Empowered Patient Podcast

Dr. Ann Beliën, Chief Executive Officer and Founder at Rejuvenate Biomed, is addressing the underlying biology of aging including mechanisms like mitochondrial health, cell-cell communication and inflammation in order to promote healthy aging. Taking a combination therapy approach, Rejuvenate is using AI-enable drug discovery to address multiple pathways that are involved in aging. Their lead drug candidate is a treatment for sarcopenia with plans to assess impact on other age-related biomarkers. Ann explains, "The biology of aging indeed is being defined by 12 hallmarks. These 12 hallmarks are pathways where you see that the functioning is deteriorating. One of them is mitochondrial health. So, the mitochondria are there to create energy in your cells to make sure that they work to an optimal base. That’s a very important element that we need to address." "Another very important one for us is cell-cell communication. So, for instance, in sarcopenia, one of the diseases we study, it’s very important that you

Eric Olson, COO and Founder of BetterWay™ by Babson Diagnostics™, reports that traditional blood testing is often seen as inconvenient and unpleasant, causing 40% of people to avoid needed blood tests. Babson has developed a more patient-friendly approach to blood collection using a device that fits on the finger and requires a minimum amount of blood. The BetterWay service allows patients or doctors to order tests where blood is drawn at a local pharmacy and samples analyzed at a central lab, providing a quick turnaround with understandable test results.  Eric explains, "Blood testing is something that most people are very familiar with. It’s a routine part of medical care. Every time you go in for your annual visit or if you’re monitoring a disease, maybe a chronic disease, you might get tested more frequently than once a year. The experience is something that a lot of people go through, which consists of having an appointment, going into some sort of patient service center, and getting blood drawn by a pr

Marylyn Rigby, President and CEO of Bioceptive, focuses on improving women's health technologies. Bioceptive has developed a cervical suction retractor as an alternative to the 200-year-old cervical tenaculum device used to insert IUDs and perform biopsies and other intrauterine procedures. While current procedures are extremely painful, there has been a lack of innovation in understanding women's pain because women are often described as hysterical, with little clinical data to get to the source of the pain.   Marylyn explains, "I think that also has to do with what modern medicine is based on, which is a man’s body and not a woman’s body. And because of that, it’s kind of interesting to think that a man could ever possibly understand what it would feel like to have their cervix, which they don’t even have, be pierced, essentially. It is like having your ears pierced and the traumatic experience that it causes because this is done again without any type of anesthetic. So, one of the biggest issues that we s

Greg Sturmer, Co-Founder and CEO of Elysium Therapeutics, a company with expertise in reducing pain and addressing opioid use disorder and fatal overdose from fentanyl. Elysium has developed O2P, Oral Overdose Protection, a technology that aims to control the impact of opioids and reduce the risk of use disorder or a fatal overdose. SOOPR is a rescue agent designed specifically for overdoses from synthetic opioids, particularly fentanyl, which can last longer and be more potent than traditional opioids. Greg explains, "Anytime there’s an epidemic, you want to control exposure. The tricky bit in the area of pain management and the use of opioids is how do you control exposure without affecting patient care. We’ve come up with a technology that maintains the unmatched efficacy of the opioids. But when somebody takes too many pills, and we’ve actually shown this in our human study, we can reduce the exposure because we use this proprietary molecular delivery system that uses the body’s natural digestive process

Dr. Boris Reznik, Chairman and CEO of Immorta Bio, was founded to explore longevity and life extension technologies inspired by the discovery that aged cells can be reprogrammed to become younger ones. The company has a cellular rejuvenation platform that uses the patient's cells and senolytic immunotherapy to help the immune system target and remove senescent cells. These approaches aim to leverage the body's natural mechanism for maintaining health and extending the healthspan, not just lifespan. Boris explains, "First of all, let me just touch upon aging because aging perpetually happens on a cellular level from an early age because trillions of mutations occur in our cells every single day. But the young body’s defense mechanism, such as the immune system and stem cells, effectively addresses those issues and keeps young people healthy. So everything we do is associated with the approach where we try to use young bodies’ mechanisms in dealing with all diseases and all issues associated with aging."   "As

Randy Boldyga is the CEO, President, and Founder of RXNT, which provides electronic medical records, electronic prescribing, and practice management products. One primary focus is improving patient charts using AI tools to enable providers to communicate with patients more efficiently and effectively. Using predictive analytics and virtual health assistants, this approach can improve patient outcomes by making healthcare more personalized and proactive.  Randy explains, "There are things like enhanced diagnostics, in which AI can analyze medical images such as X-rays and MRIs with high accuracy, and personalized medicine, where AI can process and interpret genetic information, helping to tailor treatments to individual patients. There are predictive analytics, operational efficiencies such as AI, and streamlining administrative tasks for their office, such as scheduling, billing, and managing patient records." "There’s virtual health assistance where AI-powered chatbots and individual assistance can help wi

Joseph Mossel, CEO and Co-Founder of Ibex Medical Analytics is developing AI-based cancer diagnostic technology to help pathologists work faster and more accurately with tissue samples. This technology is being widely adopted as an artificial pathologist that can perform tasks more efficiently and aid the pathologist in reducing error rates, which is ever more important with the shortage of pathologists and increasing demand. Partnering with pharma companies, this technology has the potential to develop algorithms that can help determine the effectiveness of specific cancer drugs, expanding the application of AI beyond improving diagnostic accuracy. Joseph explains, "Pathology labs know how to receive a biopsy and a tissue sample and then convert it into a slide. Then, it is diagnosed by the pathologist. Our technology, not only does it help the pathologist to do their work faster, but it also is embedded within the lab workflow. You can think of the lab as the kind of a factory here, and we help all of that

Dr. Chris Heery is Chief Medical Officer at Arcellx, a company focusing on developing anito-cel, a significant advancement in CAR-T cell therapy, to treat relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma (rrMM). Multiple myeloma is a rare type of blood cancer that affects plasma cells in the bone marrow and has few treatment options. Arcellx is showing promising data from clinical trials with patients with rrMM who have failed prior therapies and have received Fast Track, Orphan Drug, and Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy Designations from the FDA for anito-cel. Chris explains, "The company was founded based on an idea that you could take a novel protein structure and modify it to be able to bind to targets on the surface of cancer cells. And over many years of work, the founders were able to demonstrate that that was possible. Over the last three or four years, Arcellx has focused more on taking what were some of those early ideas and turning them into a product that can help patients. For these last three or

Dr. Mohammed Elamir, lead physician at Aviv Clinics, offers diagnostics and treatments for brain injuries such as PTSD, stroke, and traumatic brain injury and to address cognitive decline. After comprehensive physical and mental assessment, including brain scans, patients receive hyperbaric oxygen therapy and other therapies like psychotherapy and neurocognitive training. Individualized plans are designed to get to the root causes of neurological and cognitive issues and stimulate the growth of new cells and blood flow, even for patients with long-standing conditions.   Dr. Mo explains, "Our pre-assessment testing is a lot more rigorous than your kind of annual physical. We do three to five days of testing that can involve medical evaluations with the medical doctors and advanced blood work for different biomarkers for injury or inflammation. Two very specific brain scans that I think separate our assessment from most, and one is an MRI with DTI analysis. That is a microstructure analysis of the brain. So we

Tomer Shussman, the Co-Founder and CEO of OneStep, is at the forefront of motion intelligence and gait analysis. OneStep provides a smartphone app that monitors movement and provides real-time data about gait patterns and changes over time. The system can predict and prevent conditions like falls, provide information about overall health, and reveal early warning signs for Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and other aging-related diseases. Integrating OneStep's gait analysis data with Epic electronic health records allows healthcare providers to streamline documentation and leverage gait data to provide immediate actionable feedback to patients. Tomer explains, "When we started OneStep, we started with physical therapy and rehabilitation, particularly after knee replacements, hip replacements, and injuries of all kinds. But since then, we now have customers and partners who work with us on fall prevention, essentially identifying and quantifying the risk of falling through gait analysis. Our partners work with us on

Dr. Sherif Idriss is the CEO of Elastin Biosciences, a company focused on targeting aging-related diseases by restoring elastin, a key protein in the extracellular matrix that provides elasticity and resilience to organs and tissues. They are developing small molecule therapies for diseases linked to elastin deficiency, including Williams syndrome and abdominal aortic aneurysm. As elastin degrades over time due to aging, it leads to loss of tissue structural integrity and function, contributing to numerous age-related diseases.   Sherif explains, "One of the hallmarks of aging is the loss of the extracellular matrix, which is composed of several proteins. Collagen is quite famous, but also elastin is the other major protein that is responsible for the elasticity of the different organs. For example, in our skin, the loss of elastin is associated with us looking older and having all the aging signs and wrinkles on the skin. If you imagine that there are other organs inside that we don’t visually see, then you

Dr. Harven DeShield is the CEO and Co-Founder of Vivacelle Bio, which is developing a nanoparticle-based treatment called VBI-S to address the underlying causes of septic shock. The treatment works by efficiently redistributing nitric oxide to help regulate blood pressure and improve organ function, reducing the need for traditional vasopressor treatments. Vivacelle is also developing a product to help address hemorrhagic shock and minimize reperfusion injury. Harven explains, "There are seven aspects to septic shock - actually eight. So, first, you have an infection. You have to have an infection, whether it is a bacterial, virus, or fungus. And then, eventually, they give you fluids—your blood pressure drops. And so, they try to correct that by giving you fluids. And when the fluids fail, then you transition from sepsis to septic shock." "Then, you are also dealing with the fact that they put you on vasopressors once you get into septic shock. When they put you on vasopressors, that creates another whole r

Sandra Johnson, the Senior Vice President of Client Services at CliniComp, discusses the evolving landscape of electronic health records (EHRs) and the need for interoperability and customization to meet clinicians' needs. She emphasizes the importance of putting clinicians first and involving them in the software development process from the beginning to create a configurable and user-friendly system. There are multiple ways to use AI and automation to improve EHRs, including predictive analytics, automating routine tasks, and providing decision support for clinicians. Sandra explains, "We are a 40-year-old company, so we’ve evolved a lot over the years to meet the growing needs of the healthcare industry. We originally started as a modular EMR system focused on the perinatal and critical care setting. We’ve continued to evolve over the years to offer inpatient solutions and now a full-service EHR solution suite. We continue to scale and grow to meet the evolving needs of the healthcare community and are h

Kathy Gunn, VP of commercial and clinical operations at Wellsense, discusses the pressure mapping system Wellsense developed to prevent pressure injuries caused by support surfaces, offloading devices, and medical equipment. The pressure mapping technology works by installing an overlay into existing support surfaces, which sends real-time pressure readings and locations to an iPad-like device at the end of the bed. This visual feedback helps healthcare providers make better clinical decisions and customize care for each patient. Without this system, driven by standard procedures, the prevention of pressure injuries is inconsistent, and there is no way to assess the effectiveness of their actions or identify failing equipment. Kathy explains, "A whole slew of factors impact a patient’s exposure to pressure. Not only do we bring in our pressure mapping system to provide visual feedback and historical reports for root cause analysis, but we also bring in clinical specialists. We bring in these clinical speciali

Jean Sachs, CEO of Living Beyond Breast Cancer, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to addressing disparities in cancer treatment and providing resources and support for individuals diagnosed with breast cancer. LBBC is part of the No One Missed breast cancer campaign, which aims to raise awareness about the importance of biomarker testing for metastatic breast cancer to help identify specific mutations in the tumor and develop a personalized treatment plan. Jean explains, "We are so proud at Living Beyond Breast Cancer to be part of this campaign, founded and launched by LUNGevity Foundation in 2021. So, they are an organization that focuses on lung cancer. They wanted to get the word out about the importance of biomarker testing, particularly to those with non-small cell lung cancer, which is the non-smoking kind of lung cancer. They pulled together 25 organizations, created a website, ran a big campaign for a few years, and then realized that this kind of education campaign would be so beneficial

Dr. Monica Perez, the Scientific Chair at the Arms and Hands Lab at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Northwestern University, is focused on developing drugs and strategies for treating those with spinal cord injuries. With no FDA-approved treatment, the current standard of care is surgery and physical rehabilitation, depending upon the location of the injury and cause. The AbilityLab is conducting a clinical trial with NVG-291, which targets the body's natural inhibitors for repair, regenerates neurons in the CNS, and aims to improve connections disrupted by spinal cord injury. Exercise is also a component of this treatment to improve outcomes.   Monica explains, "The experiment we’re running today at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab is the first of its kind study because we’re using a medication that we have evidence in animal studies that actually can improve regeneration in the central nervous system and contribute at least to enhance recovery of function. This i

Richard ‘RJ’ Kedziora, Co-Founder, CEO, and Chief People Officer at Estenda Solutions, emphasizes that usability is critical in developing successful digital therapeutics, and industry standards and interoperability are essential for data sharing and integration. A digital therapeutic can be prescribed by a physician and reimbursed by insurance companies. It is a digital health application that has undergone clinical trials and regulatory review to prevent, monitor, or treat physical or mental health issues. The future of digital therapeutics looks promising, especially with Medicare's introduction of billing codes for prescription digital therapeutics. Richard explains, " I think of the difference between a digital health application and a digital therapeutic as the difference between supplements and medications prescribed by a physician. So as you know, there are any number of supplements on the market. Some have more evidence than less about whether or not they can prevent, treat, or monitor a specific dis

Oren Gilad, President and CEO of Aprea Therapeutics, focused on the DNA damage response pathway, specifically targeting the ATR protein. ATR is a master regulator of DNA replication and is hyperactive in cancer cells, making it a potential Achilles heel for cancer therapy. By inhibiting ATR, cancer cells can be selectively targeted, while normal cells can tolerate lower levels of ATR activity. Synthetic lethality is applied when two genetic mutations are combined, leading to cell death, specifically in cancer cells. Aprea is conducting clinical trials for their targeted treatments, focusing on solid tumors with defined genetic mutations. Oren explains, "DDR, the DNA damage response pathway, is the broader terminology for the regulation of DNA synthesis. In order for cancer to grow, cells have to duplicate. In order for them to duplicate, they have to replicate their DNA. So what happens is that cancer cells get into this DNA replication phase very early and prematurely, causing a single-strand DNA to be expos

Dr. Marcy Carty, President and Chief Medical Officer of myLaurel, emphasizes the need to change the model where hospitals are the safest place for medical care. MyLaurel's acute care services include pre-hospital care to prevent emergency room visits, care-at-home to help patients get discharged earlier, and post-hospitalization care to smooth the transition. They work with primary physicians and other care providers to ensure a coordinated approach and use technology in the home to perform monitoring and diagnostics overseen by medical professionals and responders who can provide in-person and virtual visits. Marcy explains, "In the past, our health systems have looked at volume. I was a chief medical officer at a hospital, and I remember my CEO saying, "How many heads and beds can we get?" And so the system’s really driven towards reducing risk and putting people into hospitals, assuming that it’s the best place to be cared for. At myLaurel, we challenge that and work with communities to say, "How can we c

Dr. Waqaas Al-Siddiq, the CEO and Founder of Biotricity, focuses on remote patient monitoring for heart health with HeartSecure, the three-channel wearable device that collects continuous ECG data. This device provides a more comprehensive view of the electrical activity of the heart compared to other wearables like smartwatches and can help identify potential cardiac issues, especially those that are intermittent and asymptomatic. Used by cardiologists and now available as a home-based diagnostic, this technology is a tool to screen those with risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, sleep apnea, and obesity.  Waqaas explains, "When we talk about wearables, we have to understand what those wearables are collecting. A typical watch, like an Apple Watch or Samsung Watch or these kinds of devices, collects data through a PPG, which is really looking at light refraction and basically looking at your pulse rate. Based on skin tone, it will have varying results. Based on how tight you are wearing the ba