Meet Manju Dawkins, MD

Meet the dermatologist, mom, and lifelong athlete who decided needles shouldn't have to hurt so much.

Dr. Manju Dawkins is a board-certified dermatologist and the co-founder of Thimble. She started at Columbia University as an undergrad, then headed home to Maryland for her M.D. She trained in dermatology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, where she was named Chief Resident, and went on to teach at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where her students voted her Teacher of the Year - twice.

She has practiced in academic, private, hospital based, and group practice settings in New York and Los Angeles. She's seen a lot of patients. And she's watched a lotof them dread the needle far more than whatever brought them in.

That stuck with her.

Why she built Thimble

Here's the thing most people don't say out loud: fear of needles isn't a small problem. It keeps millions of people from doing the things that keep them healthy. Early screenings. Blood donation. Treatments that save lives. People skip all of it, sometimes for years, because a needle feels like too much.

Dr. Dawkins didn't think that was acceptable. After a personal experience with her daughter's first vaccines, she built Thimble: the first easy, safe, and comprehensive solution to take the pain and stress out of needle procedures. 

It started with her own daughter's first shots and it's grown into a mission to change the way healthcare feels, one less-scary appointment at a time.

A little more about Dr. Dawkins

She played Division I basketball at Columbia and captained the team her senior year (at 5'2"). She's still in the game off the court, as a founding member of the Columbia Women's Basketball Advisory Board and a member of the Columbia Athletics Women's Leadership Council. And she knows a sore arm after a shot shouldn't keep you off the court.