Empowered Patient Podcast

Bradley Bostic, CEO of hc1, uses advanced data science, AI, and natural language processing to identify optimal patient testing, better predict disease development, and provide insights that can help prevent disease progression. The use of lab data is crucial for making diagnostic decisions, yet the potential of leveraging data is not being realized. Using technology to address issues like over-utilization of testing and data silos that prevent clinicians from seeing the complete story, hc1 is building a diagnostic insight network that unifies the provider and pharmacists to improve the patient journey and improve outcomes. Bradley explains, "We are transforming laboratories into strategic assets that improve patient care and boost the bottom line for healthcare systems. And really, the way that I came about this was having been in the healthcare industry for quite a while, most of my career, I started seeing this common fact that data was important. The largest component of the data that was used to make di

Niels Riedemann, the CEO, Founder, and Executive Director of the Board of InflaRx, explains that InflaRx develops pioneering anti-inflammatory therapeutics against a specific portion of the complement cascade, a part of the body’s immune system that responds to infectious microbes. By applying its proprietary monoclonal anti-C5a and anti-C5aR technologies, InflaRx hopes to affect the progression of a wide variety of inflammatory diseases.  Niels explains, "Absolutely. So, I was a postdoc and research fellow at the University of Michigan and I researched this immune response I was talking about with another fellow in settings of sepsis of devastating, life-threatening inflammation and the other fellow and myself found it so intriguing that we ended up founding a company saying we're going to one day hopefully save people's lives with this approach by controlling this immune response. And when COVID came along, while we had a focus on other diseases and we have a key focus on devastating chronic diseases as w

Michael Oleksiw is the CEO of Pleio, a company focused on addressing the emotional barriers to patient engagement and medication adherence that medical professionals often overlook. Emotional barriers like loneliness, fear, and stigma can impact patients of all ages and backgrounds when they are facing a health challenge. Pleio uses technology and a peer-to-patient model to personalize interactions with empathetic humans, provide ongoing patient support, track emotional patterns, and bring pharmacists in to work with patients taking multiple medications or with chronic conditions.   Michael explains, "Our focus on the emotional barriers is meant to complement what’s out there today. The bulk of the focus when it comes to engaging patients and supporting patients is really on supporting the transaction, ensuring that a patient can get their medication, that they can get it cost-effectively, that they can pick it up, that it gets into their hands. But once they’re at home, everything gets real really fast and

Dan Levendowski, Co-Founder and President, and Chris Berka, Co-Founder and CEO of Advanced Brain Monitoring, have developed medical devices that measure brain activity through electroencephalography (EEG) during awake and sleeping states. These easy-to-use EEG devices can be used at home and in a clinic to identify biomarkers for cognitive decline and neurodegenerative diseases.  The company has built large databases of EEG data from healthy individuals and those with various neurodegenerative diseases, which allows them to compare a patient's brain activity to healthy controls and track changes over time.   Dan explains, "We're now in year seven of a large longitudinal study where we've identified and extracted these measures of the brain's electrical activity under different conditions that help us differentiate or characterize whether the person has normal cognition or their sleep looks like somebody with normal cognition. Or how the brain responds to certain stimuli and if it looks like somebody with Park

Dr. Julie Schulz, VP of product at Avalon Healthcare Solutions, a company that helps health plans manage their laboratory spend and benefits by contracting with labs and analyzing lab data.  Lab tests are important for identifying the right patients for GLP-1 drugs and assessing their cardiometabolic health. While GLP-1 drugs were initially developed for diabetes they have been found to have broader benefits in treating conditions like obesity, heart disease, and kidney disease.  Avalon's real-time access to lab data can help health plans and providers better identify appropriate patients for GLP-1 drugs and address health equity and access issues. Julie explains, "Labs are increasingly looking at biomarkers that provide an overall sense of patient health. Molecular diagnostics, including genetic testing, is on the upswing. Understanding the complexities of that testing and the clinical decisions that come from it is more and more important for health plan employers in the broader healthcare ecosystem." "So

Adrian Mendes, CEO of Perimeter Medical Imaging AI, is solving the problem of margin assessment in cancer surgery. Surgeons often have to perform a second surgery on breast cancer patients because they are unable to completely remove all of the cancerous cells the first time. The company has developed Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) imaging technology that allows surgeons to see cells at a microscopic level in real-time during surgery, helping them remove the tumor and all surrounding cancerous tissue. Adrian explains, "The surgeon is trying to ensure that when they extract the tumor and the cancer, there is a margin of healthy cells around it. Studies have shown that if they can achieve that, and with breast cancer, that margin needs to be two millimeters generally, then the likelihood of them having left cancer cells back in the body goes down drastically. This is every surgeon's objective for cancer treatment. We help the surgeons ensure that they've achieved what they call clean margins." "Yes, it's q

Brent Lucas, CEO of Envoy Medical, highlights the lack of innovation in hearing aids and the need to better address hearing health. Envoy has developed fully implanted hearing devices that provide 24/7 hearing assistance without the need for daily recharging of the battery.  With the introduction of over-the-counter hearing aids and the advanced Apple AirPods Pro 2, customer options have been expanded, making it easier to address some forms of hearing loss. Implanted devices eliminate the limitations of external hearing aids and reduce the impact of hearing loss on their daily lives. Brent explains, "Part of the problem in the hearing loss industry has been that it's not well understood. So there has not been a great deal of competition and innovation in the hearing loss world. Most of us have thought about hearing loss and how it's addressed by looking to our grandparents, the elders. Plenty of people joke about our dads or our grandfathers not being able to hear our grandmothers. When I tell people I'm in

Caleb Manscill, President of Vyne Medical, has a mission to present a holistic view of data, from origination to use, within a healthcare organization. The goal is to guide them to find ways to streamline the workflow, save time, reduce errors and costs, and improve patient outcomes. Using AI to handle faxes, data entry, and other administrative tasks can free up staff to handle issues that require human intervention. Vyne Medical provides insights about implementing technology and overcoming cultural resistance to changes in healthcare organizations.  Caleb explains, "We've got multiple use cases, but I'll speak to two. The first one is the simple handling of faxes. There's lots of unstructured data coming into different points of care. In this case, I'll talk about the hospital, but there are lots of referrals being made. There are lab reports being sent and there's data that needs to be appended through HIM. Often, this data will come in through the fax machine as unstructured data, and individuals will p

Andre Esteva is the CEO and Co-Founder of Artera, a company focused on improving prostate cancer diagnostics. The company uses an AI-driven test, validated in large-scale clinical trials, to analyze a tumor biopsy or surgical specimen and predict response to therapy and likely long-term outcomes. This helps inform treatment decisions, reduce the risk of over-treatment, and support healthcare equity in diverse patient populations. Plans are underway to expand the AI-driven diagnostic tools to other solid tumor types leveraging the ability of AI to learn across different cancers.   Andre explains, "In general, when it comes to the treatment of prostate cancer, and this is true for most cancers, clinicians tend to be conservative, rightfully so, and there is a tendency to overtreat patients. You see, when it comes to assigning a therapy to a patient, there's this notion of the optimal therapy, and you want to get it right. If you undertreat your patient, the disease will progress, and nobody wants their cancer

Len D'Avolio is the CEO of Blue Circle Health a program launched with the support of the Helmsley Charitable Trust to provide care, education, and support to adults with type 1 diabetes. The program provides free, remote support for 6 months including access to continuous glucose monitors, endocrinologists, counseling, insurance navigation, and affordable insulin and clinical care. The program aims to address the care gaps that exists for people with T1D and support them to better manage their condition.   Len explains, "The Helmsley Charitable Trust, which is a major philanthropic donor to the space dedicated to improving the lives of people with T1D, basically recognized that there's this big care gap between what people with T1D need to live healthy lives and what the US healthcare system tends to provide, based on what is or isn't reimbursable. So, they gathered a bunch of experts and conducted a number of focus groups and decided they'd like to close that gap. They formed Blue Circle Health as a free ca

Henry O'Connell is the CEO and Co-Founder of Canary Speech, which analyzes voice biomarkers to detect various medical conditions, including neurological disorders like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and cognitive decline. Their approach looks at the underlying mechanisms of speech controlled by the central nervous system rather than the words spoken. The technology has been validated to correlate with clinical diagnoses at a high accuracy level. It provides real-time, objective assessments to healthcare providers, which could help overcome biases and reveal early signs of the presence of a disease. Henry explains, "Canary Speech is now about eight years old. Jeff Adams, my business partner and friend, and I created Canary Speech to evaluate voice for a range of different human conditions and diseases. We actually established an approach that was unique in the market. Jeff has a history of innovation in voice and voice analysis. He was the lead that developed the first natural language processing commercial tools.

Greg Mayes, President and CEO of Reunion Neuroscience, is developing a psychedelic therapy for the treatment of postpartum depression. This serious acute, non-chronic mental health condition affects an estimated 20% of women after giving birth.  A phase two trial is underway to evaluate how RE-104, a rapid-acting psilocybin-like novel molecule, can help women with moderate to severe postpartum depression get faster relief compared to existing treatments. Greg explains, "The course of our psychedelic administration is significant because we believe it can be shorter in time period than other psilocybin-like treatments. In our case, we were able to establish it as 3.7 hours. Because it's a psychedelic and it is for an acute and non-chronic indication, we believe that women who take our product will see a rapid uptake and potentially day of administration benefit of the psychedelic therapy. Our phase two study is called the RECONNECT study because it's named for women reconnecting with themselves, their families

Dr. Adrian Quartel, Chief Medical Officer at Zevra Therapeutics, has received FDA approval for their drug MIPLYFFA in combination with miglustat, the first treatment in the US for Niemann-Pick type C, an ultra-orphan disease. This hard to diagnose, rare genetic lysosomal storage disorder affects the recycling of cholesterol and lipids in cells, leading to neurological and physical problems. The Amplify Assist program has been set up to help patients access and afford the treatment. Adrian elaborates, "Niemann-Pick C is a very rare or ultra-orphan disease. It's one of what is considered a lysosomal storage disorder. I'll try to explain a little bit about what that means. So lysosomes are little organelles or little systems within the cell that are basically the waste disposal system from the cell. They break down worn-out parts on the inside of the cells, or they break down harmful molecules and waste products. They're effectively recycling materials in the cell. So, any lysosomal storage disorder actually af

Dr. Shika Pappoe, CMO and COO of Carna Health is working to identify and treat chronic kidney disease earlier through screening tests. This is a breakthrough for a disease that often shows no symptoms until the damage is irreversible. Using technology and AI-powered risk prediction models to improve early detection and intervention for CKD can help slow or even halt the progression of the disease. In recent pilot programs in Bermuda and Cameroon, Carna Health found high rates of CKD and is working to connect those patients with the necessary care.   Shika explains, "Chronic kidney disease is a condition that has been growing over the years. We know that diabetes and hypertension are leading causes, and currently, CKD is the 10th leading cause of death globally. And by 2040, it's estimated that it will be the fifth cause of death. Carna is working on finding ways to identify kidney disease early so that we can slow progression and optimize the outcomes of patients around the world." "We are seeing globally inc

Karthik Ganesh, CEO at OnMed, is expanding access to healthcare through its CareStation, a self-contained medical pod that allows patients to receive comprehensive primary care services conveniently. The CareStation is designed to be easily deployed and operated in underserved communities, including rural areas, prisons, and foster care facilities. This scalable, hybrid approach provides a personalized examination using medical devices and cameras that allow a remote clinician to prescribe treatment and, if necessary, arrange for further actions.   Karthik explains, "The OnMed CareStation gives you the psychological comfort and the confidence of a comprehensive primary care visit. With the rapid scalability and the convenience of telemedicine, it essentially takes the best of both worlds between virtual care and traditional care while also neutralizing the inherent scalability weaknesses and experience weaknesses of both of those. This is why we look at OnMed really as a hybrid care company and the CareStati

George Eliades, the CEO of Mythic Therapeutics a company focused on the next generation of antibody-drug conjugates, ADCs, to treat cancer. Their approach aims to expand the population of patients who can benefit from ADCs by targeting proteins expressed at low levels on cancer cells. The company's lead candidate targets the MET protein in non-small cell lung cancer cells and is designed to deliver chemotherapy more selectively and effectively to cancer cells using the FateControl ™ technology. George explains, "We try to be different in two important ways for patients. If you think about ADCs, they've been around for a long time with the promise of bringing chemotherapy-like efficacy, but the safety of a targeted therapy because so much less chemo is being administered to the patient and that chemo is going directly, at least in theory, to the cancer cell. That was sort of the first promise. The second thing that's happened over the years is that the patients who benefit from ADCs tend to be a very small su

Karl Ulfers, CEO and Co-Founder of DUOS, helps older adults and their caregivers access government benefits and programs to improve the quality of life and enable aging in place. Working with Medicare Advantage and dual-eligible health plans, DUOS uses a combination of technology, generative AI, and personalized support to help patients navigate the system to apply for and receive state, Federal, and VA benefits and services. The focus is on addressing the social determinants of health and health equity, especially in rural and underserved communities.   Karl explains "It's really interesting when you study these individuals that we work with. We tend to get about 15% of a payer's population activated and using our service, which is pretty high. And the people that make up that population, it's quite interesting - 88% of them make less than $28,000 a year. They're, on average, about 74 years old. They tend to skew female versus male and value what we bring to them in terms of helping them tap into these bene

Dr. Ed Glynn, Chief Clinical Officer at RhythmX AI, is bridging the gap between real-world clinical data and the use of artificial intelligence. One of the key problems RhythmX is trying to solve is the cognitive burden on primary care clinicians to understand all relevant details about each patient. Using the RhythmX platform, an AI-enabled intelligent assistant sits alongside the doctor to summarize patient information, track progress, and provide recommendations to help provide more holistic, patient-centered care.   Ed explains, "Our vision is to really pioneer hyper-personalized care. We do this by enabling clinicians, specialists, and care teams to deliver the right care, at the right time for the right patient and the right channel. We do this through a very clear focus on marrying both real-world clinicians- clinicians who are out there on the front lines and see patients - with deep artificial intelligence experience. And we have a number of years in many different engineers in the background taking

Marina Bigsby, Chief Customer Experience Officer at AccessOne, focuses on providing financial products and services to help make healthcare more affordable for patients and improve the physicians' revenue cycle management. The aim is to provide more transparency and payment options upfront to avoid situations where patients forgo needed care. Using AccessOne's technology and mobile payment solution, providers collect payments faster and proactively identify and address operational inefficiencies and staffing challenges.   Marina explains, "We're a technology company. We partner with our providers and look at their various situations. Their situation might be that they have a pocket of their population with high debt problems, or maybe there is a staff shortage or some other operational efficiency challenge. We're designing a product that works for them. Our platform is highly configurable, and we built something that works for them and helps them collect more so they can allocate funds to wherever they need.

Aaron Patzer, Founder and CEO of Vital, focuses on the stress on patients and clinicians created in urgent care, emergency rooms, and hospitals. The Vital platform provides real-time updates and plain-language explanations for patients on their mobile devices. Managing expectations for wait times, connecting to electronic health records, and providing discharge instructions increases patient satisfaction, reduces the burden on doctors and nurses, and causes and addresses staff turnover.     Aaron explains, "Everything is done on your mobile phone. You step into a hospital, whether it's urgent care or an emergency visit, or if you're admitted to stay overnight, it's called an inpatient stay. You'll get a text message. So it'll say, welcome to Children's of Los Angeles. Do you want to see what your wait times are? To understand your test results, click here. All you have to do is click this special link, like an airline record locator or password reset link. It can only be used by you. It's secure and brings u