Empowered Patient Radio Podcast

Joe Hickey is the Vice President of Provider Markets at Verato, which is a healthcare-focused identity management company. Identity fragmentation has been treated as a technical afterthought rather than a strategic infrastructure priority, resulting in denied claims, poor patient experience, and unreliable analytics. The Verato master data management approach uses AI to handle name variations, incomplete data, and complex matching to identify errors before they cascade throughout the enterprise. By addressing issues early, healthcare organizations can improve patient satisfaction, strengthen provider directories and referral management, and save money and increase revenue. Joe explains, "A big part of my role is to help executive teams think about identity not as a technical afterthought, but really more as a strategic infrastructure. When identity works the right way, everything downstream, like clinical care and digital engagement, analytics, and all-important AI, all of that works better. And that's becoming increasingly important as healthcare organizations invest more in digital engagement, analytics, interoperability, etc. And if that identity layer is wrong, everything built on top of it really becomes less reliable." "So Verato's been around for over a decade. We're purpose-built for healthcare, and at our core, we solve identity. We unify and manage patient, consumer, and provider identities. We do that across multiple systems so that organizations can operate from a single trusted identity layer and foundation." #Verarto #IdentityIntelligence #PatientIdentity #ProviderIdentity #IdentityInfrastructure #MasterDataManagement #MDM #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #PatientExperience #CustomerExperience #HealthcareInnovation #TrustedIdentity #DigitalHealth #HealthIT #AIinHealthcare #PatientEngagement #DataQuality Verato.com Download the transcript here

Mark Saxton, CEO of Baird Medical, highlights their microwave ablation technology, which is being used to address a significant treatment gap for benign thyroid nodules. This minimally invasive approach is an alternative to radiofrequency ablation, accommodates patients with pacemakers or other cardiac devices, and provides faster recovery. Unlike surgery, microwave ablation preserves thyroid function, eliminating the need for ongoing hormone replacement therapy Mark explains, "It's very interesting that we're focused on thyroid tumors because they're an extremely prevalent issue. Most of those tumors are benign, and for many of those patients, active surveillance, or what we call watchful waiting, is appropriate. But a portion of those may need more than that. Their nodules are growing, they're becoming symptomatic either cosmetically or they're compressing on their throat, and that becomes extremely bothersome for them." "A minimally invasive option, like a microwave, may be more appropriate for those patients than a surgery would be. The bottom line is there's still a huge gap between diagnosis and treatment, and that's an exciting problem for us to want to solve." "So surgery is extremely safe and very appropriate in many patients, but there is a scar, it's a surgery, you're under general anesthetic. The other thing that surgery does is if we do a thyroidectomy, we may be destroying the thyroid's ability, obviously, then to provide the hormones, T3 and T4, that regulate some of our metabolism. So with the microwave, we just destroy the nodule. We don't impact thyroid function in that way, so patients don't need that hormone replacement. So that's another great reason to move forward with something more minimally invasive." #BairdMedical #MicrowaveAblation #ThyroidMWA #MWA #ThyroidCare #ThyroidNodules #MinimallyInvasive #InterventionalEndocrinology #Endocrinology #PatientCare #MedicalDevices BairdMed.com Download the transcript here

Jack Silberstein, CEO of Deck Bio, is developing next-generation T cell engagers designed to activate the patient's immune system to shrink tumors. These T cell engagers are bispecific molecules that alert immune cells to recognize targets on cancer cells and kill them by binding to both the cancer cells and the T cells. While earlier T cell engagers have succeeded in treating blood cancers, Deck Bio focuses on solid tumors where previous approaches have failed. Their lead molecule demonstrates strong potency and high safety, showing a response in patients with treatment resistance across lung, gastric, esophageal, liver, and head and neck cancers. Jack explains, "At Deck Bio, we're focused on next-generation cancer immunotherapies called T cell engagers and are working to engage a patient's immune response to shrink tumors, extend patients' lifespan, and deliver durable benefits in treating cancer. For T cell engagers, there's been a lot of excitement recently because, in 2022, we had the first-ever T cell engager approved for solid tumors. We're looking to build on these learnings, expand the reach of T cell engagers, and drive greater durable benefit." "As you mentioned, these T cell engagers have been around for a while. With liquid tumors, there's a little bit of an easier problem to solve because, in terms of the cancer cells there, you're able to deplete them, and if you have any type of healthy tissue recognition of cells in your blood, that's not that terrible of a toxicity." "But in solid tumors, there's been a lot of failures in the field where people have tried to develop something against a solid tumor target that they thought was cancer-specific. Then, because of expression on other healthy tissues throughout the body, there were these dose-limiting toxicities. And just to level set in terms of what a T cell engager is, and help explain that, it's a bispecific molecule. What it most typically looks like is what people think of as an antibody, with that classical Y shape." #DeckBio #TCellEngagers #Immunotherapy #Solidtumors #TumorHeterogeneity #ImmunoOncology #TCellEngagers #SolidTumors #CancerImmunotherapy #OncologyInnovation #MultiTargetTherapy #HemOnc deck.bio Download the transcript here

Aaron Timm, CEO of Openwater, is driving the shift from single-purpose, room-sized equipment to multi-purpose, portable, light-weight medical devices designed on an open-source platform. Some tools use infrared light to measure blood flow in real time for applications such as stroke detection. Another device uses focused ultrasound to modulate tissue in the brain for treating neurodegenerative diseases and psychiatric conditions. The platform is designed so that a single hardware device can run multiple applications, allowing researchers to adapt and develop applications specific to their work, bringing innovation into the marketplace similar to the smartphone app environment. Aaron explains, "So we have two primary devices. One uses infrared light to measure blood flow and blood volume in real time. So that one is being used, for example, to measure blood flow to the brain to help determine whether someone is having a stroke. At the University of Pennsylvania, there was a study done using that device, where our device outperformed the existing stroke scales. The other device that we have is a focused ultrasound device. And what that device does is it uses sound waves or focused ultrasound to target and modulate tissue in the brain and elsewhere in the body. That's being used in research today for all sorts of neurodegenerative diseases, psychiatric diseases. And there's just a lot going on in the world of focused ultrasound, including using our devices." "So this focused ultrasound device and the science behind it eliminates the need for drugs or surgery and just uses focused ultrasounds to modulate or stimulate things within the brain, for example. It's used for everything from depression, anxiety, Alzheimer's disease, and addiction. Many different indications are being addressed in research using these kinds of devices, including ours." #OpenwaterHealth #MedTech, #NonInvasiveCare, #PortableHealthcare, #PatientAccess, #HealthcareInnovation #FocusedUltrasound #LIFU #Hemodynamics #Openwater #OpenLIFU #OpenMotion #DigitalHealth #Neurotechnology #StrokeCare #AIinHealthcare #OpenSourceMedicine #ClinicalResearch #WearableMedicalDevices #HealthcareInnovation openwater.health Download the transcript here

Professor Linda Macomber, a healthcare tech consultant at Renaissance Health, highlights the transformative potential of AI and digital health solutions, as well as the shift from siloed, symptom-focused care to holistic, personalized medicine. AI applications in healthcare have moved from deterministic expert systems to generative AI models that use genomic and longitudinal data from wearables for continuous monitoring and preventive care. Linda emphasizes that successful AI implementation requires viewing technology as a strategic investment rather than an expense, with a focus on actions that improve patient outcomes and clinicians' quality of life. Linda explains, "Well, I've certainly been involved in all areas of the healthcare ecosystem over the past 40 years. For the past 16 years, I have been a professor at National University, starting the Master of Science and Health Informatics program. The 30 years prior to that, working in different areas of software design and development in the early days with SAIC and the Department of Defense, then Kaiser Permanente, University of California systems, and then some work with community health centers as well. I'm a life fellow in HIMSS, which is only a few people who have been around long enough to have that designation. But started my career as an ICU nurse and still hold on to the clinical informatics side, look at it from the lens of a healthcare professional, as well as the tech, educator, and startup perspective. Most recently, I have been working with a number of different startups." "Well, certainly when it comes to the opportunities with AI in particular, things are moving so fast and looking at lots of different priorities and opportunities. When it comes to incremental change, it is always a little easier, but I think that opportunities are much bigger now for much more significant advancement of the care delivery system. Bringing care to people instead of people always having to travel to facilities for care, using digital systems in new ways to empower all of us, informing choice, and being much more proactive and personalized." #LindaMacomber #HealthcareInnovation #DigitalHealth #HealthInformatics #AIinHealthcare #ClinicalInformatics #Genomics #Wearables #PopulationHealth #Interoperability #MedicalEducation Renaissance.Health Download the transcript here

Alec Ford, CEO of Karius, has developed an innovative approach to diagnosing infections in immunocompromised patients, using DNA sequencing of blood samples to identify over 1,300 causes of infection within 24 hours. Traditional diagnostic methods rely on hypothesis-driven testing and the cultivation of organisms. At the same time, the Karius approach enables faster, more targeted antibiotic treatment, reduces unnecessary broad-spectrum antibiotics, and can identify infections that may not be included in the initial diagnosis. Time to proper treatment is essential for vulnerable populations, including cancer patients, HIV-positive individuals, organ transplant recipients, and those undergoing autoimmune therapies. Alec explains, "These are patients going through cancer treatment, patients with HIV, people going through solid organ transplantation, or people being treated assertively with autoimmune therapies for autoimmune disorders, where it may compromise their immune system. That really vulnerable patient is our exclusive focus as a company." "So, a patient gets admitted to the hospital for an infection. They take a sample of that patient's blood. And what we can do is diagnose over 1,300 causes of infection by sequencing the patient's blood for viruses, parasites, bacteria, and fungi that could threaten the success of their cancer treatment or solid organ transplant. There's never been a test in the history of infectious disease that can test for any DNA-based organism, and we do so. We can return a result 24 hours after we receive the sample." #Karius #InfectiousDisease #Diagnostics #Metagenomics #MedTech #KariusSpectrum #KariusFocus #NextGenSequencing #ImmunocompromisedCare #Oncology #TransplantMedicine #AntimicrobialStewardship #Genomics #MolecularDiagnostics #KariusTest #PatientSafety #HealthcareInnovation Kariusdx.com Download the transcript here

Lisa Gurry, Chief Business Officer at GeneDx, is transforming the diagnosis of rare diseases in children by providing comprehensive genetic testing. Using exome and genome sequencing, they deliver rapid, accurate results that enable early intervention and access to therapies. Through partnerships and a network of genetic counselors, GeneDx connects patients with specialists and clinical trials to ensure equal access for children and has established a comprehensive database that supports clinical care and drug development and helps identify previously undiagnosed or misdiagnosed conditions. Lisa explains, "The average diagnostic odyssey, or the time it takes to get a diagnosis, is tragically far too long for most families. It can take five years or more to get that diagnosis. And it's typically because the system tends to wait and see to provide the genetic tests that could give a diagnosis very quickly. At GeneDX, we've focused on exome and genome testing, which enables us to have a very comprehensive view across variants of potential diagnoses. And so that's our recommendation: any family that is experiencing a developmental delay has concerns with epilepsy, autism, or any number of genetic potential conditions. The beautiful part about a genetic test is that it can give you the answer you need to know what action to take." "It's remarkable how much science and technology have evolved. So we did our first exome test in 2011, and since then we've sequenced over one million exomes and genomes. So, a tremendous amount of progress has been made in the number of children that we've diagnosed. That's possible because science and technology have advanced, the cost of the test has dramatically reduced, and our ability to deliver that at scale is something that we've been investing in for the last 25 years." #GeneDx #RareDisease #Genomics #Pediatrics #PrecisionMedicine #GeneticTesting #Epilepsy #GeneTherapy #RealWorldData #Biopharma #ClinicalTrials #HealthcareInnovation genedx.com Download the transcript here

Kelvin Cooper, CEO of Lakewood-Amedex Biotherapeutics, has developed a novel class of antimicrobials that operate by disrupting bacterial and fungal cell membranes, rapidly killing the microorganisms. Traditional antimicrobials work by inhibiting bacterial growth, but bacteria have evolved resistance mechanisms against all drug classes, with multidrug-resistant strains becoming increasingly common. The company is focused on treating infected diabetic foot ulcers with a topical gel formulation that locally delivers a high drug concentration while minimizing systemic side effects. Kelvin explains, "You can go back all the way to the discovery of penicillin a century ago, and there was tremendous excitement around that. And then through the 40s, when they figured out how to deep tank ferment the antibacterials, the beta lactams, as it was then, again, there was no real indication that resistance was going to be that big of a problem." "What we have done at Lakewood-Amedex Biotherapeutics is we've discovered a completely new class of antimicrobials, and it's probably good to give some context of how most antimicrobials work. Typically, what they do is they will stop the bacteria from dividing and growing, and that prevents the bacteria from causing an infection. Now the bacteria and fungi have figured out ways to mutate around that. So they have a different way of building cell walls, for example. And that has become the big problem. Our class of agents hits a completely different type of mechanism. We believe that what happens, and we have good scientific data to show this, is that this class of agents attacks the membrane of bacteria and fungi. It disrupts the membrane, which allows the contents of whatever microbe it is to spill out, and it immediately kills the bacteria extremely rapidly." #LakewoodAmedex #AntimicrobialResistance #AMR #InfectiousDiseases #Antibiotics #Antimicrobials #DiabeticFoot #DiabeticFootUlcer #HealthcareInnovation #DiabeticCare #Biotech #PublicHealth #MedicalBreakthrough $LABT lakewoodamedex.com Download the transcript here

Harith Rajagopalan, Co-Founder and CEO of Fractyl Health, is developing innovative therapies that target the root causes of obesity and metabolic diseases to achieve durable, long-lasting patient outcomes. Their drug is designed to address post-GLP-1 rebound weight gain by treating the underlying gut damage. Unlike GLP-1 medications that manage symptoms through appetite suppression, the aim is to modify the disease driving the obesity and change the paradigm from a symptomatic treatment to one of disease modification. Harith explains, "Our focus at Fractyl is all about how to achieve durable results for patients, long-lasting benefits. And the way in which we try to do so is by targeting root causes of obesity and metabolic disease and developing innovative therapies, targeting those root causes that offer the potential for long-lasting benefit for patients." "I think that GLP-1s have been transformative, as you say, but they have in many ways created an altogether new problem called post-GLP-1 rebound. What we are seeing in the United States right now is that there are a million people a month who are stopping a GLP-1. The more effective GLP-1 was for them in weight and metabolic control, the more rapidly they rebounded to whatever their weight and metabolic control were prior to treatment." "Whereas what we are doing is with our lead asset, Revita, we are targeting a root cause of obesity in the gut, a region of the gut that becomes damaged by chronic lifetime exposure to high-fat, high-sugar diets that we think is actually driving the obesity in the first place. And so if you can fix the underlying obesity, then we think that you can prevent the rebound that inevitably occurs upon the discontinuation of the medicine." #FractylHealth #Revita #Rejuva #PopulationHealth #ObesityMedicine #Endocrinology #MetabolicHealth #GLP1 #Gastroenterology #DiabetesCare #GeneTherapy fractyl.com Download the transcript here

Lior Shaltiel, CEO of NurExone, is addressing the unmet needs of those with spinal cord injuries, as current therapies only treat symptoms and do not regenerate damaged nerves from accidents or disease. The NurExone technology aims to stimulate nerve growth by targeting a protein that inhibits cell proliferation. Using exosomes, which are secreted by cells, to deliver the drug in a localized manner is possible because of the ability of the exosomes to home in on damaged tissues and cross the blood-brain barrier. Lior explains, "At the moment, the medicine can only treat it by treating the symptoms. There are a few attempts to try to regenerate the nerves that are broken and to have the reconnection of the spinal cord injury or any damage in the central nervous system. And this is a huge challenge for medicine, so far not solved. And when we solve it, we prepare to answer and give hope to so many patients, not only in spinal cord injury, but also in other injuries, such as traumatic brain injury, optic nerve, and ophthalmology. So many nerves that we have so far not been able to restore the function after the damage." "So traumatic, meaning we are talking about injury, the acute phase of a disease or illness. In most cases, let's say, spinal cord injury is due to injury, car accidents, or sports accidents. But, for example, ophthalmology, glaucoma, which is a chronic disease, can also cause damage to the optic nerve that cannot be restored. So it can be due to another illness, as a side effect of the illness, or due to injury." "So we discussed the RNA. This is one part of the technology here. Second, the technology of using our natural transmitter in our body, which is how cells communicate with each other, is called exosomes. Exosomes are tiny vesicles secreted from cells with tiny envelopes that a healthy tissue sends to a damaged tissue, a cell that is affected, or a cell that doesn't feel good. And when we understand this mechanism, we can use those exosomes as a drug delivery system." #NurExone #Exosomes #SpinalCordInjury #NeuroRegeneration #PTEN #siRNA #DrugDelivery #Neurology #RegenerativeMedicine #Nanomedicine nurexone.com Download the transcript here

Peter Swimm, Founder of Toilville, is a conversational AI pioneer, and he describes the transformation in healthcare resulting from the use of AI and large language models to address clinician burnout and improve patient outcomes. He emphasizes that technology should adapt to practitioners' workflows rather than forcing practitioners to change their behavior. Human oversight is essential to ensure accuracy and transparency, and Peter advocates for a culture shift where time saved through the use of AI is reinvested in higher-quality patient care and clinician satisfaction. Peter explains, "I think a lot of people think of their problems as a unique snowflake in the world. I think if we boil the ocean down to its elements, it is an understanding of the system of its inhabitants. And so we do a lot of work with small businesses and clients who typically have worked for big companies, and they've chafed at all the rules and the boundaries and the problems. They leave the big company and want to run their own show, but they lose that infrastructure." "A lot of times, they turn to tools like AI and automation, or they buy software products that don't entirely fit their thinking. And so we help them negotiate that pattern where the technology molds to what the presentation layer is and how you want to treat things and handle your data. And you don't change away from what your competitive advantage is, which is being a unique and talented person who runs the show the way they see best." "So I think the challenge is, don't let your FOMO be FAFO. Just because everyone's telling you to do AI and you don't really understand it and you don't see the positive outcomes, don't assume it's like a lack of training on your part." #SPELWork #Toilville #OptInPodcast #ResonantDiversification #AIGovernance #ResponsibleAI #ConsentFirst #DigitalHealth #HealthTech #HealthIT #ClinicalAI #HealthcareAI #PatientAdvocacy #ClinicianBurnout #HealthEquity #SDOH #AIAccountability #AIEthics #AISafety #ConsentFirst #DataSovereignty #HumanInTheLoop #HealthcareInnovation#DigitalHealth #PhysicianBurnout #HealthIT #ConversationalAI #PatientCare toilville.com Download the transcript here

Richard Garr, CEO and General Counsel of Curative Biotechnology, discusses the company's work in repurposing the diabetes drug metformin into an eye drop for degenerative eye diseases. The goal of the therapy is retinal preservation, aiming to slow or stop disease progression by acting at the cellular level in the back of the eye to protect it from damage, offering a non-invasive alternative to current treatments. Using a repurposed drug allows the company to build on well-documented safety data and reduces the size, cost and duration of clinical trials. Richard explains, "We are currently focused on repurposing the drug metformin, which is an FDA-approved drug that diabetics take. And as it turns out, we have reformulated it into an eye drop. This is licensed from the National Eye Institute. We have worldwide exclusive rights. The first patent in that estate was allowed about two months ago in Canada. We would expect it to be issued this summer. It's being prosecuted around the world." "We believe that it is a platform drug and that we'll be able to treat a wide range of degenerative eye diseases. It's repurposed because it is an approved FDA drug. It's been taken for decades orally by literally tens of millions of patients, mostly with type two diabetes. And really, the importance of that is that we know it's a safe systemically. So, everything you could want to know about the metformin systemically is known. What we have to show in our clinical trials is that it's safe in the eye and that it does, in fact, do what we suspect it does to treat degenerative eye disease." #CurativeBiotech #Ophthalmology #Retina #Neuroprotection #DryAMD #EyeCare #DrugRepurposing #Metformin #HealthcareInnovation #ClinicalResearch #CurativeBiotech CurativeBiotech.com Download the transcript here

Dan O'Toole, Founder and CEO of Arrive AI, is bringing asynchronous autonomous delivery systems to healthcare environments, enabling robots and drones to make deliveries without the recipient needing to be present. The goal is to automate logistical tasks to solve major inefficiencies in hospitals, freeing skilled workers from moving samples and supplies, which in turn improves the quality of care and reduces clinician burnout. The system is presented as a way to make processes better, faster, fresher, cheaper, greener, and safer by eliminating bottlenecks and ensuring sample integrity through features such as temperature control and a security chain of custody. Dan explains, "I love that you started out with the term asynchronous. Nobody ever even knows what that is. So I applaud you. Thank you. That is the key to autonomy. Without it, you're not unlocking the full value of autonomy. So basically here at Arrive AI what we are doing is we're building the next network and platform to support and scale all kinds of autonomous delivery, whether it's robots, drones, unmanned vehicles, and still supporting conventional delivery, UPS, US Postal Service, and others. So we're excited about that." "But right now, anytime autonomous delivery happens, two things have to happen. You have to be there to meet the mode of delivery, and it has to be there to meet you. When you have an Arrive Point™ in that ecosystem, you've unlocked all the value of autonomous delivery because now the robot can beat you there. It can drop off the item that you're expecting at your Arrive Point and go on to its next mission without being held up." #ArriveAI #AutonomousDelivery #HealthcareInnovation #HospitalRobotics #FutureOfHealthcare #DroneDelivery #HospitalOperations #ClinicalWorkflow #DigitalHealth #PatientSafety #LabMedicine #HealthcareLogistics #AIinHealthcare arriveai.com Download the transcript here

Daniele De Mari, Founder and CEO of Neurogram, points out the significant problem of non-standardized data formats in EEG (electroencephalography), compared to the universal standard used in radiology. Neurogram has developed a hardware-agnostic, cloud-based solution that standardizes EEG data from various manufacturers, integrates with EMRs, significantly improves clinical workflows, and is accessible from any computer. With improved data security and the ability to analyze large datasets, this platform can support advances in biomarker development for neurological conditions and stimulate more clinical research and collaboration. Daniele explains, "So the problem is not 100% on medical exams. It happens exclusively on EEG, and that makes it worse, because it doesn't happen everywhere, it's actually worse for EEG scans. So, knowing a parallel between EEG scans and radiology, every data point in radiology is DICON. So DICON is a universal file format that is standardized. I can send you a DICON over email or to your phone, WhatsApp, and you can open it on your phone. That's how universal it is. That's how open the file type is. It's compatible with EMRs. And so that's awesome. And that's one of the reasons why radiology grows so much. And EEG, it's an electroencephalogram. We have, I would say, 15 different brands around the world. In Brazil, we have seven. In the US, we have top like four or five companies, and they all export data in a different file format. So brand A has its own format, brand B has its own format, brand C, and so forth." "So we managed to be compatible with most of the brands out there, most of the EEG brands out there. We have a solution that is 100% agnostic and 100% in the cloud, which means we can read from multiple EEG devices out there. If you record in brand A, and I'm not going to say the brands in the podcast, but if you require data from brand A, brand B, brand C, all of it gets standardized into one unified system. So the physician no longer has to log into multiple devices in multiple systems, and it's all in one place. As I said, it's 100% in the cloud, so they can access from a Mac computer, which is now impossible to read EEGs from a Mac computer. Now you can do this. It's compliant. It's HIPAA compliant. We're moving towards the FDA approval process right now for the system, although we're actually selling in Brazil." #Neurogram #EEG #HealthcareIT #ClinicalNeurophysiology #DigitalHealth #HealthDataStandardization #EMRIntegration #MedicalAI #PatientSafety #HealthcareInnovation neurogram.com Download the transcript here

Zach Henderson, CEO at MindMaze Therapeutics, has designed a precision neurotherapeutic solution designed to offer a scalable, engaging and immersive platform for patients recovering from strokes or managing Parkinson's disease. The solution is deployed across the entire care continuum from hospital to the patient's home, providing high-intensity therapy during the neuroplastic window. The emphasis is on augmenting therapists' care by equipping them with tools to encourage therapy adherence and with data to deliver precise, personalized care. Zach explains, "So at a very high level, there are millions and millions of people across the neurology spectrum who need this type of neuro rehabilitation, neurotherapeutic solutions, either with a therapist or without, but there are only so many therapists to go around. So there's a massive supply-demand imbalance that frankly cannot be, despite the efforts of the great therapists out there, it can never be filled without resorting to technology. And that's the exact gap that we're trying to fill in the marketplace." "So MindMaze Therapeutics has a suite of solutions that are deployed across the whole continuum of care. So from acute care to the hospital to inpatient rehabilitation facilities, IRFs, to long-term acute care, to skilled nursing facilities, to outpatient, and all the way even patients taking the technology home. And then in that way, we're meeting the patient wherever they may happen to be. We're supporting the health system around the world. And importantly, we're giving therapy in this important neuroelastic window, which, in some studies, is the first 90 days following, say, a stroke, and in other studies, it goes all the way up to six months. And we're helping the health systems around the world scale their ability to treat even more patients at a very high and even improved rate." #MindMaze #ParkinsonsDisease #DigitalHealth #Neuroplasticity #PrecisionMedicine #Physiatry #Neurology #PhysicalTherapy #OccupationalTherapy #RehabInnovation #HealthTech MindMazeTherapeutics.com Download the transcript here

Dr. Matthew Goldberg, Senior Vice President for Medical at Castle Biosciences, discusses the uncertainty clinicians face when determining treatments for skin cancer due to the limitations of traditional pathology reports. Castle's gene expression profile tests were developed to improve the accuracy of risk stratification for patients with cutaneous melanoma and high-risk cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. These tests provide prognostic information by analyzing the tumor's RNA, offering more granular and accurate risk assessment and informing about the intensity of follow-up and long-term risk management strategies. Matthew explains, "So this is an important topic for dermatologists who are really on the front lines of skin cancer diagnosis and management for patients who are confronting skin cancer today. I'm a board-certified dermatologist and dermatopathologist by training. And to me, I think that the core uncertainty is centered around some of the known limitations around the prognostic accuracy of pathology. That's kind of worth unpacking here, but I think what it comes down to is that dermatologists are involved in identifying concerning skin lesions, identifying and, through biopsy, taking a skin sample, and finding skin cancers." "Dermatopathologists are the collaborative colleagues who interpret the skin biopsy samples and return the pathological diagnoses to the dermatologist. For the treating clinician, the key task is to understand the implications of the types of skin cancers identified in this process to determine the most appropriate, risk-aligned downstream management for patients with these skin cancers." "So Castle Biosciences has developed a range of tests that are really focused on impactful skin cancers that are some of the biggest challenges for dermatologists and the patients that we serve in the clinic, specifically around cutaneous melanoma with the DecisionDx-Melanoma gene expression profile test and also high-risk cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas with the DecisionDx-SCC test." #CastleBiosciences #SkinCancer #CancerCare #HealthcareInnovation #Dermatology #MolecularDiagnostics #PrecisionMedicine #RiskStratification #ClinicalDecisionMaking #DigitalPathology #Oncology #Melanoma #SquamousCellCarcinoma #GeneExpression #SharedDecisionMaking castlebiosciences.com Download the transcript

Joseph Pandolfino, Founder and CEO of Cabbacis, is focused on reducing harm caused by smoking cigarettes by developing cigarettes made from a blend of low-nicotine tobacco and hemp. This approach is intended to help smokers reduce their nicotine dependence and increase the success rate of those who are looking to quit smoking. Their products are targeted to established smokers by providing the taste and sensory experience of a traditional cigarette while providing significantly less nicotine and a path to less harmful non-combustible products. Joseph explains, "So our products in development are called iBlend. We'll stick with the cigarette right now. So iBlend is predominantly very low-nicotine tobacco, and you add hemp to the product. Hemp became legal at the federal level in 2018 for farmers. So every iBlend is the merger of very low-nicotine tobacco and hemp, which really creates the taste and sensory characteristics of a cigarette that just has very little nicotine tobacco." "As I mentioned, currently nicotine is reduced by about 95%. They give you a little bit of nicotine but not enough to really sustain addiction. So the result is that people smoke less cigarettes and it has greatly increased their quit attempts. And while they reduce their nicotine exposure and dependence, if they choose to switch to a non-combustible, we consider that a win as far as we're concerned." #Cabbacis $CABI #EmpoweredPatient #HarmReduction #TobaccoHarmReduction #SmokingCessation #QuitSmoking #iBlend #FDA #PublicHealth #TobaccoControl #PublicHealth #Healthcare cabbacis.com Download the transcript here

Sten Sörensen, CEO of Cereno Scientific, discusses work on epigenetic modulation to treat the rare disease Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension, a progressive and fatal condition for which current treatments primarily manage symptoms. Core pathological processes of PAH include inflammation, fibrosis, and the growth of muscle cells in the pulmonary artery. Cereno's approach aims to be disease-modifying by targeting these conditions with HDAC inhibitors to regulate the production of essential proteins, potentially preventing or reversing disease. Sten explains, "We are working with something called epigenetic modulation. You know what DNA is, the map for our body and the protein production in our cells, that's the map. But the map needs guidance to produce essential proteins that are important for the body's function. The regulation of the production of essential proteins from the DNA map is regulated by epigenetic modulators. So sometimes that regulation can go wrong, and then it needs to be adjusted. And we are working with molecules with a mode of action that has epigenetic modulation. And these molecules are called, in this case, HDAC inhibitors." "Well, the rare disease pulmonary arterial hypertension has a number of characteristics that propel the disease forward, and for the patient, that is very detrimental. And as we know, pulmonary arterial hypertension mostly affects women, and in the end, the disease is that you actually pass away. So you die normally of right heart failure, and the survival time is approximately seven to seven and a half years from diagnosis. So it's a very severe, rare disease, and current therapies are more directed to relieve symptoms than actually act to slow down, halt, or even reverse this detrimental progression of the disease." #CerenoScientific #RareDisease #PAH #PulmonaryArterialHypertension #PulmonaryHypertension #PatientCentricity #ClinicalDevelopment #Biotech #CardiovascularResearch #RightHeartFailure #RareDiseaseAwareness #PHawareness #HDAC #HDACinhibitor #Epigenetics #Cardiology #Pulmonology #CS1 #DiseaseModification #ClinicalTrials cerenoscientific.com Download the transcript here

Debra Berenson is Chair of the Fundraising Committee at the Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research and author of two books- I Have WHAT and You Have WHAT, based on her personal experience and the expertise of her husband, Dr. Jim Berenson, a myeloma expert. Multiple myeloma and related bone cancers are increasingly common, and her books are designed to help patients and caregivers understand the diagnosis and treatment options. Debra emphasizes that treatments have advanced significantly, leading to much longer, higher-quality lives for patients and transforming these diseases into chronic, manageable conditions. Debra explains, "I thought, "If I had this disease, what would I do?" And I used to be a reporter, so that's how I told my husband I wanted to write these books - like interviews. I wanted to interview different patients with these diseases. I wanted to get the real stories out there of what it was really like having one of these diseases - the good, bad, and the ugly of dealing with all of them, and what helped these patients and what didn't help them." "I also thought it would be cathartic for the patient who could share their journey, and also helpful for the new patient. That's the first part of the book - interviews with the different patients who have the four different diseases that Jim treats. The second part of the book is made up of the medical professionals who treat these diseases. I interviewed Jim about myeloma and its related diseases and asked him to weigh in with his medical opinions in a general sense. So complications do arise as we discussed earlier. I interviewed a cardiologist targeting amyloidosis, and there's a periodontist talking about osteonecrosis of the jaw, which means part of the jaw dies. And so you have to have a special periodontist who knows how to replace a tooth or take a tooth out. Dental health is so important. So, that's the second part of the book. And I learned so much going out with these medical professionals who treat the complications." #IMBCR #MultipleMyeloma #MGUS #Waldenstroms #Amyloidosis #Hematology #Oncology #BerensonCancerCenter #sBCMA #ClinicalResearch #PatientCare #LiveBetterLiveLonger IMBCR.org Download the transcript here

Brian Robertson, Founder and CEO of VisiQuate, describes the relationship between payers and providers, noting that payers have the advantage due to unified data and lower complexity than providers face. He emphasizes that providers could level the playing field by unifying their data and leveraging AI to predict and prevent claim denials and solve systemic problems. The ultimate goal of using data and AI in the revenue cycle should be patient-centered, ensuring that the technology leads to more accurate billing and better outcomes for patients, providers, and payers. Brian explains, "I would say in general, and I think a lot of us in the industry know this, the payer or the health plan has the edge, partly because they have fewer jobs to be done every day. They manage a financial risk engine for the most part. And if you consider that the other side of that is the provider who has to have all the upfront labor, all of the upfront dollars, they have to think about every permutation of care and patient satisfaction and physician satisfaction. So good care benefits for patients. So there are a thousand jobs to be done on the provider side, and I'll just say fewer jobs to be done on the health plan side. And the health plan side controls the money." "I think in today's world of AI, he who has the more unified data has the edge. And I think there's little debate that the payer right now has the edge because they have a unified dataset and are a financial risk engine. So, I think the opportunity is for providers to use the power of data now to begin to bring a little bit more balance to that question. And they've got a hard job ahead of them, for sure." "So our core value proposition is really centered on data unification. We're getting into many case accounts, transactions, charges, claim files, remittance files, and third-party data sets from providers who sometimes are on one system of record. Often, they're on many systems of record. So we have to get all of that fragmented data, normalize, cleanse, unify, and curate that data for action." #VisiQuate #HealthcareFinance #RevenueCycleManagement #AIinHealthcare #DataUnification #DeniedClaims #HealthIT #PayerProvider #PatientExperience VisiQuate.com Download the transcript here