Empowered Patient Podcast

Dr. Matthew Powell, professor of obstetrics and gynecology and Chief of the Gynecological Oncology Division at Washington University. He was also a clinical investigator in the pivotal trial leading to the approval of Jemperli, a treatment for endometrial cancer. This is an immunotherapy drug that works well for certain types of endometrial cancer and is now used in more than ten different cancers, decreasing the chance of the cancer progressing. Matthew explains, "Some syndromes certainly can cause an increased risk of endometrial cancer. One was named after Dr. Henry Lynch, who first described it called Lynch syndrome, also known as hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer syndrome because the patients are not only at risk for endometrial cancer, but they're also at risk for colon cancer. So, we see a lot of families where there's both uterine and colon cancer in the family, and that's one where that genetic risk is there." "When it came to therapies for patients who had disease that had spread, we, over

Sandesh Seth, the CEO and Chairman of Actinium Pharmaceuticals uses targeted radiotherapy to effectively destroy diseased bone marrow and allow new bone marrow to take over the immune functions. This approach offers a way for those currently unable to receive a transplant to have a chance for a transplant and potentially be cured of acute myeloid leukemia. Sandesh explains, "What we've shown in our Phase 3 program is we could take patients with acute myeloid leukemia, one of the deadliest cancers known to man, where drugs don't work on these patients, and they live about two to three months unless they can get a bone marrow transplant. With our lead drug, Iomab-B, we've shown that we can take non-transplantable patients because they're too weak or frail, and drugs don't work on them. And they have active disease, so they live only about three months. They can't get a transplant because they're too weak. And if you give them drugs, they may die. Or if you give them the conditioning needed to wipe out their di

Brian Whorley, Founder and CEO of Paytient, has created health payment accounts to help patients and their families manage medical costs.  Working with employers, Paytient offers fee-free, interest-free funds to cover deductibles, out-of-pocket charges, and veterinary services.  Using an employer-supplied Visa card, healthcare charges can be paid back over time based on individual circumstances.   Brian explains, "The Paytient card lives alongside your HSA. It lives alongside your FSA. It helps to preserve or protect those balances and gives people time, peace of mind, and security that no matter what happens throughout the year, they have dollars to pay for care. Folks can just swipe the Paytient card, pay the provider, and then pick up and split that transaction into a payment plan that works best for them and their family's budget. They can select the source of funds, like essentially a healthcare wallet that's always full. They can choose to repay Paytient via a linked bank account. They can do just payr

Dr. Bill Kerr, Co-Founder and CEO of Avalon Healthcare Solutions, sheds light on the value of genetic data and is focused on getting the science of gene sequencing better understood. Genetic testing can identify opportunities for treatment and specific mutations that can lead to a more precise therapy. With the abundance of genetic tests available, interpreting the results correctly is the challenge. Bill elaborates, "Our job is to get the science of lab testing adopted in the industry. We have done that by working with health plans that have to adopt coverage for the testing, to be paid for the labs that perform the testing, and then the physician experts who either define the testing when it's useful or who are ordering the testing. We live in an ecosystem where we work with all those parties to ensure that good genetic testing is adopted, that the results are understood, and that they are acted upon appropriately." "The real issue is understanding when a test can be useful to a patient and a doctor. Just

KimberLee Heidmann is the Executive VP of Patient Experience and Customer Success at Scout Clinical, a third-party provider of patient services for clinical trial participants and their families. As a global partner of sponsors of trials, Scout oversees travel, visas, housing and accommodations, and patient payments. Working with underserved communities and patients with rare diseases, Scout removes barriers to participation in clinical trials and supports researchers in their care of patients and trial protocols. KimberLee elaborates, "Right now, the focus in clinical research is very much on diversity and inclusion and health equity. We're excited about that because we're passionate about that here at Scout. We're uniquely positioned to help the sponsors and the sites with those hard-to-reach patient populations. You're seeing a lot more in clinical research, especially in the rare disease space, where we're even looking at cross-border enrollment and bringing patients from underserved populations to areas

Zach Markin, Co-Founder and CEO of HTD Health, is focused on working with clients to develop technology solutions to improve workflow, reduce the time spent on data entry, and provide patient information at the appropriate level of detail on demand. While digital infrastructure supports the integration of health records and related patient information, human interaction is critical to improving patient care and the ability of clinicians to care for a broader audience. Zach explains, "Generally, I wouldn't try to persuade someone who thinks technology is not useful. I would not try to persuade someone to use technology. That's not a compelling way to engage with someone of that mindset. Instead, I would work to establish a more compelling value-based connection based on what that person cares about. If that's a doctor or a nurse, a health system administrator, or someone else who is likely skeptical or rightfully skeptical of yet another technology initiative, I would work to understand what the priorities th

Kathy Ford is the Chief Product and Strategy Officer at Ronin, applying AI and deep data mining to determine relevant cohorts to develop better cancer treatment plans.  Looking at patient-specific data, including genetics, comorbidities, and risk factors, allows medical oncologists and patients to predict results and more accurately anticipate and prevent adverse events. The Ronin AI-based solution also educates patients in real-time as they go through their treatment. Kathy explains, "At Ronin, we are determined to leverage the power of all of the underutilized data in healthcare to better inform clinicians to make a more patient-specific decision faster, essentially, at the point of care. And we're starting in oncology to do so, the most complex disease. We are leveraging all the unclean and uncorrelated data, delivering it to the clinician, adding insights and intelligence, and speeding up decisions. We collaborated with MD Anderson to build the solution. So built with clinicians for clinicians. And we're

Maria Pereira Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer at TISSIUM, discusses her journey to develop a biocompatible, biodegradable polymer to enable atraumatic surgical procedures for tissue repair. This new polymer technology can be used as a sealant and adhesive to replace the use of tacks and sutures to repair blood vessels, nerve damage, and meshes without the use of any penetrating or traumatic fixation.  Maria explains, "At TISSIUM, we are developing a new core technology, a new material that can be used for a traumatic tissue repair. We are leveraging a material that has been originally developed at MIT. One of the features of this material is that it can be used as a sealant or an adhesive, or even as a resin for 3D printing and drug delivery. And we can apply this material in surgery to enable surgical procedures in an atraumatic way."  "Currently, we're developing products across three main domains, including cardiovascular, where we use the material as a sealant to stop blood leaks during cardiovas

David Esposito, President and CEO of ONL Therapeutics, is focused on back-of-the-eye diseases such as open-angle glaucoma, dry age-related macular degeneration, and retinal detachment. Their drug ONL1204 targets retina cells to block the Fas receptor to reduce damage to the eye.  This small peptide is delivered via an injection in the eye to slow the progression of retinal diseases. David elaborates, "The Fas receptor is a common pathophysiology in a number of cells of the body. Your audience may be familiar with oncology treatments, so therapies to treat cancer often try to develop a drug that activates the Fas receptor to trigger the death of those cancer cells. Those have been around for several decades, looking at fas receptors in other disease states. We have been the only ones focused in ophthalmology and eye diseases focused on the Fas receptor to protect retina cells."  "I think certainly with fas receptors in the eye, what's very interesting is that it is a common pathophysiology across a variety of

Nima Ahmadi, CEO of The Wound Company, highlights the need for qualified and certified wound care experts to work with patients on a continuous basis. This kind of relationship allows the care provider to proactively manage the wound to ensure efficient healing as quickly as possible.  Personalized plans are created using AI and data analysis, considering the patient's risk factors and specific details about the wound and their general health condition.  Nima explains, "We think about being in a continuous relationship with everybody who has a wound, ensuring its healing. Then, we continue to be proactive as we manage patients who are at risk of new wounds or repeat wounds so that we're doing everything we can preventatively to prevent that from happening. This is completely different than how we've approached wound care for the last few decades." "We have certified experts, and our vision is that in ten years, every single American with a wound will have a certified wound care expert from The Wound Company a

Dr. Monique Nugent is a practicing hospitalist and an associate director for the Division of Hospital Medicine at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, Massachusetts. She's also the author of Prescription for Admission: A Doctor's Guide for Navigating the Hospital, Advocating for Yourself, and Having a Better Hospitalization. Post-COVID, hospitals are dealing with workflow and getting patients in and out of the hospital as soon as possible. One big obstacle is the lack of places patients can go for rehabilitation and skilled nursing care, which is leading to more consideration of the hospital-at-home model. While this is a patient-facing book, there are insights about what healthcare providers need to understand about the patient hospital experience. Monique explains, "Hospital-at-home is not a new concept. It's somewhat of a new concept here in the United States, but hospital-at-home has been successful around the world, and I think there's a lot of really good benefits." "Number one, it cuts down on costs, an

Ryan McQuaid, Co-Founder of PlushCare, has expanded their collaborative virtual care model to provide whole-person care, including mental health and weight management. Working with partners, PlushCare offers primary care and referrals to specialists, second opinions, and therapists in all 50 states. Their top priority is to provide personalized care in a seamless fashion to all patients, especially those in underserved and rural communities. Ryan elaborates, "Everybody's familiar with virtual care now. And so, given it's become a much more mature market, just like anything, as the market matures, consumers' expectations increase. And so, rewind five years ago, people were okay with maybe not the greatest experience when it came to a virtual visit, but now the bar has been raised substantially. And so, just making sure that patients get a wow experience has been one of our focuses."   "I think another area is being the one-stop shop. I talked about us joining forces with Accolade and 2nd MD to be the one place

Eli Ben-Joseph, Co-Founder and CEO of Regard, works with health systems to integrate AI into their medical record systems to help doctors by highlighting issues, aiding in the diagnosis, and writing medical notes after a patient visit. With increasing doctor burnout, an emphasis on more efficient workflow supported by technology is a path to giving providers more time with patients and less time on administrative issues and on their computers.   Eli explains, "We say that it's essentially an AI co-pilot for doctors. The way that works is we have a deep integration with leading medical records, both Epic and Cerner. And when a health system partners with us they will link our software to their system. When a doctor opens up Regard, the moment they click the Regard button, our technology goes into the medical record and fetches the entire medical record data for that patient. All the labs, all the history, all the vitals."  "What we recognized when we started this company is that doctors are spending way more

Mark McDonough, the CEO of ChromaCode, is leveraging high-definition PCR testing to overcome the limitations of conventional PCR to identify biomarkers of infectious diseases and cancer. While gene sequencing can provide valuable information, it requires more tissue, is expensive, and requires at least a week for analysis. Using HDPCR, ChromaCode has developed a lung cancer assay that looks at nine genes and 15 biomarkers, requiring less tissue, performed at a lower cost, and provides results quickly. This approach, built on a cloud-supported multiplexing platform, provides flexibility to explore other areas in oncology and transplants, looking at multiple targets per sample. Mark explains, "With PCR today, assays look at particular biomarkers on a gene-by-gene basis. So those can be effective in lung cancer, for example, if you know you're just looking for EGFR as a biomarker or if you're looking at KRAS or ALK, a different mutation. But the problem is it's not very comprehensive, and you need a lot of tissu

Priyanka Dutta-Passecker is the CEO and Founder of Healiva, a Swiss start-up focused on innovative treatments for acute and chronic wounds. Healiva begins the process by cleaning the wound using an enzyme invented by Priyanka.  Depending on the severity of the wound, autologous or allogeneic cell therapy is used to make new skin to heal the wound. Priyanka explains, "So, to give a background for when we talk about personalized cell therapies and autologous cell therapy. We take a patient here, and from the patient, we make the patient's skin. That means that we're completely personalizing and making the skin of the patient. And this is given to extremely chronic non-healing wound patients like venous leg ulcer patients or diabetic foot ulcer patients. The skin gets integrated on their ulcer and closes the ulcer. That's one of our autologous cell therapy products called Epidex." "We do keep the primary cells when we take the hair follicle. As you may know, hair follicles are epithelial cells that we expand, a

Steve Kent is Chief Product Officer at Know Labs, which has developed a new sensor that uses noninvasive radiofrequency spectroscopy to measure molecules in the body.  Their first target is to non-invasively measure glucose to help those with diabetes manage their conditions more effectively. As a sensor and diagnostics company, Know Labs is working to understand how its sensor and technology can be integrated with best-in-class insulin delivery systems to provide a portable, reliable, and affordable solution for a growing global audience. Steve explains, "It's a big breakthrough as far as what you're able to measure by being able to penetrate deeper into the human body. Also, we can send up to 400,000 different frequencies through one sensor, whereas, with LEDs, as the example I gave earlier, you can only send something like three to five per LED. Then, you have to physically change out the entire sensor. With ours, that programmatic control allows us an unprecedented amount of new data through the sensor f

Dr. Tony Willoughby is the CEO of Stellus Rx, which has created a model of collaboration for the physician, patient, and pharmacist to provide a more robust system to encourage medication adherence and lifestyle changes. While clinicians may prescribe a treatment plan, pharmacists are in a position to work with patients to address their specific concerns and monitor the patient for drug interactions and possible de-prescribing strategies. Tony explains, "What our model does is it comes alongside the physician. In that moment of the last 90 seconds of the appointment. We actually have that physician connect that patient to a pharmacist that's embedded virtually in that clinic to expand the capacity of the physician. To pick up that conversation and give space to understand what the patient's belief systems are, what their questions are, how to coordinate or optimize the medication to fit the patient's belief system and the product design of their health plan or their pharmacy benefit plan." "Anytime you incre

Dave Hering, Chief Executive Officer and Director at Invivyd, draws on his experience with vaccines working at Pfizer and research on monoclonal antibodies to engineer targeted monoclonal antibodies to treat diseases like cancer and prevent diseases like COVID-19. Providing antibodies, particularly to immunocompromised people, overcomes the limitations of vaccines and reduces the risk of severe outcomes from diseases. Dave elaborates, "Antibodies are made by humans. They're made in response to an antigen, a virus being introduced into the body. Frequently, the starting point for these antibodies is to take blood and serum from people infected from a disease and look for these antibodies. And so that's the starting way. We call that mining antibodies. You can get them from survivors of different diseases and then use them to generate and create antibodies that look like that."   "And so Invivyd does the same thing. We start with those. But with our technology and a partnership with a company called Adimab, we

Luká Yancopoulos is CEO of Grapevine Technologies, a COVID-inspired company determined to increase resilience in the supply chain for healthcare supplies. Disrupting the current network of manufacturers, importers, and distributors, Grapevine is connecting suppliers directly to end users. They aim to build a more resilient network of suppliers, eliminate waste and unnecessary costs for medical providers, and reduce patient charges.      Luká explains, "Not a lot has changed in the healthcare space regarding logistics and supply chain in my lifetime. So, getting things to change and getting things to budge is definitely difficult in nature. But our primary business innovation is that we seamlessly connect a data-driven network of primary suppliers directly to healthcare practices." "When I say that Grapevine is connecting this data-driven network of primary suppliers, we're using the data made publicly available by the United States government to find actual importers or manufacturers of the medical supplie

Dr. Anupam Jena is an economist, a physician, a podcaster, and the Joseph P. Newhouse Professor of Healthcare Policy at the Harvard Medical School. He's also the co-author, along with Dr. Christopher Worsham, of the newly published book Random Acts of Medicine: The Hidden Forces that Sway Doctors, Impact Patients, and Shape Our Health. Anupam, also known as Dr. Bapu, combines his medical training with curiosity about cause and effect to explore explanations for failures and successes in providing healthcare and how chance occurrences affect our health. Of particular interest is the power of natural experiments to enhance understanding of the effect of a treatment or drug within a larger universe than traditional randomized clinical trials.   Bapu elaborates, "One of the benefits of these natural experiments is that they are more generalizable. They tell us what might happen in a real world because you're exactly right. If a clinical trial is performed, it may be performed in a very particular geographic area