living wasn’t linear, though it was shaped by two callings that both center on service.

I spent several years as a Green Beret in the U.S. Army Special Forces, and later as a cardiothoracic nurse at NewYork-Presbyterian. It was at the bedside that I first witnessed the impact of preventable falls on our aging population, how care teams were stretched to their limits, and operational inefficiencies that no amount of staffing or software was solving. That’s what led me to found Inspiren in 2016.

Senior living became the focus because it’s where I believe the need is greatest, and where the right technology, when deployed thoughtfully, can genuinely change outcomes for some of the most vulnerable people in our care.

SHN: What inspired you to focus on caring for individuals living with memory-related conditions?

Wang: Memory care residents are among the most at-risk population in senior living and, historically, among the most underserved by technology.

What struck me early on was that the challenges memory care communities face are deeply human. Residents can’t always advocate for themselves, families carry enormous anxiety, and care teams are doing heroic work with limited visibility and limited tools.

When I saw that our ecosystem could meaningfully move the needle by ensuring fewer falls, fewer hospitalizations, and faster response times, it became clear that this was where Inspiren’s mission needed to be focused. 

SHN: If you could describe the current state of memory care in senior housing & senior living in one word, what would it be and why?

Wang: We’re at an inflection point. For ages, senior living focused on reaction rather than prevention. Recently though, there’s been a real change in how operators, care teams, and tech partners look at proactively personalizing care with data. We still have a ways to go, but the progress gives me hope.

SHN: What is the most important lesson you’ve learned in your career caring for individuals with cognitive needs?

Wang: Presence matters more than perfection.

In Special Forces in the ICU, and now in senior living, I’ve learned that the people in your care need to feel seen, and so do the teams caring for them. Technology should amplify that presence.

The best outcomes I’ve witnessed have always been the result of a care team that felt supported and informed.

SHN: What is one change you would most like to see across the memory care landscape in senior housing & senior living today?

Wang: A shift from incident response to early intervention.

Too much of memory care today is still organized around reacting to crises, e.g., a fall, a hospitalization, a rapid decline. By the time those moments happen, you’ve potentially lost trust, function, even quality of life. The data and the technology exist right now to identify risk before those moments become crises.

We’ve seen it firsthand in communities, like Solera Lumina Las Vegas, where Inspiren contributed to 48% fewer falls and 54% fewer hospitalizations within six months, and at The Bridges at Mission, where we saw 80% fewer falls with injury. They were the result of knowing sooner.

What I’d love to see is the entire industry move toward a standard where early intervention is the baseline expectation. I do believe, in the not too distant future, every memory care resident will have the benefit of this technology as a given, not a differentiator.

SHN: Looking ahead five years, what do you think will have the greatest impact on your ability to deliver innovative, high-quality cognitive care?

Wang: The integration of continuous ambient intelligence and clinical expertise.

We’re moving toward a world where AI can notice, learn, and flag changes in real time, but more impact will be felt the more and more data-informed intelligence is at the center of care.

At Inspiren, we’ve always believed that the best AI in healthcare is built by clinicians, not just for them. Over the next five years, I think the communities that embrace the philosophy of pairing rigorous data with genuine human judgment will define what excellent memory care looks like.

SHN: If you could give yourself advice on your first day serving the cognitive care needs of your senior housing & senior living residents, what would it be and why?

Wang: Changing care delivery takes time. It involves building trust at every level, whether operators, clinicians, or families. All you can do is lead with your heart, stay close to residents and their carers, and let the results show impact.

SHN: In your view, what qualities define a Memory Care Innovation Award winner?

Wang: It comes down to three things: outcomes, clinical grounding, and humanity.

Innovation in this space is built with clinical insight baked in from the start without ever losing sight of the human element. The best work in this space gives care teams more capacity to show up with compassion, and that’s been the north star for everything we’ve built at Inspiren.

Receiving this recognition is a reflection of that belief, and honestly, it belongs as much to the care teams and communities we’ve had the privilege of partnering with as it does to me.

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