Empowered Patient Podcast

Kory Daniels, Chief Information Security Officer at Trustwave,  highlights the unique cybersecurity challenges facing the healthcare industry, particularly in this environment of funding constraints and the increasing sophistication of cyberattacks. Healthcare data is highly valuable to cybercriminals, who can use it for ransomware attacks, identity and insurance fraud, and other nefarious purposes. AI can be part of both the attack and the solution, helping to build in more cyber resilience and awareness about vulnerabilities. Kory explains, "Healthcare is a prime target for cyberattacks for a very fundamental reason. When human lives are at risk due to a criminal objective—which is to make money—they view organizations where human lives are at risk as a greater potential and opportunity. Facilitation of ransomware payments: Ransomware is one of the largest tactics that criminals use to achieve financial gain, but it's not the only tactic they use to achieve financial gain. So, they're looking to exploit th

Matt Brown, VP of Telehealth at Advisory Services at CHG Healthcare, discusses the current state and future of telehealth, including the rapid adoption during the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of technology and AI in enhancing telehealth experiences, and how telehealth can help address physician and nurse burnout. Improved internet access, mobile device usage, and consumer preferences for convenience have driven the increasing telehealth usage for initial visits, follow-up appointments, and chronic care management.   Matt explains, "We are the nation's largest staffing agency. So, we're actually the founders of what's known as the locum tenens marketplace. CHG has been a pioneer in bringing physician services into remote and rural locations across the United States for the past four years. And over the last 10 years or so, we've continued to innovate on top of that physician-led experience and started to bring technology operations, as well as consulting services and telehealth, into the marketplace. So think

Dr. Chuck Link is the Executive Chairman of Syncromune, a company developing a novel immunotherapy approach for solid tumors by delivering the therapy into the tumor and surrounding lymph nodes to stimulate a systemic immune response. Their complex drug has four different components with varying levels of activity that activate the immune system and counteract immune suppression. This in situ immunotherapy technology, SYNC-T, was tested in a phase 1 trial for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, which showed high response rates and a favorable safety profile with low rates of serious side effects and minimal autoimmune toxicity.   Chuck explains, "So, SYNC-T is a technology in which you put a needle directly into a tumor that can be done by a urologist in the prostate cancer situation, or by an interventional radiologist. That needle then the tip of it freezes, and does a freeze fracture. Think of a Coke bottle rupturing like in the freezer. And what that does is release the antigens from that pat

David Sontag, CEO and Co-Founder of Layer Health, describes the environment of chart reviews in healthcare and how AI and large language models can be used to analyze a patient's medical record to extract key clinical details. Applying natural language processing to medical records has been challenging due to the complexity of the language and the longitudinal nature of the data. This large language approach from Layer can enhance clinical decision-making, quality measurement, regulatory compliance, and patient outcomes. David explains, "Every patient will have experienced a chart review at some point. Whether it's when they've come home from a medical visit and go to their electronic medical record to look at the notes written by their providers. Or it's been experienced in the patient room, in the doctor’s room, watching a clinician review the past medical records to try to get a better context of what's going on with that patient, so that's from the patient’s perspective." "The same thing happens everywher

Alexandra Paul is the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at Accolade, a company that provides comprehensive healthcare for its members by integrating digital health solutions and leveraging AI. The company focuses on addressing the healthcare needs of underserved communities, such as truck drivers, and provides 24/7/365 access to virtual care. The Experience Store and WayFinding navigator utilizes AI and large language models to deliver real-time, chat-based guidance and personalized treatment options based on plan benefits.   Alexandra explains, "What's really important for us is ensuring that we are targeting the right buyer who can help us really get in front of members to help them navigate a complex healthcare experience. Our core foundation is being the one place to go for health and care. And so, whether that's through a health plan offering or whether that's through an employer benefit offering, we've truly become kind of that front door experience and what we call WayFinding, which is our AI-p

Julio Martinez-Clark, Co-Founder and CEO of Bioaccess, a Latin American MedTech CRO that works with US-based medtech and biopharma startups to conduct their first-in-human trials outside the US to accelerate development and recruitment. Data from overseas clinical trials conducted to international standards is considered valid and can support conversations with investors, strategic partners, and the FDA. Drawing on resources in the Balkans, Latin America, and Australia, clinical trials can get faster approvals, more easily recruit patients, and benefit those living in the communities where clinical trials are conducted.   Julio explains, "The mission is to accelerate global clinical trials, and the type of clients is mostly us. Occasionally, we have European clients, but they're mostly San Francisco-based, Boston-based, San Diego-based, Minnesota-based, or Boston-based companies that are looking to execute a first-in-human clinical study outside of the United States. And for many reasons, Latin America is an

Nicole Clark, Co-Founder and CEO of the Adult and Pediatric Institute for Health and Wellness, a comprehensive, personalized psychiatric practice that takes a holistic approach to mental health, looking at the interconnection of physical, cognitive, and emotional health. Nicole has two daughters with autism, which has informed the Institute's focus on serving the autism community, especially in these times of changes in the definition of autism spectrum disorder. Services include psychiatric and autism evaluations, medication management, education, and early intervention for children and adults and their family members.  Nicole explains, "We're a comprehensive psychiatric practice, and we're kind of unique in that we have fully blended behavioral and mental health therapy. We see an individual as a whole person. They're not just one piece of their identity. They have multiple pieces of their identity. And so we don't like to only focus on a singular issue. We like to look at the person as a whole, and so we

Bob Roda, President and CEO of HemoSonics, highlights the current blood shortage and the challenges of patient blood management to minimize the need for transfusions. The HemoSonics Quanta Analyzer technology utilizes ultrasound to measure blood viscosity, providing real-time information on the patient's coagulation status and enabling clinicians to make more informed decisions about blood product administration. This approach can be applied in the operating room, emergency rooms, and hospital laboratories to improve patient outcomes and yield cost savings for the healthcare system.  Bob explains, "As a company, we are very centered and focused on helping to shape human healthcare moving forward. Specifically, as it relates to coagulation management, we have a technology that is about five years old, and in layman's terms, it helps to identify what is going on with your blood in terms of coagulation, intraoperatively, and in near real-time. So what does that mean? It means that it is an aid for clinicians as

Dr. David Carmouche, Chief Clinical Transformation Officer at Lumeris, is addressing the primary care shortage by providing a platform that supports primary care physicians in managing a broader patient population and delivering better health outcomes. The Lumeris platform, Tom, is an AI-powered virtual assistant that can interact with patients, provide chronic disease management, education and support, and coordinate care on behalf of providers. Tom can improve efficiency, reduce clinician burnout, and provide more convenient and personalized experiences for patients.  David explains, "And so, they built the company, Lumeris, as a commercialization arm of their relationship to empower other primary care physicians to manage populations and deliver better health outcomes at a lower cost. And so for the last 12 years or so, Lumaris has been partnering largely with large medical groups and health systems to help them manage populations, Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial populations, and helping drive high per

Jeff Bennett, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer at Modivcare, is addressing and expanding supportive care services to provide transportation, personal care services, and remote patient monitoring. A lack of transportation leads to missed appointments and therapies, necessitating a coordinated approach to support vulnerable populations. Modivcare utilizes remote sensors and AI to enhance human engagement and coordination, and is designed to be both preventative and predictive, keeping patients healthy and out of the hospital.  Jeff explains, "Modivcare works on behalf of health plans, states, and risk-based entities. We provide supportive care services that meet the needs and address the needs of patients. One of those services is transportation, so non-emergency medical transportation. We also provide personal care services, which support members with activities of daily living, like bathing, meal preparation, and such. And then finally, I lead the monitoring organization, which provides services to moni

Peter Ordentlich, Chief Scientific Officer and Founder at Syndax Pharmaceuticals, a clinical oncology company, is focused on developing precision medicine approaches to treat cancer and chronic graft-versus-host disease. The menin protein plays a critical role in driving certain types of blood cancers, and the Synex therapy is a menin inhibitor that can disrupt this cancer-driving pathway. The platform is also developing an antibody addressing the unmet needs in cGVHD to reduce the disease-driving macrophages. Peter explains, "Syndax is a clinical oncology company, which means we're focused primarily on cancer, and we're primarily doing clinical development. We started the company really looking at resistance pathways to developing cancer, and we've been focused on two main areas. One in the indication space of leukemia, which are certain types of blood cancers, and that's with a program we have around the small molecule drug called revumenib. We are also focused in another area of diseases called chronic gr

Vikram Bhaskran, CEO and Co-Founder, and Dr. Rohan Ramakrishna, Chief Medical Officer and Co-Founder of Roon, have taken on the mission to provide trustworthy and personalized medical information to patients and caregivers. Leveraging technology and the expertise of medical professionals, Roon has created a comprehensive resource for navigating medical challenges. They emphasize the importance of addressing misinformation and providing accurate, science-based information. The platform is not intended to replace doctors, but to supplement relevant information and enable better communication with healthcare providers and improve patient outcomes. Vikram explains, "Our mission is to be the best place online for anyone navigating any health condition. I started the company really through my own journey as a caregiver to my dad, who had ALS. And in that journey, I had two insights. One is that the biggest tech companies fail us. And in this moment of crisis, most people navigating any health condition will turn t

Barry Quart, CEO of Connect Biopharma, is developing the next generation of monoclonal antibodies targeting inflammatory respiratory diseases such as COPD and asthma. Administered subcutaneously, their lead program targets IL-4 and has demonstrated the ability to rapidly improve airway function and reduce the incidence of acute exacerbations in these patients. Current treatments rely on steroids and bronchodilators, which do not address the underlying inflammatory causes, an area that has largely been under-addressed by other biologic developers. Barry explains, "Connect has been dedicated for quite a few years to designing next-generation monoclonal antibodies targeting inflammatory diseases. I joined the company last year and really kind of turned the ship towards a sole focus on our lead program, which is rademikibart, a second-generation Dupixent, a monoclonal antibody targeting IL-4, a really important target for certain inflammatory diseases." "IL-4 can be used as a monoclonal antibody targeting IL-4

Dr. Kilian Kelly, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Cynata Therapeutics, has taken on the challenge of manufacturing stem cell therapies consistently and at scale in order to drive the advancements necessary for the next generation of regenerative medicine. Cynata is employing a novel approach that utilizes a single source of pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and mesenchymal cell ancestors (MCAs) to generate mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Lead programs are targeting graft-versus-host disease, osteoarthritis, and diabetic wounds, where clinical trials have shown great promise to treat these and other diseases. Kilian explains, "We're a stem cell regenerative medicine company, and what we're trying to do is to change the way that we can manufacture stem cell therapies in a consistent and scalable way. I'm sure many of your listeners have heard about stem cell therapies of various types. The particular type of cells that we're working on are called mesenchymal stem cells or MSCs. They've shown lots

Shauna Sweeney, Founder of tendercare, aims to assist caregivers with digital tools and expert support to simplify the process of caring for an aging family member. Recognizing the essential role of caregivers in the quality of life of the patient, tendercare provides a user-friendly interface that incorporates data from wearables and remote sensors to identify early warning signs of risks, help coordinate care, and encourage proactive preparation. The Magic Magnet feature allows caregivers and emergency responders to quickly update and share critical health information.  Shauna explains, "This is not just a gendered issue. We have 54 million just Americans, if we keep it to the US, who are currently providing unpaid family care. This usually takes the form of anything from looking through bills, managing medications, renewing prescriptions, coordinating doctors’ visits, and all other visits. Often, we find that those who are on our platform are the eldest child. So whether that's a daughter or a son, this i

Karen Sussman Horgan is the Co-Founder and CEO of VAL Health, a behavioral economics consulting firm that helps healthcare organizations drive engagement and nudge patients to improve their health and lifestyle choices. Behavioral economics is the science of understanding how patients make irrational choices based on biases, fear, and faulty analysis of outcomes and risk. Nudges can be carrots or sticks, but in healthcare, the focus is on making the right path easier to follow, reducing friction, and introducing positive reinforcements rather than penalties. Karen explains, "We work across the entire healthcare ecosystem. We think about digital health companies, how do you drive enrollment and engagement, and how do you optimize the journey? There are communications for that. We do a lot of work with payers, which is closing gaps in care, but also just improving the member experience in general with providers. It could be around provider adoption of new care pathways, but it's also about population health. W

Christine Lee, Head of Health Strategy and Partnerships at AnalyticsIQ, focuses on helping healthcare brands and pharmaceutical companies better understand and engage with healthcare providers by taking into account data beyond their professional lives. This data-driven Provider as a Person approach analyzes the healthcare professional's personal characteristics, outside interests, decision-making style, and preferred method of communication. The goal is to foster more meaningful relationships with providers, address provider burnout, and improve patient outcomes.   Christine explains, "We're coming into play here in supporting healthcare brands and better understanding the providers as people. As I mentioned, we're a people-based data company. I'd say that in an era where data is abundant and there is no shortage of health data being gathered and analyzed. So, you've got a lot of data assets out there that are coming from clinical trials, your real-world evidence, claims data, your electronic health records

Francisco Salva, President and CEO of Azitra, Inc., is leveraging the microbial bacteria that comprise the skin microbiome and exploring novel methods to deliver precision medicines to the skin. Azitra has genetically engineered specific strains of these microbes to produce proteins that are missing in patients with skin conditions like Netherton syndrome and cancer therapy-associated rashes. These bacterial strains have the ability to get beneath the stratum corneum and turn into miniature factories to make the therapeutic proteins and help the skin return to homeostasis. Francisco explains, "We're leveraging the billions of microbial bacteria that naturally live on us and are synergistic with our skin to help keep our skin in homeostasis or a regulated standard of existence. These bacteria makeup that are known as the skin microbiome, we have built up a library of these microbial bacteria strains commonly found on normal people and characterize them in a way that allows us to look for specific strains that

Dr. Quyen Nguyen, CEO and Founder of Alume Biosciences, is developing fluorescent-guided precision surgery technologies that enable surgeons to visualize critical structures, such as nerves, blood vessels, and tumor margins, more clearly during procedures. Alume is developing fluorescent dyes and imaging systems to support this approach, building on work by Roger Tsien who won the Nobel Prize for fluorescence. This technology has the potential to enable more complex surgical procedures to be performed safely in brain, head, neck, and abdominal surgeries and has the promise to transform surgery. Quyen elaborates, "I first met Roger Tsien Nobel Laureate for his work in fluorescence, in 2001. I had worked with green fluorescent protein, one of the things that he was working on for fluorescence, and he ultimately was awarded the Nobel Prize for fluorescence. And I asked him, ‘Roger, is there a way we can make nerves fluorescent in patients? We certainly have that in research, but surgeons don't have this tool now

Rob Armstrong, CEO of Artax Biopharma, highlights the basic mechanism of action of Nck modulators and how they differ from traditional immunosuppressant drugs to treat autoimmune diseases. Taking this adjustable thermostat approach aims to modulate the immune response rather than completely suppressing the response, potentially reducing side effects. The oral, small molecule drug is an advantage over injectable biologics currently dominating the automimmune disease treatment landscape. Rob explains, "Nck stands for non-catalytic kinase, and what Nck is is an adapter protein that interacts with the T cell receptor. Its role is basically to amplify any signals when an antigen is presented to the T cell receptor. It's really interesting because it's called signal one. In other words, it's the beginning of the immune cascade when an antigen is presented. And what's interesting is that it's upstream of what the target of most other drugs are, which are the cytokines that are the offending entities for many of the