AWS Health Innovation Podcast

Latest Episodes:

#25, Kyle Kiser, Arrive Health Oct 10, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Kyle Kiser, CEO of Arrive Health, a company working to make care decisions better for patients and providers, improving affordability, access, and outcomes - all while reducing administrative burden. Kyle and Joe discuss why fostering trust in the provider-patient relationship is essential, how he and his team think about connecting the right decision with the right information for providers, and why founders should obsess over the healthcare value chain. Learn more about Arrive Health (https://arrivehealth.com/) and learn more about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/)

#50, Exploring the Impact of Movement on Disease: Insights from Dr. Phil Wagner of Sparta Science May 25, 2023

Sparta Science, a Movement Health Intelligence company, applies modern data science techniques that advance industry best practices and optimize how organizations assess, understand, and improve health and wellbeing. Dr. Phil Wagner, Founder & CEO of Sparta Science, dives into the world of movement health and how next generation sensors can speed up recovery times, better optimize human performance, and reduce workplace injuries.

With the belief that Big Data can be a powerful tool in solving complex problems, Dr. Wagner emphasizes the potential for data-driven approaches to facilitate the development of consensus and standards for assessing movement and ultimately improving outcomes. One key focus for Sparta Science is on the cleansing, wrangling, and organization of data to eliminate noise and improve signal quality. By implementing filters within the data collection process, they reduce the risk of "garbage in, garbage out" scenarios and enable better decision-making based on clear patterns.

Additionally, Dr. Phil Wagner, Founder & CEO of Sparta Science, shares valuable advice for founders of hardware start-ups, drawing from his background and experience. With a deep understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities faced by these founders, Dr. Wagner provides insights and strategies to help them navigate the complexities of bringing physical products to market.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#65, Health Innovation Crossover, Tjaša Zajc of Faces of Digital Health Oct 10, 2023

In this special crossover episode, we're joined by Tjaša Zajc, Host of the Faces of Digital Health Podcast. Faces of Digital Health is a show that explores the diversity of healthcare systems and healthcare innovation worldwide. Together with Alex Merwin, Head of Growth, Healthcare & Life Science Startups at AWS, and executive producer of the AWS Health Innovation Podcast, we'll speak about the mission of both podcasts, our professional journeys, and the challenges health systems and entrepreneurs face as they embrace digital transformation.

About the Faces of Digital Health Podcast: Tjaša Zajc shares more information about her podcast, which features a diverse range of healthcare systems worldwide. We highlight a few examples of challenges and opportunities for health systems who are embracing digital transformation.
About the AWS Health Innovation Podcast: Alex Merwin shares details about how AWS works with healthcare & life sciences startups, and the role the podcast has in highlighting health innovation from high-potential startups challenging the status quo worldwide.
Advice for Founders: Closing thoughts and advice for early-stage founders looking to make a difference in Healthcare.
Health Innovation Trends: Startup funding, technology and other health innovation trends, including a discussion on health innovation in Africa.
Host Background: Alex and Tjaša share their professional journies and what inspired them to focus on accelerating health innovation.
Staying in Touch: Keeping up to speed on both the shows and how to get in touch.

Subscribe to the Faces of Digital Health Podcast here or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#47, Doktor Gurson from RadAI on finding the right co-founder, improving clinician time to value and opportunities to innovate in radiology May 03, 2023

In this episode of our podcast, we delve into the story of RadAI, a company that provides AI-powered radiology solutions. Jared Saul, Global Head, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Venture & Startups at AWS hosts Doktor Gurson, CEO and co-founder of RadAI.

We explore how Doktor Gurson & Dr. Jeff Chang built a strong co-founder relationship that complemented each other’s skills, experiences, and vision for RadAI. We also discuss why platform customization is critical to getting digital health tools adopted by clinicians and how RadAI prioritizes it in their product development process. Doktor also shares his insights on the importance of minimizing time to value in their software and how RadAI's solutions provide a clear and rapid ROI for their customers. Finally, we explore current trends in the radiology space and how RadAI is continuing to navigate them to improve the lives of patients and clinicians.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#16 Craig Limoli, Wellsheet Apr 18, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Craig Limoli, CEO and co-founder of Wellsheet, a company looking to transform the Electronic Health Record experience and reduce physician burnout. Craig discusses how Wellsheet identified the most relevant end user pain points when developing their product, why they focused on large health systems as their target customer segment, and what health tech entrepreneurs should know about the importance of staging when tackling complex healthcare markets. Learn more about Wellsheet (https://www.wellsheet.com) and learn more about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups or https://aws.amazon.com/health)

#40, Alon Joffe, Eleos Jan 23, 2023

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Alon Joffe, CEO and co-founder of Eleos, a company that integrates and automates the entire behavioral health workflow. Alon discusses how he and his team have identified and addressed the barriers to receiving behavioral health treatment, why Eleos sees quality and administration as inextricably linked, and why he believes healthcare products must have both a financial and clinical ROI to be viable. Learn more about Eleos (https://hubs.li/Q01yqDV10) and how AWS enables healthcare & life sciences startups to grow and thrive (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ and https://aws.amazon.com/health/).

#38, Dr. Mary Rozenman & Dr. Chris Probert, insitro Jan 09, 2023

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Dr. Mary Rozenman, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer at insitro, and Dr. Chris Probert, senior machine learning scientist at insitro. insitro is a company re-imagining drug discovery and development by integrating machine learning and biology at scale. Dr. Rozenman and Dr. Probert discuss how insitro’s discovery process can start on either the clinical or cellular side, why scale is so important in every aspect of insitro’s model, and why diversity of experience and background can be a powerful tool in solving hard problems. Learn more about insitro (https://insitro.com/) and how AWS enables healthcare & life sciences startups to grow and thrive (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ and https://aws.amazon.com/health/).

#49, Behind-the-scenes health plan innovation from Cédric Kovacs-Johnson, CEO & Founder of Flume Health May 25, 2023

Cédric Kovacs-Johnson, CEO & Founder of Flume Health, joins Joe Shonkwiler to discuss how Flume enables payers to launch innovative health plans that save money and drive better outcomes. Flume Health serves as a conduit for claims data and streamlines integrations, allowing payers to integrate a wide range of point solutions seamlessly.

Discover Flume Health's goal of providing personalized health insurance benefits and delivering tailored solutions to diverse populations, including large employers and individuals. The conversation also delves into the challenges faced by incumbent payers, such as customer experience issues and the complexities of customizing plans for large groups.

Cedric emphasizes the importance of being customer-informed while maintaining a clear product vision, avoiding the creation of fragmented solutions. Flume Health aims to bridge the gap between payers and innovative health solutions, driving meaningful change in the industry.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#35, Emilio Galán, Robin Dec 12, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Emilio Galán, CEO and founder of Robin, a company that combines AI technology and trained medical scribes to save time and deliver a seamless experience that integrates directly into the medical record. They discuss how Robin is addressing the administrative burden on providers and how reimbursement models play a role, why Emilo sees disentangling the medical workflow and administrative workflow as a key driver of reducing that burden, and why he believes that in the future patients will demand their providers leverage ambient listening technology. Learn more about Robin (https://www.robinhealthcare.com) and how AWS enables healthcare & life sciences startups to grow and thrive (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ and https://aws.amazon.com/health/).

#103, Revolutionizing Surgery with Physical AI, Gabriel Jones from Proprio Oct 08, 2024

In this episode of the AWS Health Innovation Podcast, host Eric Zimmerman, Principal Healthcare & Life Sciences BD at AWS, sits down with Gabriel Jones, CEO of Proprio, a company revolutionizing surgery through AI, computer vision, and augmented reality. Proprio's mission is to enhance surgical precision and decision-making with real-time, interactive 3D visualization and simulations.

1. How is Proprio transforming the surgical landscape with AI?

Gabriel Jones shares insights on how AI and advanced imaging will revolutionize surgery, enabling real-time data visualization and predictive analytics. This aligns with Proprio's mission to enhance surgical precision through intelligent technology.

2. What was the key to Proprio's innovative approach?

The founding team's diverse expertise in neurosurgery, computer vision, and sensor systems allowed Proprio to converge disparate data sources into a novel imaging modality. This interdisciplinary approach drives innovation in surgical visualization.

3. How did Proprio navigate the product development process?

While Proprio's core thesis endures, the company embraced an iterative product development cycle, learning that initial concepts require refinement through user feedback and prototyping. Constant adaptation is key in deep tech.

4. What factors have enabled Proprio's "physical AI" approach?

Recent breakthroughs in AI, sensors, and data integration have created an opportune environment for Proprio's "physical AI" approach of bridging the physical and digital realms in healthcare. Timing is crucial for deep tech success.

5. How does Proprio envision democratizing healthcare innovation?

Proprio envisions enabling clinicians to invent novel products and services powered by its data platform, while pressuring incumbents to accelerate innovation. This could democratize healthcare solutions development.

6. What is Proprio's focus for talent acquisition?

As an AI company focused on computer vision, robotics and engineering, Proprio is actively hiring top talent to drive partnerships and growth in its transformative vision for surgery and healthcare.

Learn more about Proprio and their innovative surgical technology on their website.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#58, Using AI to Transform Medical Documentation, DeepScribe's Akilesh Bapu Aug 09, 2023

In this episode, host Alex Merwin, Head of Growth for Healthcare & Life Science Startups, welcomes Akilesh Bapu, the Co-Founder & CEO of DeepScribe, an AI medical scribe company revolutionizing medical documentation. DeepScribe, trusted by both large and small healthcare systems across America, brings passion and determination to provide the most trustworthy AI medical scribe available, aiming to bring the joy of care back to medicine.

We discuss the details of DeepScribe's AI-based approach to transform medical documentation. From using both supervised and unsupervised machine learning techniques and large language models, DeepScribe is focused on enabling physicians to spend more time with their patients rather than on manual note-taking.

Further, we explore DeepScribe's go-to-market strategy. Starting with an inbound heavy approach targeting private practices, DeepScribe then expanded to sell into large health systems. This approach has helped the company position itself as a leading AI medical scribe.

Finally, we discuss one of the most critical aspects of AI application in healthcare settings: maintaining a 'human in the loop'. Ensuring the accuracy of AI systems and managing algorithmic bias is critical, and DeepScribe has managed to integrate this principle into their business and product.

[01:44] Akileh's background as an AI researcher and what brought him to founding DeepScribe.
[04:46] How DeepScribe thinks about AI and how it's solutions works.
[08:40] Physician burnout and why we need more efficient tooling, and the importance of having humans in the loop to accurately ground truth data.
[14:41] How DeepScribe used an SEM/SEO driven inbound GTM strategy to grow market segment share with private practice, later expanding into health systems.
[17:22] How giving time back to physicians improves their work life harmony, benefitting them, their patients and the health system more broadly.
[19:41] DeepScribe's approach to managing the tradeoffs between individualizing care and perpetuating systemic bias which can be a challenge for AI systems.
[22:47] How DeepScribe leverages both supervised & unsupervised learning, and how "scribes" help them ground truth data at scale.
[28:27] How DeepScribe approached its different rounds of financing, from pre-seed to Series B.
[32:28] What keeps Akilesh up at night.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#84, Empowering Scientists with Voice-Assisted Workflows with Steve Soccorso-McCoy from LabVoice Apr 16, 2024

Transforming how scientists interact with lab equipment and data, LabVoice has developed a hands-free voice assistant tailored to meet the unique needs of scientists working in the lab. Joining us to discuss LabVoice's innovative solution is Steve Soccorso-McCoy, Head of Sales at LabVoice. Our host for this episode is Eric Zimmerman, Principal Healthcare & Life Sciences BD, Venture Capital & Startups at AWS.

How does LabVoice streamline lab data drudgery?
- LabVoice's voice assistant empowers scientists by offloading tedious data tracking and information access tasks. This frees up time for more valuable scientific work, aligning with principles of customer obsession and eliminating undifferentiated heavy lifting in life sciences R&D.
What is voice-powered human-lab interaction?
- The platform provides seamless voice control by integrating capabilities like voice commands, OCR, and barcode scanning. This enables hands-free execution of tasks and data access, enhancing productivity for scientists working at benches or fume hoods.
How did LabVoice's visionary founders approach the problem?
- Co-founders Matt Hahn and Fred Bost envisioned voice tech's potential after consumer successes like Alexa. LabVoice takes an end-user focused approach by closely collaborating with scientists to understand and streamline their unique workflows.
How does LabVoice bridge software silos seamlessly?
- By integrating with popular scientific software vendors, LabVoice bridges gaps between data creation, recall, and capture. This unified data strategy empowers scientists with holistic access across previously siloed systems.
What is the process for deploying and adopting LabVoice?
- While initial technology deployment is fast, full scientist adoption takes 4-6 weeks including change management. However, the compounding productivity benefits across workflows create lasting "aha" moments and workflow transformation.
What is LabVoice's vision for the future of voice-powered science?
- LabVoice envisions a future with seamless vendor interoperability, simplified UIs, automatic data documentation, and ELNs/LIMS evolving into data-centric analysis tools. Voice, AI, AR/VR will further empower scientists' knowledge management and operations.

To learn more about LabVoice's innovative voice assistant for scientists, visit their website at https://labvoice.ai/.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#70, 8 Drops to Diagnosis, the Future of Blood Tests with Jay Srinivasan of Truvian Nov 15, 2023

Imagine the convenience of getting a full suite of blood tests, completed in just 30 minutes, during a routine visit to your GP. That's the reality Truvian Health is making possible. On this episode of the AWS Health Innovation Podcast, host Alex Merwin and Truvian CEO Jay Srinivasan discuss how Truvian is transforming blood diagnostics, offering rapid, lab-accurate health tests, and setting a new precedent in a field once marred by controversy.

Truvian's Mission [02:03]: Truvian is on a mission to bring central lab quality testing closer to patients, providing results from only 300 microliters of blood within half an hour.
A New Diagnostic Era [07:04]: Jay shares his vision for democratizing healthcare through accessible, high-quality diagnostics, building on past industry challenges.
Evidence-Based Innovation [11:07]: An inside look at Truvian's clinical trials and proactive FDA engagement to deliver reliable healthcare solutions.
Go to Market Strategy [16:45]: How Truvian plans to penetrate high-need markets and enable point-of-care diagnostics to streamline healthcare and reduce costs.
Zero to One [20:40]: The origin story of Truvian, the scientific and technological innovation driving its development, and the challenges they overcame during the pandemic.
Cultivating Diverse Talent [26:00]: The company culture that fosters leadership and innovation across a varied team of experts.
Truvian's Ambition [31:10]: The roadmap to introducing seamless diagnostic data flow and integration within healthcare systems.
Digital Twins [36:58]: Exploring the future of personalized care through the lens of digital health twins and the potential for Truvian to play a key role role.

Discover Truvian's work in revolutionizing blood testing and how their groundbreaking diagnostic device could redefine patient experiences and clinical outcomes. Visit Truvian's website to learn more about their cutting-edge technology.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#39, Seth Sternberg, Honor Jan 16, 2023

Alex Merwin is joined by Seth Sternberg, Co-Founder & CEO from Honor who runs the world’s largest home care network and care platform for older adults. As the world’s aging population continues to explode, it’s imperative that we develop the means to deliver quality care to older adults everywhere. To meet the need, Honor built an advanced care platform and the world’s largest home care network. Their platform combines local care, centralized operations, and best in class technology to deliver the highest quality care. We discuss the need to care for care professionals and how they’re developed, how to acquire & integrate a company into a high-growth startup and lessons learned managing a two-sided marketplace in the digital health space. Learn more about Honor (https://www.honorcare.com/) and how AWS enables healthcare & life sciences startups to grow and thrive (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ and https://aws.amazon.com/health/).

#18 Dr. George Church & Barghavi Govindarajan, Digid8 (re-release) Mar 06, 2023

On this re-release, Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Dr. George Church and Barghavi Govindarajan, co-founders of Digid8, a company creating a seamless, affordable DNA-first decision making platform. Dr. Church is a pioneer in the world of synthetic biology and Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School as well as Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Barghavi is a seasoned technologist and the CEO of Digid8. Dr. Church and Barghavi discuss how technology, innovation, and education can come together in a single product, to what extent users need to understand a complex technology to use it effectively, and how basic science researchers can leverage startups to speed up the time to making a massive impact on the world. Learn more about Digid8 (https://www.digid8.com) and learn more about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups or https://aws.amazon.com/health)

#37, Voices of Change: A Compilation of Perspectives from HLTH 2022 Jan 03, 2023

Alex Merwin hosts a group of health innovation leaders from startups, investors, media and startup enabling organizations for a special HLTH compilation episode. We asked each innovator two questions: what is special about convening in-person at events in this post-covid world, and if they could wave a magic wand to eliminate any hurdle to health innovation what would they change and why. Thanks to our guests from Redesign Health, Maven Clinic, Luma Health, Health Gorilla, Matter, Mission Based Media, Keep Labs, Memora Health, Unseen Capital, BioFourmis, and Brightside Health. Learn more about how AWS enables healthcare & life sciences startups to grow and thrive at https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ and https://aws.amazon.com/health/.

#34, Ken Mayer , Safe Health Feb 28, 2023

Alex Merwin is joined by Ken Mayer from Safe Health which enables healthcare innovators to launch apps in weeks, not years, with their digital health and connected diagnostics platform. Ken, Safe Health’s Founder & CEO, a serial entrepreneur with over 20 years experience scaling high-growth businesses across digital media, high tech and healthcare. We discuss how cloud computing helps startups develop faster and in a more agile way, the importance of aligning your business model to solutions that are reimbursable, and how to improve provider and patient workflows as they interact with digital health solutions. Learn more about Safe Health (https://safehealth.me/) and how AWS enables healthcare & life sciences startups to grow and thrive (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ and https://aws.amazon.com/health/).

#39, Seth Sternberg, Honor (re-release) Mar 20, 2023

On this re-release, Alex Merwin is joined by Seth Sternberg, Co-Founder & CEO from Honor who runs the world’s largest home care network and care platform for older adults. As the world’s aging population continues to explode, it’s imperative that we develop the means to deliver quality care to older adults everywhere. To meet the need, Honor built an advanced care platform and the world’s largest home care network. Their platform combines local care, centralized operations, and best in class technology to deliver the highest quality care. We discuss the need to care for care professionals and how they’re developed, how to acquire & integrate a company into a high-growth startup and lessons learned managing a two-sided marketplace in the digital health space. Learn more about Honor (https://www.honorcare.com/) and how AWS enables healthcare & life sciences startups to grow and thrive (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ and https://aws.amazon.com/health/).

#78, Uncovering New Treatments For Severe Mental Illness with David Newton from Akrivia Health Feb 27, 2024

Mental health struggles affect millions, yet treatment options remain limited. Akrivia Health sees vast potential in patient data to change that. On this episode of the AWS Health Innovation Podcast we speak with David Newton, Co-Founder and COO of Akrivia Health, a company that provides data research, clinical trial optimization, and molecular characterization for mental health and dementia. With over 20 billion data points across 5 million electronic health records, Akrivia has built one of the world's most extensive structured psychiatric datasets.

Massive Psychiatric Datasets

Akrivia has assembled one of the largest structured psychiatric data repositories globally, with over 20 billion data points across 5 million electronic health records from 18 healthcare organizations.

Advanced NLP Pipelines

To extract insights, Akrivia combines large language models with specialized models in efficient NLP pipelines that balance accuracy and cost-effectiveness.

Cloud Enables Scale

Cloud computing infrastructure provides the storage and computation for Akrivia to deploy its NLP at scale across massive datasets.

Granular Symptom Analysis

Akrivia recently expanded its NLP to extract and classify over 400 psychiatric symptoms from clinical notes, enabling more granular analysis.

Linking Mental and Physical Health

By connecting mental health records with primary care data, Akrivia aims to develop whole-patient histories to uncover new insights.

Genomics Meets EHRs

Akrivia is conducting a study linking whole genome sequencing to EHRs to identify clinical trial candidates and biological patterns.

Building Patient Trust

Akrivia takes a privacy by design approach to build patient trust, essential for a company relying on sensitive health data.

Free EHR Software for Data Access

Akrivia provides free EHR software to providers in exchange for anonymized data, which it commercializes through industry partnerships.

The Value of University Spinouts

The spinout experience provided introductions to investors and knowledge transfer support critical in Akrivia's early stages.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#82, Closing Care Gaps with Predictive Analytics, Aneesh Chopra from CareJourney and Mirza Baig from AWS Mar 26, 2024

Imagine a world where healthcare data flows seamlessly across providers, payers, and life sciences companies, enabling truly coordinated and personalized care. That future is rapidly becoming a reality, thanks to companies like CareJourney, our guest on this episode of the AWS Health Innovation Podcast. CareJourney is a healthcare analytics vendor specializing in processing claims data and deriving actionable insights for over 300 million patient lives across ACOs, health systems, payers, life sciences companies, and more.

In this conversation, Aneesh Chopra, the President of CareJourney and Mirza Baig, from the AWS Health AI team, leading Architecture & Product join Alex Merwin, Head of Growth for Healthcare & Life Science Startups at AWS, to discuss how CareJourney is leveraging AWS services and FHIR APIs to unlock the promise of value-based care through data integration and analytics. CareJourney's solutions empower healthcare organizations to operate more efficiently, provide higher quality care, and drive better patient outcomes.

Here are some of the key topics covered in this episode:

Timely Data Access: Enabled proactive interventions through daily FHIR data. Overcame delays in receiving patient information.
Fraud Detection Insights: Identified potential Medicare fraud by analyzing claims. Created alert system to prevent paying fraudulent claims.
Care Coordination Enablement: Integrated specialty companies into unified care journeys. Connected siloed data sources for coordinated care.
Data-Driven Healthcare: Leveraged AWS for data ingestion and analysis. Drove insights and next-best action recommendations.
Interoperability Commitment: Adapted to evolving data standards like FHIR. Simplified data sourcing across the healthcare ecosystem.
Industry Collaboration Importance: Encouraged debate on cloud platform healthcare functionality. Focused efforts to build data interoperability solutions.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#33, Michelle Wagner, Mindstrong (re-release) Mar 13, 2023

On this re-release, Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Michelle Wagner, CEO of Mindstrong, a company that helps thousands of members manage anxiety, depression, PTSD, and serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, with quality care and cutting-edge technology. Michelle and Joe discuss why integrating data collected between treatment sessions can be a game changer for behavioral health, why selling digital health products via large employers can look a lot like direct-to-consumer sales, and why entrepreneurs in healthcare must learn to embrace iterative change as part of a large and complex system. Learn more about Mindstrong (https://mindstrong.com/). You can also learn about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/)

#19 Andrew Hines, Canvas Medical May 09, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Andrew Hines, CEO and founder of Canvas Medical, a company building fully integrated clinical, financial, and operational tools - on top of a software developers toolkit. Andrew shares his thoughts on how the medical record should better reflect a person’s clinical journey, why the digital health market is still in its earliest days, and why sometimes focusing purely on technological solutions is not the best approach for health tech startups. Learn more about Canvas Medical (https://www.canvasmedical.com/) and learn more about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/)

#2 Aditya Bansod, Luma Health Feb 10, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Aditya Bansod. Aditya is the CTO and co-founder of Luma Health, an engagement platform to improve access and communication at every step of the healthcare journey. He shares his perspective on how consumerism is rising in healthcare, how Luma scaled to meet the challenges of vaccinations for COVID-19, and why health tech startups should focus on driving top line revenue growth for their customers. Learn more about Luma Health: https://www.lumahealth.io Learn more about healthcare and life science startups on AWS: https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ https://aws.amazon.com/health/

#3 Sumeet Bhatia, Aiva Health Feb 10, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Sumeet Bhatia, CEO and founder of Aiva Health, a company creating the voice operating system for healthcare. Sumeet shares his thoughts on the role voice technology can play in reshaping the healthcare experience for patients, providers, and caregivers - whether that’s in the hospital, a senior living facility, or home. Learn more about Aiva Health: https://www.aivahealth.com/ Learn more about healthcare and life science startups on AWS: https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/

#101, Improving Lab Workflows with Robotics and AI, Mostafa ElSayed of Automata Sep 17, 2024

In this episode of the AWS Health Innovation Podcast, Yin He, Principal Business Development for Healthcare and Life Sciences Startups at AWS, sits down with Mostafa ElSayed, Co-founder and CEO of Automata, a company revolutionizing the way scientists work in labs by providing a full-stack solution for lab automation.

How does Automata's LINQ platform streamline drug discovery workflows?
- Automata's LINQ platform integrates robotics, instruments, and cloud software, addressing inefficiencies in life sciences labs. As a modular "work cell", it captures structured data to accelerate collaboration and time-to-market for therapeutics.
What inspired Mostafa ElSayed's vision for Automata?
- Mostafa ElSayed's background in architecture sparked an interest in robotics, leading him to co-found Automata and pioneer a full-stack lab automation solution. His vision fuses design principles with cutting-edge technology to transform drug R&D.
What does ElSayed envision for the future of drug discovery?
- ElSayed envisions AI-driven drug discovery becoming the norm within a decade, with a shift towards computational "in silico" approaches over lab-based "in vitro" methods. Robust data and transparency will increase confidence in clinical candidates.
How does Automata balance product vision with user feedback?
- Automata balances product vision with user feedback, investing heavily in hardware modularity, software UX/UI, and developer experience. Design drives customer success by optimizing different user journeys through an experience lens.

To learn more about Automata and their innovative lab automation solutions, visit https://automata.tech/.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#99, Soothing Cries & Saving Lives with Innovative Baby Tech, Dr. Harvey Karp from Happiest Baby Aug 20, 2024

In this episode of the AWS Health Innovation Podcast, Yin He, Principal Business Development for Healthcare and Life Sciences Startups at AWS, interviews Dr. Harvey Karp, Founder and CEO of Happiest Baby, the company behind the SNOO Smart Sleeper - a robotic bassinet designed to calm fussing infants and establish healthy sleep patterns.

How did Dr. Karp's experience as a pediatrician lead to the creation of the SNOO?

As a pediatrician and child development expert, Dr. Karp witnessed firsthand the challenges parents face with excessive infant crying and sleep deprivation. His quest to soothe colic and promote healthy sleep led him to develop the SNOO, a smart bassinet that mimics the womb environment by responding to fussing with gentle rocking and soothing sounds.

What makes the SNOO a groundbreaking product in the healthcare industry?

In a pioneering move, the SNOO bassinet received FDA de novo approval in March 2023 as a medical device, making it the first smart crib to achieve this status. This clearance paves the way for insurance coverage and rental programs, aligning with Karp's vision of making this technology accessible to families through employer benefits and other initiatives.

What challenges did Dr. Karp face in bringing the SNOO to market?

Transforming the SNOO concept into a viable product took over two years of engineering challenges to create a smooth, quiet rocking motion. Despite funding obstacles, Karp leveraged his existing brand and persevered, demonstrating the entrepreneurial perseverance required to bring innovative healthcare solutions to market.

How does the SNOO challenge traditional beliefs about infant care?

The SNOO raises intriguing questions about optimal infant care practices. While conventional wisdom suggests leaving babies alone is best for brain development, Karp theorizes that rocking and shushing may be neurological needs beyond just soothing techniques, challenging traditional beliefs about infant care.

How has the SNOO been received by customers and healthcare professionals?

With a remarkable net promoter score of 89 and use in 160 hospitals, the SNOO demonstrates extremely high customer satisfaction by reducing nurse workloads. Karp's focus on solving real family pain points is driving strong product-market fit, as evidenced by the positive reception from both parents and healthcare professionals.

To learn more about Happiest Baby and the SNOO Smart Sleeper, visit http://www.happiestbaby.com/.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#95, Boosting Pathologist Productivity with AI, with Joseph (Yossi) Mossel from Ibex AI Jul 24, 2024

In this episode of the AWS Health Innovation Podcast, we explore how Ibex AI is transforming cancer diagnosis with artificial intelligence. Host Guy Spigelman, EMEA lead for Healthcare and Life Sciences Startups at Amazon Web Services, sits down with Joseph (Yossi) Mossel, Co-Founder and CEO of Ibex AI, a pioneering company in AI-based cancer diagnostics for pathology.

How did the founders of Ibex AI recognize the potential for AI in digital pathology?

Yossi Mossel and Chaim Linhart had no prior healthcare experience but were driven to start a mission-driven company that could leverage Israel's strengths in tech and digitized health records.
Their "aha moment" came when they learned about digital pathology scanners, leading them to apply AI to pathology diagnosis.

What key milestones did Ibex AI achieve in deploying their AI solution?

Ibex AI deployed its first AI algorithm for prostate cancer diagnosis at Maccabi Healthcare Services in Israel in early 2017, quickly validating its clinical impact by catching a misdiagnosis within days.
Wales was the first country to nationally deploy Ibex's AI across NHS trusts for prostate and breast cancer diagnosis.

How does Ibex AI prioritize seamless integration of their AI into clinical workflows?

Ibex AI focuses on partnerships to integrate its AI into existing healthcare workflows and platforms, recognizing that key factors for successful healthcare AI adoption include innovation, workflow integration, and an appropriate economic model.

Learn more about Ibex AI and their AI-powered cancer diagnostics platform on their website.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#100, Enabling Personalized Medicine with Virtual Biopsies, Rajarshi Banerjee from Perspectum Aug 30, 2024

In this episode of the AWS Health Innovation Podcast, Amrita Sarkar, Principal Healthcare and Life Sciences Startups Business Development Manager at Amazon Web Services, sits down with Rajarshi Banerjee, aka 'Banjo', the CEO of Perspectum, a company revolutionizing the way we diagnose and monitor chronic diseases. Perspectum's medical imaging software applies artificial intelligence to enhance MRI scans, providing greater precision in measuring organ inflammation and enabling non-invasive "virtual biopsies" to avoid complications associated with invasive approaches.

How did Perspectum's innovative approach to medical imaging originate?
- During his PhD research on cardiac MRI at Oxford, Banjo developed non-invasive tissue characterization methods. This led to creating Liver MultiScan, addressing the massive need for non-invasive liver disease diagnosis.
What is Perspectum's vision for personalized medicine, and how are they working towards it?
- Perspectum strategically expanded beyond liver disease to conditions like long COVID, diabetes, and cancer, aligning with their vision for personalized medicine. They collaborate transparently across ethnicities and geographies to address healthcare inequities.
How has Perspectum's user-friendly approach contributed to the adoption of their solutions?
- Perspectum designed FDA-cleared reports to effectively communicate liver disease status, replacing invasive biopsies with non-invasive LiverMultiScan in early-stage clinical trials. Their solutions influenced regulatory decisions and diagnostic criteria.
How does Perspectum prioritize data security and privacy in their solutions?
- Meeting stringent cybersecurity standards from early collaborations with U.S. military hospitals, Perspectum emphasizes standardizing and signposting cybersecurity requirements for safe AI healthcare delivery. Their software augments physicians' capabilities while ensuring patient communication.
What insights does Banjo share about fostering an entrepreneurial mindset and driving innovation?
- Inspired by his mother's pioneering work in computing, Banjo encourages entrepreneurs to embrace making their own mistakes. Perspectum envisions improving patient outcomes through safer procedures, faster diagnoses, and multi-organ disease analysis capabilities.
In what conditions has Perspectum's non-invasive AI powered scans been shown to facilitate safer assessment and monitoring?

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#15 Mike Meng, Stellar Health Apr 11, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Mike Meng, CEO and co-founder of Stellar Health, a company empowering providers and practices to deliver high-quality care through real-time notifications and meaningful incentives. Mike discusses why supporting and rewarding front line providers and staff is so important to succeeding in value-based care, how technology facilitates behavior change in healthcare, and what he saw as an investor that has informed his approach to running a high growth startup. Learn more about Stellar Health (https://stellar.health/) and learn more about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/)

#86, Unleashing AI's Power to Design Drugs with Medicinal Chemistry, Yann Gaston-Mathé from Iktos May 07, 2024

Imagine being able to design novel drug molecules with the same ease as typing words into a computer, and being given the instructions into how to synthesize that molecule in the lab. That's the incredible potential of Iktos, our guest on today's episode of the AWS Health Innovation Podcast hosted by Alex Merwin, Head of Growth for Healthcare & Life Sciences Startups at AWS, and featuring Yann Gaston-Mathé, the Founder & CEO of Iktos.

1. How is Iktos revolutionizing the field of drug discovery with AI?

Iktos' groundbreaking approach harnesses deep generative AI models trained on vast molecular databases to automatically design novel, optimized molecules for drug discovery challenges. This innovative technology promises to accelerate pharmaceutical R&D by rapidly generating promising molecular candidates tailored to specific therapeutic targets.

2. What is the unconventional journey of Iktos' founder, Yann Gaston-Mathé?

Yann Gaston-Mathé, Iktos' founder and CEO, followed an atypical path, publishing his first academic paper at over 40 after diverse experiences spanning engineering, biology, consulting, and entrepreneurship before embracing the AI innovation that became Iktos.

3. What is Iktos' integrated AI-robotics platform, and how does it provide a competitive advantage?

Iktos developed an integrated AI-robotics platform to automate molecular synthesis and generate real-world data for active learning, recursively improving its AI models' performance through continuous feedback loops, a key competitive advantage.

4. How has Iktos demonstrated the transformative impact of its technology in drug discovery?

Leveraging its AI expertise, Iktos successfully optimized drug candidates for a Japanese pharma client, meeting 7-8 out of 8 success criteria within 12 months, demonstrating the transformative potential of its technology in accelerating drug discovery pipelines.

5. How does Iktos foster a culture of multidisciplinary innovation?

Iktos cultivates a collaborative culture promoting cross-team knowledge sharing and brainstorming between AI, computational chemistry, and medicinal chemistry experts, fostering multidisciplinary innovation at the convergence of these fields.

Learn more about Iktos and their AI-driven drug discovery solutions on their website.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#102, Decoding Human Biology with Single-Cell Insights, with Lindsay Edwards from Relation Sep 24, 2024

In this episode of the AWS Health Innovation Podcast, host Yin He, Principal Business Development for Healthcare & Life Sciences Startups at AWS, sits down with Lindsay Edwards, CTO and President of Platform at Relation, a biotech company leveraging single-cell multi-omics, machine learning, and clinical insights to develop transformational medicines.

1. What is Relation's unconventional approach to drug discovery?

Lindsay Edwards, a former musician turned drug hunter, embodies Relation's bold mission to transform drug discovery through multidisciplinary expertise bridging biology, data science, and creative intuition.
Relation harnesses human genetic insights and single-cell data to pinpoint superior drug targets, addressing a critical bottleneck in pharmaceutical R&D.

2. How does Relation integrate lab experiments and machine learning?

Relation's "Lab-in-the-Loop" approach tightly integrates wet lab experiments with machine learning, iteratively refining models that map genetic variation to disease mechanisms.
Interdisciplinary collaboration between biologists, data scientists, and computational experts catalyzes this symbiosis of lab and AI.

3. How does Relation's initial focus in developing precision medicines for osteoporosis open opportunities in other therapuetic areas?

By studying osteoblasts and genetic determinants of bone density, Relation aims to develop anabolic therapies driving new bone growth, addressing the large unmet need in osteoporosis with precision medicine.
Their traction in osteoporosis shows how Relation can apply biological signals to improve machine learning modeling, uncover novel therapeutic targets.

To learn more about Relation and their transformative approach to drug discovery, visit their website: https://www.relationrx.com/

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#74, Top 10 Episodes of All Time, Part 1 Jan 16, 2024

Happy new year everyone! 🎉 We're kicking off the year with something special on the AWS Health Innovation Podcast, a countdown of our All-Time Top 10 Episodes. Part 1 of our countdown features episodes 10 through 6:

Number 10 - Artera: Artera, the game-changer in patient communication, kicks off our countdown. Host: Alex Merwin, Guest: Guillaume de Zwirek.
Number 9 - Insitro: Next up we have Insitro, pioneering the integration of machine learning and drug discovery. Host: Joe Shonkwiler, Guests: Dr. Mary Rozenman and Dr. Chris Probert.
Number 8 - Canvas Medical: Revolutionizing primary care with its integrated clinical, financial, and operational tools, we learn all about Canvas Medical. Host: Joe Shonkwiler, Guest: Andrew Hines.
Number 7 - Forward Health: Forward Health is innovating primary care through advanced technology and personalized patient care. Host: Alex Merwin, Guest: Adrian Aoun
Number 6 - Us2.AI: Rounding out Part of our countdown is Us2.AI, a leader in AI-powered echocardiography. Host: Dr. Terence Tan, Guests: Dr. Carolyn Lam and James Hare.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#63, World-Class Customer Service in Healthcare: Guillaume de Zwirek of Artera Sep 26, 2023

In this episode, Alex Merwin, Head of Growth for Healthcare & Life Sciences Startups at AWS, speaks with Guillaume de Zwirek, Co-Founder & CEO of Artera, a unified patient communication platform delivering happier staff, healthier patients, and more profitable organizations.

We discuss how technology can make navigating the healthcare system feel less like a maze, board meetings with dolphins, and how Amazon's peculiar ways of working can help startups scale.

Background [02:43]: Guillaume de Zwirek discusses his unique background as an athlete and jazz musician, and how these experiences influenced his decision to start Artera.
Patient Engagement Platform [07:51]: An overview of Artera's solution, which aims to revolutionize healthcare customer experience by providing a single phone number for patient engagement.
Importance of Flexibility [10:51]: We explore the versatility of Artera's platform, highlighting its adaptability for various clinical and non-clinical use cases, and its role in spreading best practices.
Customer-Centricity [13:54]: Guillaume shares Artera's customer-centric culture, inspired by Amazon, and discusses strategies like spending 30% of his time with customers to keep their needs front and center.
Growth Strategies [21:17]: Artera's growth strategies, including a writing-focused culture and weekly strategic reviews, partly inspired by Amazon's peculiar ways of working.
Marketplace & API [24:47]: Introduction to Artera's marketplace, which allows third-party digital health innovators to integrate seamlessly into Artera's patient communication platform.
Future Ambitions [28:21]: Guillaume outlines his future ambitions for Artera, focusing on visibility and orchestration features, and cautiously explores the potential role of Generative AI in healthcare.
Advice for Founders [36:01]: The episode wraps up with Guillaume offering valuable advice for other startup founders, emphasizing the importance of learning from mistakes and staying close to customers.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#80, Closing the Loop on Hospital Drug Supply Chains, Kevin MacDonald of Bluesight Mar 12, 2024

Prescription drug spending reached $370 billion in the US last year, but up to 10% of that is lost to diversion, waste and non-compliance. In this episode of the AWS Health Innovation Podcast, Kevin MacDonald, CEO & Co-Founder of Bluesight, joins Alex Merwin, Head of Growth, Healthcare & Life Sciences Startups, to discuss how Bluesight is "transforming the health system pharmacy supply chain through software" to help hospitals optimize operations and rein in drug costs. By connecting data from medication manufacturing through utilization, Bluesight provides unprecedented visibility into pharmacy supply chains, reducing waste, ensuring compliance, and detecting drug diversion.

Here are the key topics covered in this episode:

Solving the First Mile - BlueSight partners with manufacturers to tag medications at production for end-to-end tracking into hospital pharmacies.

Automating Safety - By moving from manual to automated tracking of drugs, BlueSight empowers pharmacists to focus on clinical work.

Stopping Diversion - Advanced analytics identify providers diverting drugs for intervention and help.

Creating a Risk Profile - Hundreds of factors feed into AI models that establish normal behavior to detect anomalies.

Learning from Retail - Insights from retail RFID deployments showed the value of tagging individual items beyond cases.

Finding The First Customer - Cold calls to hospital pharmacies led to the first customer willing to pilot the RFID system.

Validating The Model - Despite makeshift testing and storms, BlueSight validated its hospital deployment model with initial customers.

Fueling Growth - BlueSight raised funding from diverse sources like VCs, debt, and private equity to accelerate growth.

Delighting Customers - BlueSight won over customers by delivering on promises like radically faster audits.

Empowering Pharmacists - By providing instant audit trails, BlueSight empowered pharmacists with regulators.

Enabling Investment - Hospitals saved millions through BlueSight, enabling reinvestment into their pharmacies.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#51, Challenging Stereotypes & Advancing Mental Health: Swatee Surve, Founder & CEO of Litesprite May 30, 2023

Join Danielle Morris, AWS Global Social Impact, Global Public Health - Health Equity Lead, for a special episode featuring award winners of the AWS Health Equity Initiative. Danielle welcomes Swatee Surve, Founder & CEO of Litesprite, to the AWS Health Innovation Podcast to discuss their journey to build a digital therapeutics company that is transforming mental healthcare. Learn how Litesprite challenges stereotypes in gaming, clinically validates its software, and aims to make mental health support accessible to all.

Swatee addresses the misconceptions surrounding gaming and highlights the diverse demographics of gamers today. Litesprite's game, Sinasprite, meets individuals where they are at and helps them develop skills and techniques to help them better manage mental health episodes. Swatee shares Litesprite's plans for future product development, including predictive models for identifying those in need and reintroducing beta features like their augmented reality butterfly walk to promote holistic mental health.

Learn more about the AWS Health Equity Initiative.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#48, Adrian Aoun from Forward Health on how to get healthcare to billions for free May 25, 2023

Adrian Aoun, CEO of Forward Health, shares his vision of how to build a healthcare system capable of scaling up to a billion covered lives. Discover how Forward Health challenges conventions, prioritizes motivation over skills, and leverages a diverse network of advisors and investors to accelerate healthcare innovation.

Adrian shares details on the remarkable work Forward Health is already doing through its futuristic primary care clinics across the US. Forward Health's body scanners might remind you of Star Trek, which turns out not to be by accident, and Adrian envisions a future where healthcare is democratized and accessible to all.

We also explore how to build an effective startup advisory board and the power of collecting intelligence and ideas from a wide range of experts. Adrian also explains how Forward Health fosters a culture of constant learning, diligently evaluating ideas, and uncovering groundbreaking solutions to the complex challenges of healthcare.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#53, Unifying Data to Accelerate Scientific Discovery: Mike Tarselli, Chief Scientific & Knowledge Officer at TetraScience Jun 20, 2023

Have you ever wondered how a unified data platform can accelerate drug development? Join us for the latest episode of the AWS Health Innovation Podcast where Mike Tarselli, Ph.D., Chief Scientific & Knowledge Officer, TetraScience, joins Dr. Amrita Sarkar, Principal Healthcare & Life Sciences Startups Business Development at AWS.

TetraScience is the Scientific Data Cloud company with a vision to accelerate scientific discovery and development and improve and extend human life. Tarselli talks about the company's efforts to unify fragmented and siloed data sources within scientific research, creating a unified, accessible and actionable data platform. By tackling these challenges, TetraScience is enhancing data-driven decision making in the field of scientific research and accelerating the drug development process.

Furthermore, Tarselli discusses the crucial role of mentoring and fostering a learning culture within TetraScience. By investing in people and nurturing a growth mindset, they accelerate the teams' professional development and ensure a consistent flow of fresh ideas, fueling innovation and growth within the company.

Tarselli also shares the ways in which he gives back to the scientific community, including the Tarselli Family Research Award at the UMass Amherst. His passion for mentorship and fostering the next generation of scientists is evident, showing a deep commitment to supporting emerging talent.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#60, Revolutionizing Dentistry with AI, Ophir Tanz from Pearl Aug 23, 2023

Ever wonder about the intersection of AI and dentistry? Join Alex Merwin, Head of Growth, Healthcare & Life Sciences Startups at AWS, as he sits down with Ophir Tanz, Founder & CEO of Pearl, a company using AI to power the future of dentistry. From Ophir's background to the intricacies of integrating AI in dental care, we cover a lot in this one!

Unveiling Pearl's Vision: Learn about Ophir's professional journey and the unique challenges and opportunities of integrating AI in dentistry. [01:36]
Startup Evolution & Selecting Investors: Hard won insights about Series A & B fundraising, how Pearl spun out of a successful computer vision startup, and how to think about who you should invite onto your board of directors. [07:59]
Visual Storytelling: How AI-enabled dental imaging takes advantage of our preference for visual story telling, improving diagnostic performance of dentists and empowering patients to understand and improve their dental health. [15:46]
Pearl's Bold Regulatory Strategy: Why Pearl decided to pursue 10 FDA clearances in one submission. [21:02]
Integration & Deployment: Pearl's approach to ensuring a smooth workflow and a great clinician experience. [25:21]
Crafting Quality AI Models: Pearl's meticulous process of sourcing and annotating training data, culminating in their performant AI models. [27:40]
Generative AI and other Emerging Trends: Generative AI use cases and other emerging trends in applying AI in dentistry. [31:48]
Workflow - The Key to Adoption: Why great AI is not enough, a seamless workflow is a requirement for clinician adoption and effective implementation. [35:59]

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#71, Simulating the Future of Public Health, with John Cordier of Epistemix Nov 21, 2023

As we try to keep up with a world being transformed by data driven decision making, the potential value of a tool that simulates the future of public health is profound. On this episode of the AWS Health Innovation Podcast, Yin He from AWS Startups speaks with John Cordier, the CEO & Co-Founder of Epistemix, who built a platform for running realistic simulations of human populations, simulations that reveal crucial points of leverage where a single decision can have extraordinary impact, providing game-changing capabilities to health plans and systems.

Population Health Simulation [02:05]: Discover Epistemix's synthetic population health engine and learn about John's career, dedicated to advancing public health.
COVID-19 & Behavioral Shifts [06:28]: Learn about the pivotal role of information and behavior changes in public health, using COVID-19 as a case study.
Strategic Health Planning [13:29]: Deep dive into Epistemix's role in helping health plans and systems develop strategies to improve outcomes, access, and equity.
Technology [17:02]: Explore the innovative technology behind Epistemix's simulations, offering highly granular data across the US and beyond.
Improving Health Equity [19:52]: John shares insights on addressing social determinants in health through Epistemix's simulations.
The Power of Simulation [26:48]: Understand the dynamic nature of Epistemix's approach to simulation versus prediction in public health.

"Simulation, Not Prediction", read the blog mentioned in this episode:

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#10 Dr. Jim Min, Cleerly Mar 07, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Dr. Jim Min, CEO and founder of Cleerly, a company using AI-enabled evaluation to support physicians in determining a patient's risk of a heart attack. Dr. Min shares his insights on why cardiac imaging has become the standard of care, why specialty care is ripe for value-based care models, and how to keep your team focused on long term goals. Learn more about Cleerly (https://cleerlyhealth.com/) and learn more about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/)

#33, Michelle Wagner, Mindstrong Nov 28, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Michelle Wagner, CEO of Mindstrong, a company that helps thousands of members manage anxiety, depression, PTSD, and serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, with quality care and cutting-edge technology. Michelle and Joe discuss why integrating data collected between treatment sessions can be a game changer for behavioral health, why selling digital health products via large employers can look a lot like direct-to-consumer sales, and why entrepreneurs in healthcare must learn to embrace iterative change as part of a large and complex system. Learn more about Mindstrong (https://mindstrong.com/). You can also learn about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/)

#45, Heather Mirjahangir Fernandez, Solv Health Apr 19, 2023

In today's episode, we talk to Heather Mirjahangir Fernandez, CEO and Co-Founder of Solv, a healthcare startup on a mission to empower consumers to simplify their healthcare needs. With over a decade of executive management experience with leading consumer startups, Heather knows how to create a transparent and simple consumer experience that can change industries for the better.

Heather talks about how Solv is building the largest and most-loved convenient care network to unlock same-day access to high-quality healthcare providers. She shares how Solv is eliminating friction before, during, and after the visit, simplifying the process and striving to delight consumers.

Heather also discusses Solv's aim to give consumers greater clarity into their insurance coverage and expected costs by using words that we can all understand.We also dive into the challenges Solv faces in the healthcare industry, such as the lack of transparent and clear information, common consumer technologies, and difficulty in making a simple or fully informed healthcare decision.

Heather shares her insights on the importance of convenience in healthcare and how Solv is addressing this issue.If you're interested in healthcare and how Solv is transforming the industry, this episode is a must-listen.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#77, The App Store for Healthcare with Oron Afek from Vim Feb 21, 2024

Healthcare is ripe for disruption. Legacy systems bog down workflows, create data silos, and frustrate both patients and providers. That's where Vim comes in. This episode, Guy Spigelman from AWS talks with Oron Afek, co-founder and CEO of Vim, a company using AI to build the "app store" for healthcare. Vim already reaches 20 million patients by integrating with electronic health records. Now, with new partnerships and investments from Sequoia and other top tier VCs, Vim aims to hit 100 million patients next year. Afek gives us the inside story on Vim's pivots, people, and path to profitability.

In this episode we cover:

Pivoting to Product-Market Fit: Oron Afek iterated Vim's offering based on investor and customer feedback, arriving at a vision of becoming the healthcare "app store".

Backing the Team's Journey: Early investors bet on Vim's team and market opportunity, not the initial idea.

Scaling Growth and Culture: Vim has raised $120M, grown to 160 people, and focuses hiring on culture fit first.

Reaching Critical Mass: Vim currently enables 20M patients, aiming for 100M next year via EHR integrations and AI.

Investing in the Future: Vim is hiring engineers who thrive in transparency, meritocracy and adaptability to build the future of healthcare.

For payers and providers, clinical data and workflows are often siloed and disconnected. Vim transforms clinical data into actionable in-EHR insights at the point of care. Vim’s content delivery and provider engagement platform reduces administrative burden, empowers providers, and accelerates performance initiatives for all stakeholders through bidirectional EHR connections. The country’s largest health plans and medical providers of every size – from independent practitioners to integrated delivery systems – use our software to connect data and care across the health system. Vim's mission is to power affordable, high-quality health care through seamless connectivity. At its core, Vim and its employees, are working to change the future of healthcare by impacting how care is delivered. By giving physician teams the tools and resources they need to operate more efficiently and succeed under value-based care models, Vim is helping providers improve the quality of care for their patients.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#22, Marina & Eugene Borukhovich, YourCoach Health Sep 19, 2022

Alex Merwin is joined by Marina & Eugene Borukhovich from YourCoach Health, a solution which empowers health coaches to deliver their services while providing enterprises access a broad ecosystem of verified and vetted health coaches. Marina, an entrepreneur and a health coach, founded YourCoach Health after her battle with cancer and is now CEO. Eugene, co-founder, and COO, is a serial intra and entrepreneur, executive, venture builder & board advisor with a focus on digital health. We discuss their recent partnership with Twill (formerly Happify Health), the strengths of founding a business with your life partner, and how health coaches bridge the gap between digital health solutions and patients who want to live healthier, happier lives. Learn more about YourCoach Health (https://yourcoach.health/) and learn more about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/).

#105, Reducing Healthcare's $1 Trillion Admin Burden with AI, Abdel Mahmoud, Anterior Oct 23, 2024

Anterior is on a mission to relieve doctors and nurses of administrative burden, starting with transforming the prior authorization process. In this episode of the AWS Health Innovation Podcast, Abdel Mahmoud, MD, CEO and Co-Founder of Anterior, shares how the company's generative AI technology is changing the game for healthcare professionals.

What inspired Abdel Mahmoud's vision for Anterior?
- Abdel shares his journey from immigrant roots to medical school, where he realized technology's potential to improve healthcare upstream. He recounts experiences at Facebook, UCL, and Google before co-founding Anterior to reduce healthcare's $1 trillion administrative burden.
How does Anterior bridge the gap between healthcare and tech?
- While healthcare faces resource constraints, clinicians show empathy despite challenges; tech startups prioritize rapid iteration. Anterior aligns provider and payer incentives through AI-powered clinical decisioning tools, contrasting the two worlds.
How does Anterior leverage large language models?
- Anterior ingests unstructured clinical data, using large language models to understand medical jargon, surface insights, and increase clinician productivity reviewing cases like prior authorizations. Rigorous evaluation pipelines ensure model accuracy.
What has Anterior learned about designing for seamless user experiences?
- A key learning has been the importance of streamlined user experiences, enabling clinicians to quickly validate AI recommendations with minimal effort, even on mobile devices.
What was Anterior's fundraising journey, and what advice does Abdel offer founders?
- The path involved an accelerator, seed round from Sequoia, then Series A from NEA to scale. Advice includes joining accelerators, demonstrating traction, articulating an ambitious vision, and prioritizing strategic thinking as CEO.

To learn more about Anterior's mission to reduce the administrative burden in healthcare, visit their website.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#91, Transforming Clinical Trials, Part Three of the Health Innovation Compilation Series Jun 19, 2024

Reimagining clinical trials through innovation and technology. In this compilation episode, part 3 of our Health Innovation Series, we explore how Deep6 AI, CEO Wout Brusselaers, Lokavant, CEO Rohit Nambisan, and Science 37, Chief Delivery Officer Darcy Forman, are transforming the way clinical trials are conducted.

How is Deep6 AI revolutionizing patient recruitment for clinical trials?

Deep6 AI leverages AI and natural language processing to precisely match eligible patients to clinical trials by mining real-world data from electronic medical records (EMRs). This enables faster recruitment, fewer dedicated resources, and de-risking of research efforts for hospitals, life sciences companies, and contract research organizations (CROs).
Traditional recruitment methods relied on physicians identifying eligible patients or querying structured data, leading to large pools requiring manual review. Deep6AI ingests all patient data into a cloud platform and uses NLP to create multi-dimensional patient vectors, enabling precise matching by searching a small pool of truly eligible patients.

How is Lokavant transforming clinical trial operations?

Lokavant was founded to solve operational challenges in clinical trials that existing systems could not handle. Their platform ingests diverse data sources and enables configurable analytics across use cases like site/safety monitoring and enrollment forecasting, leveraging data from over 2,000 studies for predictive analytics.

How is Science 37 decentralizing clinical trials globally?

Science 37 brings clinical trial access to diverse patient populations through a virtual/decentralized model, leveraging technology to orchestrate remote visits and engagement. Their network of investigators and mobile nurses enables enrollment of underserved communities matching census data demographics.
Science 37's "meta-site" virtual site enables remote participation through a single app, overcoming roadblocks to drive an innovative, patient-centric clinical trial delivery model. Patients develop strong rapport with nurses, expressing gratitude for in-home care during trials.

Featured Companies:

Deep6 AI - Wout Brusselaers, CEO & Founder
- Website: https://deep6.ai/
- Full Episode: Link to episode
Lokavant - Rohit Nambisan, CEO
- Website: https://www.lokavant.com
- Full Episode: Link to episode
Science 37 - Darcy Forman, Chief Delivery Officer
- Website: www.science37.com
- Full Episode: Link to episode

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

Revisiting #20, redefining gastrointestinal diagnostics with AI: A Conversation with Jonathan Ng, CEO of Iterative Scopes Jul 18, 2023

In this episode, we revisit a conversation with Jonathan Ng, CEO and Founder of Iterative Scopes, from Season 1. Iterative Scopes is a company pioneering the application of artificial intelligence-based precision medicine to gastroenterology with the aim of establishing a new standard of care for the detection and treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. Dr. Ng discusses why healthcare entrepreneurship is so often a winding path, how scepticism can be an asset for a founder, and why raising large amounts of money is often a double-edged sword for start-up teams.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#88, Reconciling Conflicting Data for Coherent Patient Journeys, with Karim Galil from Mendel May 21, 2024

In this episode of the AWS Health Innovation Podcast, Yin He, Principal Business Development for Healthcare and Life Sciences Startups, interviews Karim Galil, Co-Founder and CEO of Mendel. Mendel harnesses the power of AI to structure unstructured patient data, building comprehensive patient journeys that reconcile conflicting data points and empower healthcare professionals with a more objective, data-driven approach to medicine.

How does Mendel unlock the potential of medical data?

Mendel.ai aims to structure unstructured clinical data and reconcile conflicting information to generate comprehensive patient journeys. This approach moves medicine towards more objective, data-driven practices while accounting for physician expertise.

How does Mendel bridge the divide between technical and non-technical users?

Mendel caters to both technical (data analysts) and non-technical (clinicians) users by providing explainable AI systems that foster trust and adoption. Responsible marketing highlighting capabilities and limitations is crucial.

What is Mendel's approach to AI in healthcare?

Mendel combines deep learning with a knowledge graph representation, ensuring explainability and consistency in medical AI outputs. This paves the way for an "Iron Man and Jarvis" collaborative relationship between physicians and advanced AI systems.

What entrepreneurial traits does Karim Galil emphasize?

Karim Galil draws inspiration from personal experiences as a physician, emphasizing resilience, passion for problem-solving, and a mindset of continuous improvement as key traits for aspiring entrepreneurs in the healthcare AI space.

What is Mendel's vision for indexing medical knowledge?

Mendel envisions a future where a company can index and make sense of all medical records, akin to libraries for books and Google for the internet, revolutionizing healthcare delivery through comprehensive data accessibility.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

To learn more about Mendel, visit their website at mendel.ai.

#72, Finding Needles Instead of Building Bigger Haystacks, Transforming Clinical Trials with Wout Brusselaers from Deep 6 AI Nov 29, 2023

In this episode of the AWS Health Innovation Podcast, we welcome Wout Brusselaers, CEO & Founder of Deep 6 AI, to the show. Discover how Deep 6 AI's innovative approach to clinical trial patient recruitment is transforming the field. Host Alex Merwin, Head of Growth for Healthcare & Life Science Startups at AWS, asks Wout about his unique founder journey and the pivotal role of the Cedar's-Sinai accelerator in shaping their business. AI's impact in health innovation is undeniable, and this conversation sheds light on its current role in accelerating clinical research, ultimately getting new medicines to patients faster.

Episode Highlights:

Clinical Trial Innovation [02:02]: Deep 6 AI is transforming clinical trial recruitment in the US with their advanced AI, tackling challenges in patient recruitment and protocol design across many therapeutic areas.
Wout's Founder Journey [07:17]: Learn about Wout's winding career path, from international diplomacy to consulting, ultimately leading him to found Deep 6 AI, leveraging unstructured medical data to innovate clinical trial recruitment.
Revolutionizing Recruitment [13:32]: We learn how Deep 6 AI de-risks and accelerates clinical research by connecting study stakeholders to real-time clinical data, built using AI, to precisely match patients to studies.
Site-Sponsor Paradigm [23:31]: We discuss the complex dynamics between research sites and sponsors, highlighting how Deep 6 AI's technology streamlines these partnerships, optimizing trial efficiency and ROI.
Zero to One [30:21]: We discuss how Deep 6 AI struck its first partnerships, including the role Cedars-Sinai's accelerator had in validating the initial business thesis.
Quantifying Success [34:03]: We discuss how customers are benefitting from Deep 6 AI's solutions, especially their ability to reduce study failures and exceed patient recruitment targets and timelines.
AI in Clinical Trials [38:12]: We discuss Deep 6 AI's technological innovations, particularly in vector databases and NLP, and the opportunities of new forms of AI, including Generative AI, on how clinical trials are planned and conducted.
Lessons Learned [42:28]: A personal perspective on Wout's leadership development, including how his views on the role of motivation, mission, and values in building a successful startup have evolved over time.

Learn more about Deep 6 AI.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#92, Uplifting the Clinician & Patient Experience, Part Four of the Health Innovation Compilation Series Jun 26, 2024

Think back to the last time you received healthcare, whether it was an emergency or routine checkup - how was your experience? In Part Four of our Health Innovation Compilation Series, we learn about a set of remarkable companies working to uplift the clinician and patient experience. From Aneesh Chopra, President of CareJourney, to Elad Walach, CEO of Aidoc, Adrian Aoun, CEO & Founder of Forward, Paul Roscoe, CEO of CLEW, and Robin Shah, Co-Founder & CEO of Thyme Care, this episode showcases the cutting-edge technologies transforming how we give and receive care.

How are companies leveraging predictive analytics to empower clinicians?

CareJourney utilizes claims data to predict disease progression, providing signals back to providers with actionable steps to close care gaps for over 300M people.
Aidoc's AI platform analyzes medical data across specialties, enabling proactive clinical interventions and aiding care teams in optimizing patient treatment.

How is Forward reimagining healthcare delivery through technology?

Forward envisions healthcare as a scalable product, leveraging technology to enable preventive, data-driven, and self-controlled care, challenging traditional healthcare models.

How is AI being used to improve clinical quality and identify risks?

Clew Medical's AI platform identifies high-risk patients before deterioration, using physiological data and predictive models to alert clinicians, expanding beyond ICUs and FDA-cleared for some models.

How are companies addressing the challenges of navigating cancer care journeys?

Thyme Care partners with health plans, pairing oncology nurses and software to facilitate whole-person cancer care, addressing disparities and aligning treatment with patient goals.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

Featured Companies:

CareJourney - Full Episode
- Guest: Aneesh Chopra, President
- Website: https://www.carejourney.com/
Aidoc - Full Episode
- Guest: Elad Walach, CEO
- Website: https://aidoc.com/
Forward Health - Full Episode
- Guest: Adrian Aoun, CEO & Founder
- Website: https://goforward.com/
CLEW - Full Episode
- Guest: Paul Roscoe, CEO
- Website: https://clewmed.com/
Thyme Care - Full Episode
- Guest: Robin Shah, Co-Founder & CEO
- Website: www.thymecare.com

#30, Kevin Dedner, Hurdle Health Nov 14, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Kevin Dedner, CEO and co-founder of Hurdle Health, a tech-enabled provider of culturally intentional mental healthcare. Kevin joins the podcast as part of our mini-season featuring startups addressing health equity. He shares his thoughts on why he is optimistic about the future of health equity, how COVID-19 impacted how we think about mental health, and why Hurdle Health focuses on cultural humility, cultural responsiveness, and cultural intentionality, instead of cultural competency. Learn more about Hurdle Health (https://www.hurdle.health/). You can also learn about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/)

#13 Dr. Tamir Wolf, Theator Mar 28, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Dr. Tamir Wolf, CEO and co-founder of Theator, a surgical intelligence company that puts the defining intraoperative moments in the hands of surgeons so they can continuously perfect their craft. Dr Wolf shares his thoughts on how unnecessary variation in care can have major consequences, why capturing intraoperative data is so valuable, and what becoming a patient himself taught him about the value proposition of his own company. Learn more about Theator (https://theator.io/) and learn more about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/)

#59, Bridging health data silos in Europe with Dali Kilani, CTO of LIfen Aug 15, 2023

Join Guy Spigelman, EMEA Lead, Healthcare & Life Sciences Startups at AWS, as he sits down with Dali Kilani, CTO of Lifen. Learn about how Lifen's tools are reshaping healthcare in Europe, making it more accessible, efficient, and unlocking the full potential of health data.

Lifen's Data Solutions: Data access & interoperability challenges, and what Lifen does - 01:34
Clinician Digital Empowerment: The importance of clinician enablement, providing better digital tools and training on how to use these tools - 05:50
Lifen's Impact: How hospitals and health techs work with Lifen to improve quality, access & efficiency of care - 09:27
Customer-Centric Pricing: Aligning business models, how to be customer obsessed with pricing - 16:32
Security as Strength: Privacy by design and the benefits of making security & compliance a strength for your team to sell into - 19:50
European Expansion: International expansion within Europe, and how to manage regulatory, health system diversity & cultural headwinds - 24:25
Innovation vs. Risk: Clinical opportunity cost, taking a risk management-first approach to digital health innovation to get solutions into the clinic faster while doing no harm - 28:21
Dali's Background: What brought Dali to focus his career on health innovation, and his optimism for the future - 34:15

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#24, George Netscher, SafelyYou Oct 03, 2022

Alex Merwin is joined by George Netscher from SafelyYou which empowers safer, more person-centered dementia care with real-time AI video technology and its remote clinical team. George, SafelyYou's CEO, is an artificial intelligence engineer with computer vision expertise. He dedicated his career to improving Alzheimer's care after several family members coped with the disease. We discuss the benefits of using technology to detect and see critical care moments for those living with dementia, clinical teams driving continuous improvement with tight feedback loops, and how founders can de-risk their business by focusing on key hires throughout their growth journeys. Learn more about SafelyYou (https://www.safely-you.com/) and how AWS enables healthcare & life sciences startups to grow and thrive (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ and https://aws.amazon.com/health/).

#76, Supercharging BioTech's Digital Transformation with Guru Singh of Scispot Feb 14, 2024

Guru Singh, Founder and CEO of Scispot joins Dr. Yin He, Principal Business Development, Healthcare and Life Sciences Startups from AWS on the AWS Health Innovation Podcast. Scispot helps over 100 BioTechs collect, clean, and activate their data. Scispot builds connectors to aggregate disconnected data into knowledge graphs, preparing it for analysis and AI, thus supercharging R&D. A decade ago, BioTech work was 90% wet lab and 10% dry lab, but it is closer to 50/50 today, creating friction for scientists who have to combine, annotate and analyze data manually. Scispot aims to fully automate these workflows so scientists can focus purely on experimentation. We’ll cover Guru’s vision for in-silico models replacing animal testing, the monumental opportunity to reduce drug development timelines from a decade to months, and many other topics.

Digital Transformation - Scispot provides the data infrastructure to help biotech companies leverage AI/ML and transition from being 90% wet lab to 50/50 wet lab and dry lab. Eventually the industry is likely to evolve to the point where wet lab work and animal models are replaced with computational modeling and experimentation.

Knowledge Graphs - Scispot builds connectors to aggregate siloed data then applies entity recognition to create knowledge graphs, harmonizing data into easily computable formats. This enables building AI models and recommendations.

Templatized Workflows - By standardizing and templatizing workflows for common experiments and processes, Scispot aims to let scientists focus on science rather than infrastructure.

Data Strategy - Scispot emphasizes starting with a data strategy and capturing all data from the beginning, so it can be leveraged for future AI initiatives. Unique, proprietary data is a competitive advantage.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#67, The AI Behind 1,000 Medical Centers, Elad Walach from Aidoc Oct 24, 2023

How is AI transforming the way hopsitals operate? Guy Spigelman, the EMEA lead for Healthcare and Life Sciences Startups at AWS, welcomes Elad Walach, the Founder and CEO of Aidoc to the show for a candid and lighthearted conversation. Aidoc offers a leading healthcare AI platform used in over 1,000 medical centers globally, analyzing more than a million patients a month. In this episode, we discuss Aidoc's evolution, Elad's journey as a first-time founder, and how to scale a healthcare startup to over 400 employees while attracting more than $250M in financing from leading investors.

Here's what you'll learn:

Beyond Digital Health [01:25] - Elad and Guy discuss why the term "Digital Health" is limiting and how Aidoc focuses on clinical outcomes, not just technology. They also cover the challenges of FDA clearances and the unique path Aidoc has taken.
Who is the Customer? [05:27] - We explore the evolution of Aidoc's customer focus, from radiologists to enterprise-level deals with hospital systems, and how their priorities have changed over the past two years.
Scaling Challenges [09:18] - Elad shares Aidoc's journey from a radiology-focused startup to an enterprise-level Clinical AI provider. We hear about the challenges of scaling and competing against larger incumbents in the healthcare industry, while also learning about Elad's evolution as a founder and leader.
It's All About the People [15:00] - Aidoc's internal culture is fuelled by patient and physician stories. We discuss the importance of culture in scaling a startup and how Aidoc ensures they are hiring and developing great talent.
AI Hype vs. Reality [21:39] - Thanks to the proliferation of chatbots, AI is on everyone's mind. Elad talks about the responsibility entrepreneurs deploying AI in healthcare have, emphasizing the need for education and better planning, to avoid an "AI winter" where we burn early adopters and lose a golden opportunity to accelerate innovation in healthcare.
Future Ambitions [29:09] - Elad shares Aidoc's future ambitions, from an IPO to expanding AI's impact in healthcare. We also end with some sage advice for healthcare founders.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#42, Vijay Kedar, Tomorrow Health Feb 06, 2023

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Vijay Kedar, CEO and co-founder of Tomorrow Health, a company building technology that improves the way home-based care is ordered, delivered, and paid for. Vijay and I discuss how stakeholder value compounds across the healthcare ecosystem, why he prefers “support” to “empowerment” when building solutions for patients and caregivers, and why he believes so much of the newest technology in healthcare must be custom built with an insider’s view. Learn more about Tomorrow Health (http://home.tomorrowhealth.com/) and how AWS enables healthcare & life sciences startups to grow and thrive (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ and https://aws.amazon.com/health/).

#68, Transforming Cancer Care with Thyme Care's Robin Shah Nov 01, 2023

Have you ever wondered how technology and compassion can come together to transform cancer care? Today's episode features Robin Shah, the Co-Founder & CEO of Thyme Care, a company that collaborates across the cancer care community to improve access, experience, and outcomes, all while lowering the total cost of care. Hosted by Alex Merwin, Head of Growth for Healthcare & Life Science Startups at AWS, this episode dives into Thyme Care's unique approach to oncology, incubated during the pandemic, and how they are scaling impact by attracting top talent.

Background & Inspiration [01:05]: Robin Shah shares his 15-year oncology journey and the strong family influence that shaped his career. His experience with Flatiron and One Oncology set the stage for Thyme Care's mission to transform cancer care. Also, learn how the pandemic offered Thyme Care's founders a unique opportunity to refine its approach.
Hybrid Plus [08:02]: Learn how Thyme Care established its business in the middle of the pandemic, transitioning from a remote-first to hybrid plus working model. Robin shares some of the experiments they tried, and the benefits they've realized from being able to recruit great talent from across the country.
Member Experience [11:10]: Thyme Care's patient-centric approach streamlines the diagnosis and treatment experience in oncology. Learn how they measure success, both from a patient outcome and health economics perspective. We also discuss Thyme Care's business model, which focuses on payors, avoiding placing financial burden on patients and providers.
GTM Strategy [21:04]: Learn how Thyme Care developed its go to market strategy, working backwards from the member experience and mapping out where value could be delivered. We also discuss how Thyme Care segments payors into five distinct personas to better segment its commercial activities.
Hiring and Developing the Best [25:36]: Robin shares insights into how Thyme Care's hiring strategy has evolved, starting with their first 10 hires and ending with a view of their recruiting strategy as Thyme Care scales. "If we find the right person, we find a way to get them into this company, no matter what".
Future Ambition [29:27]: Robin discusses Thyme Care's goals to distribute its solution to as many patients and markets as possible and continuing to sharpen the economic case for payors. We close by learning what is so special about the people who work at Thyme Care: an incredibly passionate and brilliant group of people dedicated to transforming cancer care.

These studies were mentioned in the episode:

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#41, JPM Special, Health Tech Bio - Trends from Across the Pond Jan 30, 2023

Tune in for the latest episode of the AWS Health Innovation podcast, recorded live at the “Health.Tech.Bio - Trends from Accross the Pond” symposium AWS co-hosted with Wellington Partners at JPM. Europe and Israel are hotbeds of healthcare & life science innovation, with talent from top-class research institutes, leading pharmaceutical companies and VC’s all playing on the global stage. As the industry undergoes digital transformation via the adoption of cloud, high performance computing and machine learning, new opportunities for investment and collaboration are emerging. The episode combines: ✅ Interview with Dr. Dana Gourevich (Chief Technology Officer, Israel Innovation Authority) showcasing how Israel uses public/private partnerships to match leading talent from its universities to life sciences research challenges, highlighting AION Labs as an example. ✅ Expert panel with Dr. Richard Law (Chief Business Officer, Exscientia), Edward Kliphuis (Partner, Sofinnova Partners) and Dr. Amrita Sarkar (Principal, Healthcare & Life Sciences, AWS) covering Europe & America’s complementary roles accelerating healthcare innovation. ✅ Fireside chat with Dr. Rainer Strohmenger and Dr. Regina Hodits, Managing Partners at Wellington Partners detailing their investment approach, how they support startups, and pragmatic advice for founders. Learn more about how AWS enables healthcare and life science startups to grow & thrive (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/healthcare-life-sciences/) and how healthcare & life sciences industry leaders leverage the cloud to accelerate health innovation (https://aws.amazon.com/health/)

#37, New Year’s Special – HLTH Conference (re-release) Mar 27, 2023

Episode Re-Release. Alex Merwin hosts a group of health innovation leaders from startups, investors, media and startup enabling organizations for a special HLTH compilation episode. We asked each innovator two questions: what is special about convening in-person at events in this post-covid world, and if they could wave a magic wand to eliminate any hurdle to health innovation what would they change and why. Thanks to our guests from Redesign Health, Maven Clinic, Luma Health, Health Gorilla, Matter, Mission Based Media, Keep Labs, Memora Health, Unseen Capital, BioFourmis, and Brightside Health. Learn more about how AWS enables healthcare & life sciences startups to grow and thrive at https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ and https://aws.amazon.com/health/.

#20, Dr. Jonathan Ng, Iterative Scopes May 16, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Dr. Jonathan Ng, CEO and founder of Iterative Scopes, a company pioneering the application of artificial intelligence-based precision medicine to gastroenterology with the aim of establishing a new standard of care for the detection and treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. Dr. Ng discusses why healthcare entrepreneurship is so often a winding path, how skepticism can be an asset for a founder, and why raising large amounts of money is often a double-edged sword for startup teams. Learn more about Iterative Scopes (http://www.iterativescopes.com/) and learn more about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/)

#32, Andrew Eye, ClosedLoop & Amanda Goltz, AWS Accelerator focused on health equity Nov 21, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Andrew Eye, CEO and co-founder of ClosedLoop, a company that gives providers, payers, and value-based care organizations the ability to make accurate, explainable, and actionable predictions of individual-level health risks; as well as Amanda Goltz, lead for the AWS Accelerator focused on health equity, for the 3rd and final episode of our mini-season featuring startups addressing health equity. Andrew and Amanda share how the AWS Accelerator supports healthcare startups, how the aims of health equity are aligned with Value-Based Care, and why Andrew believes local data is so essential to building powerful, unbiased predictive models in healthcare. Learn more about ClosedLoop (https://www.closedloop.ai/) and the AWS Accelerator focused on health equity (https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/publicsector/aws-announces-10-startups-selected-2022-aws-healthcare-accelerator-health-equity/) as well as the newly announced AWS Healthcare Accelerator Global Cohort for Workforce Development (https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/publicsector/aws-launches-aws-healthcare-accelerator-global-cohort-for-workforce-development/). You can also learn about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/).

#66, Using AI to decipher the immune system, Young Kwon of Alchemab Oct 17, 2023

Ever notice how some people seem to be naturally resistant to certain diseases? Today, we're diving into the world of natural protective antibodies with Alchemab Therapeutics. Alchemab is developing a pipeline of antibody therapeutics for hard-to-treat cancers, neurodegenerative conditions, and infectious diseases. Amrita Sarkar, Principal Healthcare and Life Sciences Startups Business Development Manager at AWS, speaks with Young Kwon, the CEO of Alchemab, about his journey, the company's unique approach to drug discovery, and how technology is accelerating their progress.

Therapeutic Insights from the Immune System [01:00] - Discover how Alchemab identifies resilient individuals to chronic diseases and leverages insights about their immune systems for drug development. Learn how their approach is revolutionizing how we think about treating hard-to-treat conditions like cancer and neurodegenerative disorders.
From Benchside to Industry [02:53] - Learn about Young Kwon's unique career trajectory, from academia to venture capital to TechBio CEO, and how his diverse experiences have shaped his leadership at Alchemab.
Placing Bets [07:39] - Why is Alchemab focusing on cancer and neurodegenerative disorders? Understand their unique approach to identifying resilient individuals and why they've selected their disease areas of focus.
Bio <> Tech Convergence [14:52] - Explore how advancements in cloud computing and machine learning are enabling Alchemab to accelerate drug discovery. This is particularly relevant as the biotech industry grapples with the challenges of ever growing datasets both in terms of size and complexity.
Pipeline & Partnerships [19:30] - A guided tour of Alchemab's preclinical programs and why pharma partnerships are crucial for their growth.
Scaling Challenges [23:35] - Alchemab faces unique technical & business challenges as they scale. Learn how they navigate these hurdles in an environment where competition for compute resources is hotter than ever as the world flocks to deploy AI in every industry.
Advice to Founders - Culture First [25:39] - Young Kwon shares his perspective on how to be an effective steward of strong team culture and how he approaches his role as CEO.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#96, Unlocking Precision Health with Oculomics, with Carlos Ciller from Ikerian Jul 30, 2024

Accelerating medical decision-making with AI is the mission of Ikerian, a Swiss software company enabling healthcare teams to harmonize and analyze data at scale. In this episode of the AWS Health Innovation Podcast, Alex Merwin, Head of Growth for Healthcare and Life Science Startups at AWS, is joined by Carlos Ciller, CEO and co-founder of Ikerian, to discuss their innovative platform and approach.

Carlos shares insights into Ikerian's journey, from its origins as a retinal imaging AI startup called RetinAI, to evolving into a comprehensive data platform serving pharmaceutical companies, physicians, and researchers across therapeutic areas. The discussion explores how Ikerian is empowering stakeholders to detect diseases sooner through biomarker identification, optimize treatment decisions with curated insights, expedite clinical collaboration through efficient workflows, and accelerate drug development by aggregating learnings. Carlos also discusses the key components of their scalable cloud platform, their focus on user experience and education, and the entrepreneurial resilience required to bring such an ambitious vision to reality.

Founder's Entrepreneurial Journey
- Carlos Ciller shares his background, from studying in Barcelona to co-founding Icarian in Switzerland. He discusses the resilience and commitment required as an entrepreneur, learning from failures, and the importance of time management after becoming a father.
Oculomics: Unlocking Systemic Health
- The eye provides a window into systemic diseases, a field known as "oculomics." Retinal scanning offers a low-cost, automated diagnostic modality compared to alternatives like MRI, enabling early disease detection and optimized treatment decisions.
Diverse Customer Needs, Unified Solution
- Ikerian caters to pharmaceutical companies (AI, medical, market access teams) and physicians, offering AI analysis, clinical studies, patient identification, decision support, and patient engagement through a unified, cloud-based platform.
Scalable Cloud Infrastructure Enabler
- Leveraging Amazon's scalable cloud infrastructure, Icarian's platform can dynamically scale based on customer needs, comprising image/data management, task processing, clinical viewer, and modular AI components.
User-Centric Design for Adoption
- Recognizing the importance of user experience and education in healthcare, Icarian focuses on user-centric design to drive platform adoption among pharmaceutical companies and physicians.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

To learn more about Ikerian and their innovative platform, visit ikerian.com.

#62, Healthcare's AI Revolution, Insights from 10 Top Startups Sep 19, 2023

How is AI transforming healthcare? Learn from ten leading healthcare & life sciences startups in this compilation episode of the AWS Health Innovation Podcast.

From genomics to dentistry, and musculoskeletal to cardiology, we cover a broad spectrum of healthcare AI use cases.

Apixio - Sachin Patel, CEO of Apixio discusses the importance of responsible AI development in healthcare, emphasizing the high stakes involved. [01:16]
Insilico Medicine - Alex Zhavoronkov, Founder & CEO, provides a glimpse into the future of AI in drug development and disease hypothesis formulation. [03:41]
Rad AI - Doktor Gurson, Co-Founder & CEO, shares his journey in meeting his co-founder and achieving product-market fit for AI-powered radiology solutions. [10:14]
Us2.AI - Dr. Carolyn Lam, Co-Founder & Non-Exec Head of Medical Affairs, talks about Us2.AI's rigorous approach to evidence generation required for deploying AI in echocardiography. [19:23]
Pearl - Ophir Tanz, Founder & CEO, discusses Pearl's unique regulatory strategy for AI in dentistry, including pursuing multiple FDA clearances in a single submission. [23:56]
TetraScience - Mike Tarselli, Chief Scientific & Knowledge Officer, explains the importance of maintaining well-architected data environments for applying AI and machine learning in life sciences research. [29:03]
Ovation - Curt Medeiros (CEO) and Barry Wark (Co-Founder & CSO) discuss the importance of sourcing diverse and representative datasets to reduce health inequities in drug development. [32:43]
Sparta Science - Dr. Phil Wagner, Founder & CEO, emphasizes the importance of high data quality for developing performant AI models for use in the musculoskeletal and movement health space. [37:08]
Lifen - Dali Kilani, CTO, talks about the risk management while deploying AI in healthcare settings, advocating for a balanced approach supportive of experimentation. [40:14]
DeepScribe - Akilesh Bapu, Co-Founder & CEO, stresses the importance of customer experience and trust in the successful deployment of AI solutions in healthcare. [43:13]

Whether you're an entrepreneur, clinician, investor or innovation leader, this episode offers a comprehensive view of AI's role in transforming healthcare and life science.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#52, Accelerating Clinical Trials & Making Research More Accessible: Darcy Forman, Chief Delivery Officer of Science 37 Jun 06, 2023

Darcy Forman, Chief Delivery Officer at Science 37, talks about Science 37's trailblazing role in evolving how clinical research is conducted. Founded in 2014, Science 37's mission is to accelerate and enhance the quality of clinical research by expanding access to a new, more diverse patient population with their Metasite™ - a site without borders. This innovative, decentralized trial approach has redefined the clinical trial landscape, making it more inclusive and patient-centric by reducing barriers to participate in clinical studies.

Darcy shares how Science 37 leverages unified technology, standardized processes, and a patient-centric approach to accelerate clinical research. Using a diverse array of workflow orchestration, wearable tech, and other digital tools, Science 37 effectively transitions trial delivery from traditional research clinics into patient's homes, addressing a multitude of logistical issues while enabling more patients to benefit from experimental therapies.

Darcy further highlights the key role of Science 37's patient recruitment strategies, including a unique omnichannel approach. This approach taps into a global healthcare provider network, pharmacies, lab partners, digital media, and advocacy groups to identify potential trial participants. Darcy also underscores the importance of collaboration within the pharmaceutical and biotech industry to further propel innovation in the clinical trial space. In conclusion, Darcy shares her vision for a future where clinical trials are more accessible, efficient, and patient-centric, emphasizing the need for continuous improvement & collaboration to realize this vision.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#43, Alessio Signorini, Evidation Health Feb 13, 2023

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Alessio Signorini, CTO and co-founder of Evidation Health, a platform that rewards users for healthy actions while contributing real-world data to important research projects. Joe and Alessio discuss how the founders’ experience in data-driven advertising led them to Evidation Health, how the rise of wearable technology has dramatically increased available healthcare data, and why transparency, privacy, and trust are essential when working with healthcare data. Learn more about Evidation Health (https://evidation.com) and how AWS enables healthcare & life sciences startups to grow and thrive (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ and https://aws.amazon.com/health/).

#6 Amihai Neiderman, Nym Feb 10, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Amihai Neiderman, CEO and founder of Nym, a company enabling fully automated, efficient, and transparent revenue cycle management for healthcare providers. Amihai shares his insights on the advantages of coming into healthcare as an outsider and how to build trust with customers as a way to cut through healthcare’s interminable sales cycles. Learn more about Nym (https://nym.health/) and learn more about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/)

#54, AKASA's Vision for Transforming the Revenue Cycle in Healthcare with Ben Beadle-Ryby Jun 27, 2023

In this episode, Amanda Goltz, U.S. Lead for Worldwide Healthcare Venture Capital and Startups at Amazon Web Services, hosts a profound & insightful conversation with Ben Beadle-Ryby, SVP, Commercial, and Co-Founder of AKASA. Discover how AKASA employs the power of artificial intelligence to transform revenue cycle management for leading healthcare institutions, thereby improving the patient experience and reducing administrative waste.

Ben shares details on AKASA's impactful work with nearly 500 hospitals across the U.S., representing over a hundred billion in net patient revenue, touching nearly 10% of the US healthcare ecosystem. He provides insights into the enormous potential for automation within back office operations of healthcare systems, aiming to enhance the patient care experience and streamline health system processes.

The conversation also highlights the tangible impacts AKASA delivers for its customers, such as reducing errors, accelerating receivable windows, and boosting overall revenue yield. Tune in for a view into the future of the healthcare revenue cycle.

#79, Predicting Future Health Events With AI with Eric Chung from Prospection Mar 05, 2024

Prospection, a developer of a SaaS healthcare analytics platform, joins the AWS Health Innovation Podcast to discuss how having better data can improve patient outcomes. Dr. Terence Tan, APJ Healthcare & Lifesciences Startup BD Manager for AWS, interviews Eric Chung, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Prospection, on how their platform converts healthcare data into actionable insights to optimize drug performance.

Data Illuminates Patient data uncovers insights leading to better outcomes. Prospection models make predictions to optimize care.

Combining Expertise Prospection fuses medical knowledge with engineering to extract meaning from data. Unique mix of skills.

AI in Action Prospection applies AI in 3 main ways - assistant, diagnostics and predictions. Models trained on patient journeys.

Transformer Models Each patient timeline is a 'sentence' for transformer models to learn from. Predict future events like metastasis.

Averting Adversity Models identified weight/dosage as main driver of side effects. Enabled 17x reduction between countries.

Idealistic Future Models point toward future where outcomes are predicted and improved through data. But roadblocks remain.

Beyond Pharma Prospection wants real world evidence insights for more stakeholders. Right treatment, right time.

Reimbursement Roadblocks Payment models make/break innovations. Must evaluate data value chain.

Strategic Choices Innovate in data, software, analytics or go-to-market? Need viable payment model.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#89, Accelerating Drug R&D, Part One of the Health Innovation Compilation Series Jun 05, 2024

Pushing the boundaries of drug research and development, visionary companies are harnessing the power of engineering, artificial intelligence, and novel technologies to revolutionize how we discover and design new therapies. In this compilation episode, we explore the cutting-edge approaches of VivoDyne (Andrei Georgescu, CEO), Seer (Serafim Batzoglou, Chief Data Officer), Ordaōs (Dave Longo, CEO), Insilico Medicine (Alex Zhavoronkov, Founder and CEO), and Alchemab Therapeutics (Young Kwon, PhD, CEO).

1. How is VivoDyne's microfluidic bioengineering platform revolutionizing drug research?

VivoDyne's platform enables growing tens of thousands of human tissue samples at scale, providing precise control over microenvironments to study complex cell interactions and dynamics that drive disease.
This approach overcomes limitations of simplistic cell cultures and animal models, bridging the gap between preclinical results and human responses.

2. What makes Seer's approach to proteomics so powerful?

Seer develops nanoparticle technologies that enable unbiased, deep, and large-scale access to the proteome, the full set of proteins in the body.
Their approach detects 8x more proteins than conventional methods, unlocking insights into complex biological systems and paving the way for new diagnostic and therapeutic breakthroughs.

3. How are Ordaōs' "mini-proteins" transforming drug development?

Ordaos designs "mini-proteins" from scratch, combining advantages of small molecules and antibodies for optimal drug properties like stability, tumor penetration, and oral delivery.
Their AI models complex biological systems to engineer these powerful therapeutic candidates, tackling the high failure rates and costs of traditional drug development.

4. How is Insilico Medicine leveraging generative AI to reimagine drug discovery?

Insilico Medicine leverages generative AI like generative adversarial networks (GANs) to accelerate the traditionally slow and costly drug discovery process.
Their AI-driven approach generates novel small molecule candidates with desired properties, aiming to transform pharmaceutical R&D.

5. What is unique about Alchemab Therapeutics' approach to developing antibody therapies?

Alchemab Therapeutics identifies protective antibodies from resilient patient populations, using machine learning to find rare sequences and predict functional antibodies against hard-to-treat diseases like Alzheimer's and cancers.
Their AI-powered platform accelerates antibody therapy development by combining machine learning with experimental validation.

Companies featured in this compilation:

VivoDyne - Andrei Georgescu, CEO (vivodyne.com)>>Listen to the full episode
Seer - Serafim Batzoglou, Chief Data Officer (www.seer.bio)>>Listen to the full episode
Ordaōs - Dave Longo, CEO (ordaos.bio)>>Listen to the full episode
Insilico Medicine - Alex Zhavoronkov, Founder and CEO (insilico.com)>>Listen to the full episode
Alchemab Therapeutics - Young Kwon, PhD, CEO (alchemab.com)>>Listen to the full episode

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#4 Edwin Miller, Sitka Feb 10, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Edwin Miller, Chief Product Officer at Sitka, a telehealth platform that connects primary care providers to specialists. Edwin shares his insights on the role of technology in value-based care models and what we should be expecting from electronic health records. Learn more about Sitka (https://www.trustsitka.com/) and Learn more about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/)

#28, Caitlin Donovan, Uber Health & Jacob Laufer, ShiftMed Oct 31, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Caitlin Donovan and Jacob Laufer. Caitlin is the Global Head of Uber Health, Uber’s healthcare arm that is dedicated to improving health outcomes by helping enable better access to care and services. Jacob is the COO of ShiftMed, an on-demand workforce marketplace that connects nursing professionals looking for flexible work with healthcare providers in need of additional nursing staff. Caitlin and Jacob discuss the implications of more care moving outside the hospital, the role of transportation in driving retention among providers, and the way complementary, tech-enabled solutions can combine forces to solve healthcare’s most pressing challenges. Learn more about Uber Health (https://www.uberhealth.com/) and ShiftMed (https://www.shiftmed.com/). You can also learn about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/)

#11 Dr. Michael Lesh, Syntegra Mar 14, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Dr. Michael Lesh, CEO and founder of Syntegra, a company creating accurate, privacy-preserved synthetic data that bridges the gap between data privacy and data science needs. Dr. Lesh provides his insights into navigating a career in academic medicine as a repeat founder, identifying when an idea or project grows into a potential business, and understanding the differences between developing and commercializing medical devices and software startups. Learn more about Syntegra (https://www.syntegra.io) and learn more about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/)

#17 Duncan Reece, Cohere Health Apr 25, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Duncan Reece, COO and co-founder of Cohere Health, a company looking to transform utilization management into true care management. Duncan discusses why prior authorization is an ideal area for innovation, why thinking in terms of patient journeys is such a powerful framing, and how startups should look to the past for inspiration but still leverage modern technology.

#73, Reducing Maternal Mortality in Africa with Allison Howard-Berry from Touch Foundation Dec 06, 2023

On this episode of the AWS Health Innovation Podcast, host Danielle Morris, Principal Lead for Health Equity at AWS, sits down with Allison Howard Berry, Chief Advancement Officer of Touch Foundation. They highlight Touch Foundation's inspiring story, an organization transforming maternal healthcare in Africa. Millions of mothers on the continent, and their unborn children, lack reliable transport to medical care at key points during pregnancy, childbirth, and postnatal care. Learn about Touch Foundation's ground breaking M-MAMA program, which reduced maternal mortality rates by 27% in Tanzania, by providing over 50,000 transports per year.

Learn about:

Touch Foundation's Journey [02:33]: Allison Howard Berry from Touch Foundation discusses the organization's mission and longstanding collaboration with the Tanzanian government. Berry illuminates the complexities of healthcare access in rural Africa, emphasizing Touch Foundation's focus on delivering sustainable and long-lasting healthcare innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Innovating with M-MAMA [11:36]: A deep dive into the M-MAMA program, a transformative transportation solution helping pregnant women in Tanzania. Berry explains the program's design considerations, such as security and data privacy, its success in reducing maternal mortality, and the crucial role of government support in ensuring M-MAMA's sustainability and scalability.
Scaling Success [21:45]: Berry shares success stories and the significant impact of M-MAMA in reducing maternal mortality by 27%. We also explore future plans for expanding the program in Lesotho and Kenya, adapting to each country's unique context, and broadening M-MAMA’s scope to address a wider range of health outcomes.
Lessons and Partnerships [27:26]:Berry reflects on key lessons from M-MAMA's implementation, such as the value of partnerships and the need for adaptability in different contexts. Berry also offers advice for innovators using technology for social impact and highlights Touch Foundation's recognition in the AWS Health Equity initiative.

Learn more about Touch Foundation

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#75, Top 10 Episodes of All Time, Part 2 Jan 23, 2024

Happy new year everyone! Continuing our special countdown on the AWS Health Innovation Podcast, we present Part 2 of our All-Time Top 10 Episodes. This segment highlights episodes 5 through 1:

Number 5 - DeepScribe: DeepScribe, an AI medical scribe company, is revolutionizing medical documentation. Guest: Akilesh Bapu, Host: Alex Merwin.
Number 4 - Cohere Health: Cohere Health is transforming care management with its intelligent prior authorization solutions. Guest: Duncan Reece, Host: Joe Shonkwiler.
Number 3 - Zus Health: Zus Health is accelerating healthcare data interoperability with its shared health data platform. Guest: Jonathan Bush, Host: Joe Shonkwiler.
Number 2 - Bayesian Health: Bayesian Health applies AI and ML to clinical data, enhancing patient-specific decision-making. Host: Joe Shonkwiler, Guest: Dr. Suchi Saria.
Number 1 - Iterative Scopes: Iterative Scopes leads the way in AI-based precision medicine for gastrointestinal diseases. Host: Joe Shonkwiler, Guest: Dr. Jonathan Ng.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#12 Dr. Venky Soundararajan, nference Mar 21, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Dr. Venky Soundararajan, Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of nference, a company turning the unstructured data captured in Electronic Medical Records into solutions that enable scientists to discover and develop the next generation of diagnostics and therapeutics. Dr. Soundrarajan shares his insights into why asking tough questions and trying to solve big problems is important in startups and biomedical research, how to identify which focus areas will have the greatest impact in healthcare, and when to work with partners to accelerate progress. Learn more about nference (https://nference.com) and learn more about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/)

#23, Adam Odessky, Sensely Sep 26, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Adam Odessky, CEO and co-founder of Sensely, an empathy-driven virtual assistant platform designed to enhance member experience, elevate brand preference, and influence behavior. Adam and Joe discuss why engagement matters for individual patients and systems as a whole, how text to speech technology has advanced in recent years, opening up additional opportunities for virtual patient engagement, and what it meant to him and his team for Sensely to be patients’ primary point of contact following a diagnosis with COVID-19. Learn more about Sensely (https://sensely.com/) and learn more about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/)

#21, Dr. Ruben Amarasingham, Pieces Sep 12, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Dr. Ruben Amarasingham, CEO and founder of Pieces, a company connecting care providers to actionable data, people to services, and case workers to information. Dr. Amarasingham discusses the evolution of AI in care delivery, the importance of thinking holistically about each patient, and what he and his team took away from being part of AWS’ inaugural healthcare accelerator. Learn more about Pieces (https://piecestech.com/) and learn more about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/)

Season Two Wrap Up Feb 28, 2023

We want to hear your feedback about the Podcast! Let us know what you think here: https://airtable.com/shrF0QmQUU8xGvlIO --------- This week we're doing something different, as we wrap Season 2 and get ready to launch Season 3 later in the spring. Given we'll be taking several weeks off to cook up our next season of content, this is a great opportunity to showcase a few episodes from our catalog by republishing them on the feed over the coming weeks. Joe and Alex talk about why they selected these episodes, share some other highlights from season 2 and a give listeners a sneak peek for what we have planned for Season 3. --------- We want to hear your feedback about the Podcast! Let us know what you think here: https://airtable.com/shrF0QmQUU8xGvlIO --------- Learn more about how AWS enables healthcare and life science startups to grow & thrive (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/healthcare-life-sciences/) and how healthcare & life sciences industry leaders leverage the cloud to accelerate health innovation (https://aws.amazon.com/health/)

#31, Baha Zeidan, Azalea Health Nov 18, 2022

Alex Merwin is joined by Baha Zeidan from Azalea Health on our second episode of a 'mini-season' on Health Equity. In this episode we shine a light on challenges delivering healthcare in rural communities. Azalea Health empowers care providers with simplified and seamless technology that boosts their ability to provide care - all while supporting their work-life balance. Baha Zeidan, Azalea Health Co-Founder & CEO, is a real-life health IT superhero. Guided by his passion for cloud computing, mobile development, device computing and big data analytics, Baha founded Azalea to transform how rural healthcare providers run their practices. We discuss the unique operational challenges rural providers face delivering care & managing their practices, health inequities facing 1 in 5 Americans who live in rural communities, and how cloud technology enables Azalea to rapidly iterate and improve its products in a secure & compliant fashion. Learn more about Azalea Health (https://www.azaleahealth.com/) and how AWS enables healthcare & life sciences startups to grow and thrive (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ and https://aws.amazon.com/health/).

#1 Dr. Suchi Saria, Bayesian Health Feb 10, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Dr. Suchi Saria (@suchisaria). Dr. Saria is the John C. Malone Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins University, where she directs the machine learning and healthcare lab. She is also the CEO and founder of Bayesian Health (@bayesianhealth), a company bringing AI to the bedside to deliver accurate and actionable signals. She shares her thoughts on the role of machine learning to derive insights from reams of healthcare data and how leading in academia differs from running a high growth startup. Learn more about Bayesian Health: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bayesian-health https://www.bayesianhealth.com/ Learn more about healthcare and life science startups on AWS: https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ https://aws.amazon.com/health/

#87, Modeling Integrated Human Physiology with Microfluidics with Andrei Georgescu from Vivodyne May 14, 2024

Pushing the boundaries of human biology, Vivodyne has developed a groundbreaking microfluidic bioengineering platform capable of growing tens of thousands of human tissue samples at scale. Our guest is Andrei Georgescu, the CEO of Vivodyne, whose unique background bridging electrical engineering and bioengineering led him to develop this innovative approach. Hosting the interview is Yin He, Principal Business Development for Healthcare and Life Sciences Startups at AWS, who will explore how Vivodyne's platform combines the principles of organs-on-chips and organoids at high throughput.

How does Vivodyne's microfluidic platform revolutionize drug discovery?
- Vivodyne's microfluidic bioengineering platform enables growing tens of thousands of human tissue samples at scale, providing unprecedented insights into human biology before clinical trials. This approach aims to revolutionize drug discovery success rates by gathering massive human data currently lacking.
What is the key innovation behind Vivodyne's approach?
- Rather than top-down engineering, Vivodyne leverages principles of organs-on-chips and organoids to enable bottom-up self-assembly of complex human tissues at high throughput. This allows studying tissue interactions, systemic effects like immune responses, and linking multiple systems to model integrated physiology.
How does Vivodyne's platform align with ethical principles?
- By producing foundational human data on gene edits, drug metabolism, off-target effects and more, Vivodyne's automated microfluidic platform displaces animal testing facilities while significantly reducing costs. This aligns scientific advancement with ethical principles.
What challenge is Vivodyne tackling, and how?
- Integrating isolated biological knowledge into a holistic, system-level understanding remains extremely challenging. Vivodyne is tackling this immense complexity by combining microfluidics' control with high-throughput human tissue data generation to enable AI modeling of human biology at unprecedented scales.
What advice does Vivodyne's CEO have for biotech entrepreneurs?
- As a biotech entrepreneur, Vivodyne's CEO Andrei Georgescu advises tackling very difficult yet high-impact problems, as the potential upside outweighs incremental approaches despite perceived higher risk. Transformative innovation requires embracing immense challenges.

To learn more about Vivodyne's groundbreaking work, visit their website at vivodyne.com.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#98, Advancing Adaptive Clinical Trials with Causal ML, with Raviv Pryluk from PhaseV Aug 13, 2024

In this episode of the AWS Health Innovation Podcast, Guy Spigelman, EMEA lead for Healthcare and Life Sciences Startups at Amazon Web Services, sits down with Raviv Pryluk, CEO and Co-Founder of PhaseV, a company leveraging cutting-edge technologies like reinforcement learning and causal machine learning to revolutionize clinical trial design and execution.

1. How did Raviv and his co-founder identify the clinical trials space as ripe for innovation?

Raviv shares the extensive research and criteria-driven process he undertook with co-founder Elad to identify the clinical trials space as ripe for innovation. They sought an area with major positive impact potential that leveraged their expertise in machine learning, neuroscience, and engineering.

2. What innovative technologies does PhaseV employ to transform clinical trials?

PhaseV's platforms harness cutting-edge technologies like reinforcement learning and causal ML to enable adaptive trial designs and advanced data analysis. This allows more efficient, ethical trials with faster detection of subgroups responding differently to treatments.

3. How does PhaseV's causal ML platform extract insights from complex biological data?

PhaseV's causal ML platform can analyze intricate biological mechanisms and multi-endpoint trials to identify true causal relationships, not just correlations. This surfaces actionable insights into why certain patient subgroups respond better to specific drugs.

4. How does PhaseV aim to accelerate drug development timelines?

By leveraging machine learning for surrogate endpoints and virtual head-to-head comparisons in Phase 2, PhaseV aims to predict trial outcomes faster. This could dramatically reduce the 10+ year, $3B+ timeline for new drug approvals.

5. How is PhaseV positioned to capitalize on regulatory shifts post-COVID?

The pandemic prompted increasing regulatory flexibility and digitization in clinical trials. PhaseV is well-positioned to capitalize on this evolving landscape and usher in a new era of precision medicine through innovative trial methodologies.

6. How does PhaseV build its multidisciplinary team?

Raviv discusses PhaseV's strategic hiring approach, carefully assembling a diverse team spanning software, data science, medicine, and biology. Maintaining an "adaptive" mindset allows continuous reevaluation based on new data.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#18 Dr. George Church & Barghavi Govindarajan, Digid8 May 02, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Dr. George Church and Barghavi Govindarajan, co-founders of Digid8, a company creating a seamless, affordable DNA-first decision making platform. Dr. Church is a pioneer in the world of synthetic biology and Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School as well as Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Barghavi is a seasoned technologist and the CEO of Digid8. Dr. Church and Barghavi discuss how technology, innovation, and education can come together in a single product, to what extent users need to understand a complex technology to use it effectively, and how basic science researchers can leverage startups to speed up the time to making a massive impact on the world. Learn more about Digid8 (https://www.digid8.com) and learn more about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups or https://aws.amazon.com/health)

#55, Harnessing AI for Smarter Healthcare Analytics: Insights from Sachin Patel, CEO of Apixio Jul 04, 2023

In this episode of AWS Health Innovation Podcast, Eric Zimmerman, Principal Healthcare & Life Sciences BD, Venture Capital & Startups at AWS, sits down with Sachin Patel, CEO of Apixio. They discuss Apixio's mission to improve patient outcomes by applying artificial intelligence (AI) to surface actionable insights that improve administrative, clinical, and financial outcomes for payers and providers.

Learn more about Apixio's data-driven approach as Sachin walks us through detailed customer examples. Sachin also shares candid insights about the challenges of applying AI to accelerate healthcare innovation and the importance of bringing industry experts into the room to guide key decisions.

Throughout the conversation, Sachin provides glimpses into the significant role of AI in navigating complex, unstructured, and federated healthcare data. AI, when appropriately applied, can empower healthcare providers and payers to deliver more effective, timely care. The episode reveals how Apixio is striving to create a world where accessible and actionable health data drives more personalized and affordable healthcare.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#5 Dr. Ryan Grant, Vori Health Feb 10, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Dr. Ryan Grant, CEO and founder of Vori Health, a company building a new kind of virtual medical care. Ryan shares his experience as a repeat founder and thoughts on what limits the healthcare system when it comes to developing new and innovative models. Learn more about Vori Health (https://www.vorihealth.com/) and learn more about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/)

#29, Warren Ratliff, AdaptX Nov 07, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Warren Ratliff, CEO and co-founder of AdaptX, a company that enables providers to transform treatments and workflows by adaptively managing performance. Warren discusses why he doesn’t want to create super users among his provider customers, how he thinks about building momentum with customers during long sales cycles, and when focusing on positive deviants can be a powerful adoption driver. Learn more about AdaptX (https://www.adaptx.com/). You can also learn about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/)

#44, Jonathan Bush, Zus Health Feb 20, 2023

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Jonathan Bush, CEO and co-founder of Zus Health, a shared health data platform designed to accelerate healthcare data interoperability by providing easy-to-use patient data at the point of care. Joe and Jonathan discuss why he sees duplication as core to what frustrates so many with the US health system, how his experience leading athenahealth has shaped his team’s approach at Zus, and what his advice is for first time founders in health tech. Learn more about Zus Health (https://zushealth.com/) and how AWS enables healthcare & life sciences startups to grow and thrive (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ and https://aws.amazon.com/health/).

Season 2 Trailer Sep 02, 2022

Season 2 of the AWS Health Innovation Podcast will be launching on Monday, September 12th. Stay Tuned!

#8 Rohit Nambisan, Lokavant Feb 21, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Rohit Nambisan, President at Lokavant, a company seeking to eliminate operational errors in clinical trials. Rohit shares his insights into how technology can further enable drug development, why identifying internal challenges can be a potent innovation driver, and how clinical trial data is currently underutilized. Learn more about Lokavant (https://www.lokavant.com/) and learn more about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/)

#57, Pioneering Next-Generation Biologics Testing with Jean Francois Brepson, CEO of Pathoquest Aug 01, 2023

Dr. Amrita Sarkar, Principal Healthcare and Life Sciences Startups Business Development Manager at Amazon Web Services, welcomes Jean Francois Brepson, CEO of Pathoquest to the show. PathoQuest enables new biotherapies to be delivered rapidly and safely to patients with its quality testing platform.

Jean shares details about Pathoquest's ground breaking next-generation sequencing (NGS) approach to genetic characterization and viral testing. Serving global biopharmaceutical companies and emerging biotechs, Pathoquest provides a robust QC solution to accelerate the manufacturing of biologics.

The conversation also dives into the company's approach to international expansion, and the pivotal role of local expertise and investors in understanding and penetrating new markets.

[01:00] Introduction to Pathoquest.
[02:17] Jean Francois Brepson's background and path to founding Pathoquest.
[03:29] Pathoquests' journey as a spin out from the Institut Pasteur, named after the eminent French Chemist Louis Pasteur.
[05:21] How Pathoquests' solution improves manufacturing ROI via enhanced viral safety and genetic characterization.
[09:10] How cloud computing has enabled Pathoquest to scale faster
[11:28] Recent publications and Pathoquest's commitment to scientific excellence.
[13:15] Details on Pathoquest's partnership with Oxford Nanopore.
[14:42] Scientific and business challenges of building Pathoquest and lessons learned along the way.
[17:31] Best practices from Pathoquest's US launch.
[20:58] Pathoquests goals and ambition for the coming years.
[22:59] Advice for non-US founders wanting to launch a life sciences startup in the US.
[24:27] How strategic investors can help international expansion be successful.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#97, Preventing Adverse Drug Events at Scale, with Avishai Ben-Tovim from MDI Health Aug 06, 2024

Medication-related problems are a massive burden on healthcare systems, leading to adverse events, suboptimal treatments, and skyrocketing costs. MDI Health has developed an AI-driven pharmacology platform that autonomously optimizes personal medication regimens by analyzing thousands of pharmacological and patient parameters. Joining us today is Avishai Ben-Tovim, CEO and Co-Founder of MDI Health, to share how their powerful AI identifies high-risk patients, provides clinicians with evidence-based recommendations to reduce risks in real-time, and helps payers and providers execute those recommendations - ultimately reducing total care costs while improving quality.

What is MDI Health's approach to Medication Therapy Mastery?
- MDI Health's AI platform analyzes thousands of pharmacological and patient parameters to optimize medication regimens across populations. It identifies high-risk patients for adverse drug events and provides real-time recommendations to reduce risks and lower care costs.
How did MDI Health overcome barriers in the healthcare industry?
- Avishai discusses how MDI Health conducted clinical studies, secured early customers through resourcefulness, and provided clinical validation to convince chief medical officers of their value proposition.
What is the concept of a Collaborative AI Co-Pilot?
- MDI Health's evidence-based algorithm maps pharmacological rules, trained by comparing to expert analysis on real cases. It complements existing systems by surfacing insights and suggested actions clinicians often miss.
How does MDI Health aim to align healthcare incentives?
- Avishai aims to enable data exchange and aligned incentives between health plans and providers. MDI Health's solution improves efficiency and holistic patient care impact for all stakeholders.
What is MDI Health's approach to building a mission-driven culture?
- From the start, MDI Health prioritized building a strong organizational culture focused on the mission. They foster ownership, openness, learning, and retaining employees who deeply care.
How does MDI Health educate the market on their solution?
- MDI Health leverages conferences, relationships, and continuous improvement to educate the market on their proven AI technology and value proposition for medication optimization.

Learn more about MDI Health here to understand how their AI-driven pharmacology platform can optimize medication regimens and reduce healthcare costs.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#94, Decoding Infant Cries to Enable Timely Interventions with Roberto Iannone from Zoundream Jul 17, 2024

Imagine if a baby's cries were no longer a mystery, but a window into their needs and well-being. Today we welcome Zoundream to the show, a company focused on transforming infant care through advanced cry analysis. Roberto Iannone, CEO and Founder of Zoundream, joins Alex Merwin, Head of Growth for Healthcare & Life Sciences Startups at AWS, to discuss Zoundream's groundbreaking solution that utilizes AI to analyze infant cries and sounds in real-time, pinpointing reasons such as hunger or tiredness with remarkable accuracy and also detecting digital biomarkers for conditions like autism, with the potential for providing lifelong benefits for babies and their families by enabling earlier diagnosis.

How does Zoundream's AI solution decode baby needs?

Zoundream's pioneering AI solution analyzes infant cries to accurately identify needs like hunger or tiredness. This technology has the potential to improve infant care by providing real-time insights into babies' states before they can communicate verbally.

What progress has Zoundream made in autism early detection?

Remarkably, Zoundream's cry analysis can detect early signs of autism spectrum disorder, enabling timely interventions. This groundbreaking application highlights the potential of vocal biomarkers in diagnosing developmental conditions.

How did Zoundream involve healthcare professionals in developing their solution?

From the outset, Zoundream involved pediatricians and neuropsychologists to ensure their solution addressed valuable clinical applications. This collaborative approach was crucial in building credibility and onboarding hospital partners for data gathering.

What motivated Roberto Iannone's transition from corporate to entrepreneurship?

Roberto Iannone transitioned from a corporate career to entrepreneurship, driven by the autonomy of being a founder/CEO. This pivotal decision enabled him to pursue his vision of transforming infant care globally.

What is Zoundream's approach to regulatory compliance for clinical adoption?

Recognizing the regulatory requirements for clinical applications, Zoundream meticulously tests and versions their AI models.

Learn more about Zoundream here to understand how their innovative solution is transforming infant care.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#64, Decoding & Navigating the Proteome with Serafim Batzoglou, Chief Data Officer of Seer Oct 03, 2023

Dr. Serafim Batzoglou, Chief Data Officer at Seer joins Dr. Amrita Sarkar, Principal Healthcare and Life Sciences Startups Business Development Manager at AWS Startups to talk about Seer's pioneering work to decode the secrets of the proteome to improve human health. if the genome were a basic map of a city, then the proteome would be Street View, capturing every detail down to the graffiti and the potholes. Seer is pioneering new ways to decode the secrets of the proteome, leveraging engineered nanoparticles to provide unbiased, deep, and large-scale access to this incredibly detailed landscape.

Here's what we cover:

The Proteome Puzzle [02:16]: Dr. Amrita Sarkar and Serafim Batzoglou dive into the complexities of the proteome and how it offers a more dynamic view of human biology than the genome. They discuss why proteomics has lagged behind genomics in terms of tools to characterize structure & function.
Serafim's Journey [06:47]: Learn about Serafim Batzoglou's academic background and his transition from academia to industry, with his experience in computational biology and genomics setting the stage for his current role at Seer.
Seer's Innovation [13:55]: Seer's nanoparticle technology is revolutionizing proteomics by enabling deep, scalable analysis of accessible proteomes like plasma.
AI Meets Biology [17:04]: We explore the convergence of cloud computing, AI, and biology, focusing on how Large Language Models have the potential to revolutionize our understanding of complex biological systems. Here is the article Amrita mentions which Serafiim authored on this topic.
Scaling Challenges [22:44]: Scaling Seer's technology presents scientific and business challenges. We highlight the cultural divide between genomics and proteomics and the need for tools which span these worlds more effectively.
Team Dynamics [26:05]: Building a successful TechBio startup requires a diverse multi-disciplinary team. Serafim shares best practices on creating high-performing TechBio teams.
Advice for Founders [29:23]: Serafim shares insights for aspiring life sciences entrepreneurs, emphasizing the long-term nature of biotech and the importance of building a business model that consistently funds data acquisition.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#26, Dr. Sam Asgarian, Scipher Medicine Oct 17, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Dr. Sam Asgarian, CMO of Scipher Medicine, a company using a patient’s individual molecular data to ensure optimal therapy is prescribed from day one. Dr. Asgarian shares his insights on how Scipher grew out of the Human Genome Project, when it makes sense for a company to hire a chief medical officer (and what he or she should do once they join!), and why innovation in healthcare is different from other industries. Learn more about Scipher Medicine (https://www.sciphermedicine.com/) and learn more about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/)

#36, Dr. David Parke, Verana Health Dec 19, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Dr. David Parke, co-founder and Executive Chairman of Verana Health, a company empowering physicians and life science companies with deeper data insights to accelerate medical research. Dr. Parke discusses why certain medical specialties are ideal proving grounds for digital health innovation, how Verana grew out of the unique data collected by the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and why knowing not only what customers value but also the nuance surrounding that value is so important for startups. Learn more about Verana Health (https://www.veranahealth.com) and how AWS enables healthcare & life sciences startups to grow and thrive (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ and https://aws.amazon.com/health/).

#85, Unlocking the Secrets of Cells with AI, Jonathan Baptista from DeepLife Apr 30, 2024

Exploring the intersection of AI and biology, this episode features Jonathan Baptista, Co-Founder and CEO of DeepLife. DeepLife uses machine learning to curate and annotate single-cell RNA-seq datasets, enabling downstream bioinformatics analysis and target identification. Host Alex Merwin from AWS learns all about DeepLife's groundbreaking approach to accelerating drug discovery and precision medicine through AI-driven simulations and generative models.

How does DeepLife leverage AI for drug discovery simulations?
- DeepLife creates digital twins of cells, enabling virtual experimentation and mechanistic modeling to identify potential drug targets without extensive lab testing. Their platform simulates cellular responses to perturbations, providing insights into disease mechanisms and therapeutic opportunities.
What inspired Jonathan Baptista's pivot from aerospace to computational biology?
- Jonathan's background in aerospace engineering inspired applying simulation tools to complex biological systems, inferring "laws" from data using AI/ML techniques instead of defined physics equations. This approach aims to accelerate drug discovery for precision medicine.
How does DeepLife map the biomolecular landscape?
- DeepLife spent years developing pipelines to harmonize and annotate high-quality biomolecular data from public repositories and partners, mapping available datasets to identify therapeutic areas suitable for their AI-driven modeling approach.
How does DeepLife leverage generative AI for biomedicine?
- Leveraging recent advances in generative AI models for text and images, DeepLife improved annotation and simulation of cell states after perturbations, benchmarking and selecting optimal techniques for different drug discovery tasks.
What is DeepLife's "collaborative AI" approach?
- DeepLife's "collaborative AI" approach generates potential biological hypotheses that researchers can validate and explore further, enabling visualization of simulated cells and predicted perturbations to uncover novel mechanistic insights.

Learn more about DeepLife here and their mission to build the next generation of system biology.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#14 Adam Tebbe, Goldfinch Bio & Bobby Mukherjee, Loka Apr 04, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Adam Tebbe, VP of Computational Data Science and Technology at Goldfinch Bio, a company pioneering precision-based medicines to revolutionize the treatment of kidney diseases, and Bobby Mukherjee, CEO and founder of Loka, a Silicon Valley-based software consultancy working to move projects to market as fast as possible. Goldfinch and Loka have been collaborating on an initiative to tackle structural variant analysis, looking at large genomic variations that could have major implications for Goldfinch’s mission of delivering disease-modifying precision medicines for patients suffering with kidney disease. Adam and Bobby share their thoughts on when it makes sense to use and develop open source tools, what the impact of cutting edge data analysis is on developing new treatments, and how working with a partner can accelerate a project. Learn more about Goldfinch Bio (https://www.goldfinchbio.com/) and Loka (https://www.loka.com/). You can also learn more about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/)

#27, Dr. Jean Drouin, Clarify Health Solutions Feb 28, 2023

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Dr. Jean Drouin, co-founder and CEO of Clarify Health Solutions, a company helping payers, providers, and life sciences companies deliver better care, therapies, and outcomes by delivering the most actionable patient journey insights and value-based payment platform. Dr. Jean Drouin discusses how a fee-for-service model combined with actionable data can lead the healthcare system toward value-based care, why building a system to understand every patient journey is important, and what baseball can teach us about optimizing value-based arrangements. Learn more about Clarify Health Solutions (https://clarifyhealth.com (https://clarifyhealth.com/)) and learn more about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/)

#90, Innovations in Biomarker & Diagnostic Development, Part Two of the Health Innovation Compilation Series Jun 12, 2024

In part two of our five part compilation mini-series on health innovation we explore groundbreaking advancements in diagnostics and biomarkers.

1. How is Us2.AI democratizing cardiac care through AI-powered echocardiograms?

Us2.AI is revolutionizing cardiac imaging by automating echocardiogram analysis with AI, enabling non-specialists to perform accurate heart scans. This empowers early diagnosis and treatment in underserved areas.
Co-founders James Hare and Dr. Carolyn Lam share insights on their AI-Echo software, which is utilized globally in clinical practice settings to improve patient outcomes and expand healthcare access.

2. What is Truvian's innovative approach to disrupting blood diagnostics?

Truvian is developing a benchtop system that can provide lab-accurate blood test results in 20 minutes from a small sample, aiming to increase access to routine health screenings.
CEO Jay Srinivasan discusses their proprietary approach, which they are seeking FDA clearance and CLIA waiver for, to deliver accessible blood testing from one small blood sample in minutes.

3. How is Sparta Science optimizing human movement and performance?

Sparta Science's force plate technology captures detailed movement data to identify injury risks and guide interventions, improving human performance across various conditions and clinical trials.
Founder & CEO Dr. Phil Wagner shares insights on their journey from democratizing force plate technology to evolving into a human data platform reshaping the landscape of human measurement.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

Featured Companies:

Us2.AI - James Hare (Co-founder/CEO), Dr. Carolyn Lam (Co-Founder & Non-Exec Head of Medical Affairs) - Company Website, Full Episode
Truvian Health - Jay Srinivasan (CEO) - Company Website, Full Episode
Sparta Science - Phil Wagner (Founder & CEO) - Company Website, Full Episode

Revisiting #8 for more Insights on Clinical Trial Innovation: Rohit Nambisan, CEO of Lokavant Jun 13, 2023

This week on AWS Health Innovation Podcast, we are sticking with our theme of clinical trial innovation following our insightful chat with Darcy Foreman from Science 37 last week. As a throwback, we're revisiting an informative episode from our Season One Archive with Rohit Nambisan, President at Lokavant.

Rohit shares how Lokavant aims to eliminate operational errors in clinical trials, effectively harnessing technology to enhance drug development. Underlining the underutilization of clinical trial data, Rohit discusses Lokavant's efforts to tap into this immense yet often overlooked resource.

Rohit also emphasizes how important it is to build a diverse team that includes domain experts as well as people from outside the healthcare & life science industries. He asserts that striking this balance right helps ensure startups maintain credibility with partners and customers while bringing in new ideas to move the industry forward.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#46, Unlocking the Potential of Human Genomic Data: A Conversation with Curt Medeiros & Barry Wark from Ovation Apr 26, 2023

In this episode of the Healthcare and Life Sciences podcast, Curt Medeiros and Barry Wark from Ovation join Eric Zimmerman from AWS Startups to discuss genomic data's importance in advancing precision medicine. They share insights on how to build a successful healthcare data business, including the risks of not putting enough resources behind data initiatives. They also highlight why precision medicine is making outsized progress in oncology, and other areas that are ripe for progress. Finally, they emphasize the importance of mapping genomic data to longitudinal phenotypic data to derive insights that improve care and outcomes.

"Data is not inherently valuable. Answers and insights that come from that data could be very valuable. So, thinking from the beginning - What is the product? What's the answer that we are going to help our customers derive? This is pretty key."

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#83, Designing Optimal Drug Molecules from Scratch with Dave Longo from Ordaōs Apr 02, 2024

Imagine being able to design the perfect drug molecule from scratch, one that could cure diseases with unprecedented efficacy and minimal side effects. This is the ambitious vision driving Ordaōs, a human-enabled machine-driven drug design company focused on biomedical research and drug discovery. In this episode of the AWS Health Innovation Podcast, Yin He, Principal Business Development for Healthcare and Life Sciences Startups, interviews Dave Longo, the CEO of Ordaōs, to explore the cutting-edge world of AI-driven drug discovery.

Here's what you'll learn in this fascinating conversation:

Rethinking Drug Discovery Paradigms
Ordaōs challenges conventional drug discovery approaches, criticizing the "discovery mindset" of hunting for suboptimal drugs and then optimizing them. Instead, they propose designing optimal drug molecules upfront using AI and technology. This aligns with their mission to revolutionize biomedical research and drug discovery through human-enabled machine-driven drug design.

Unleashing AI's Potential in Pharma
Ordaōs envisions a future where AI revolutionizes drug discovery, from target identification to optimization, by leveraging its ability to analyze vast data and generate novel insights. They aim to reduce the entire drug development timeline, from idea to FDA approval, to four years or less within 15-20 years, driven by AI and ML efficiencies.

Bridging Bits and Atoms
Ordaōs aims to bring "order of digital bits to the chaos of physical atoms" by applying AI and ML to protein therapeutic design. Their team of "molecular natives" – ML scientists focused on biology or biologists focused on ML – employs a "symphony of models" to create better protein designs.

Designing Mini Protein Therapeutics
Ordaōs focuses on designing mini proteins (40-80 amino acids) and small antibodies as new therapeutic modalities. Mini proteins bridge the gap between small molecules and antibodies, offering advantages like better tumor penetration, oral delivery potential, and blood-brain barrier crossing over traditional antibodies.

Challenging Assumptions, Persisting Through Challenges
Ordaōs emphasizes the importance of challenging assumptions and thinking from first principles when starting a new venture, rather than following established dogma. They advise aspiring entrepreneurs to persist through challenges and constantly question the foundations of assumptions made by respected experts in the field.

Learn more about Ordaōs and their innovative approach to drug discovery at ordaos.bio.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#7 Bronwyn Spira, Force Therapeutics Feb 14, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Bronwyn Spira, CEO and founder of Force Therapeutics, a leading episode-based digital care platform and research network. Bronwyn shares her experience building high impact teams in healthcare, being early to digital pathways for care delivery, and serving multiple stakeholders in the healthcare universe effectively. Learn more about Force Therapeutics (https://www.forcetherapeutics.com/) and learn more about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/)

#69, Creating Care Capacity with AI-Powered Predictive Analytics, Paul Roscoe from CLEW Nov 08, 2023

Imagine a world where clinical teams can predict life-threatening events hours before they happen. In this episode, we welcome Paul Roscoe, CEO of CLEW, who introduces us to their clinical command center which harnesses AI to enable earlier interventions, thus improving patient & business outcomes for hospitals. Our host, Alex Merwin, Head of Growth, Healthcare & Life Sciences Startups, asks Paul to share details about CLEW's regulatory strategy, their seamless integration into clinician workflows, and the art of attracting and developing exceptional talent.

CLEW extends ICU capacity by enabling proactive care. With their innovative approach, they are redefining how critical care is delivered, offering full situational awareness of patient conditions to improve clinical outcomes.

Identifying Critical Risks [01:41]: CLEW's AI platform revolutionizes ICU patient care by predicting critical health events, enabling timely interventions that save lives and reduce healthcare costs.
Paul's Healthcare Journey [04:52]: Paul's career, rooted in healthcare from accounting to impact-driven work, led him to Clew, where technology enhances patient care without replacing the human touch.
Regulatory Pathways [07:12]: CLEW's strategic approach to FDA clearance underscores their commitment to credibility and the importance of robust, transferable predictive models in clinical settings.
Expanding Care Horizons [10:49]: CLEW's technology transcends the ICU, offering system-wide healthcare optimization and revealing the potential for remote patient monitoring and comprehensive hospital care.
Value-Driven AI [19:25]: CLEW's AI isn't just innovative; it's a critical tool for clinicians, driving efficiency and efficacy in patient care while addressing the financial pressures of healthcare systems.
Integrating Clinical Workflows [24:06]: CLEW's platform seamlessly integrates with existing EMR systems, enhancing clinical workflows and ensuring that predictions translate into effective, immediate actions.
Building a Talented Team [28:17]: Paul emphasizes the importance of assembling a world-class team, fostering a culture of transparency, and maintaining agility to advance CLEW's global mission in patient care.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#56, Alex Zhavoronkov and the GenAI Revolution in Drug Discovery at Insilico Medicine Jul 11, 2023

On the latest episode of the AWS Health Innovation Podcast, Dr. Yin He, Principal Business Development, Healthcare & Life Sciences Startups, welcomes Alex Zhavoronkov, the CEO of Insilico Medicine, to the show for a fascinating conversation about their transformative work at the intersection of AI & BioTech.

Insilico Medicine is an end-to-end generative AI-driven biotech company. They harness the capabilities of their proprietary Pharma.AI platform to accelerate drug discovery & development. The conversation goes into detail about how Insilico uniquely combines AI and genomics to bridge computation and biology, enabling them to help global pharmaceutical companies accelerate their drug development.

Listen in as Alex Zhavoronkov goes into detail about his and Insilico’s journey to leverage computational tools in chemistry & biology, and the how AI's capabilities evolved over time, ultimately helping them hone their approach. We also shed light on the ethical and regulatory challenges surrounding the application of AI for drug development and Insilico's strategies to address them.

[03:55] Alex Zhavoronkov background & career journey
[09:40] Shift to using computational tools in chemistry
[16:40] AI's evolution over time & developing Insilico's core approach
[24:20] Ethical and regulatory challenges of using AI for drug development
[29:30] Bits meet atoms - automated labs & GenAI
[34:10] Federating drug development - great research from every hospital
[37:10] Advice for potential biotech entrepreneurs
[42:36] The importance of the number 42

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#104, Decoding the Immune System with AI, Adam Laing from IMU Biosciences Oct 16, 2024

On today's episode we learn all about the immune system with Adam Laing, Co-founder & Chief Scientific Officer of IMU Biosciences, as he joins Alex Merwin, Head of Growth for Healthcare & Life Science Startups at AWS, on the AWS Health Innovation Podcast. IMU Biosciences is transforming our understanding of the immune system by leveraging AI-powered immune profiling to create unprecedented insights into health and disease, to advance precision medicine through collaborations with leading pharma, research organizations, and academic institutions.

1. How is IMU Biosciences unlocking immune insights?

IMU Biosciences' pioneering technology measures 80 million data points across 2,000 immune cell subsets, from a small blood sample, providing unprecedented resolution into an individual's immune profile. This enables precision medicine approaches across disease areas like cancer, autoimmunity, and cell therapy.

2. What is the potential of predictive immune profiling?

By deeply characterizing immune systems, IMU aims to predict disease progression and treatment responses. Their machine learning analytics identify immune signatures that can stratify patients based on how effectively they will respond to therapies.

3. How does IMU Biosciences foster a collaborative culture?

With a team spanning immunology, data science, engineering, and operations, IMU fosters a collaborative culture focused on solving complex problems. Their network and reputation helped secure early industry partnerships.

4. What is IMU Biosciences' vision for scaling precision immunology?

After demonstrating their technology's potential during COVID-19 research, IMU raised a Series A to commercialize and build a predictive immune data platform. Their long-term vision is enabling preventative screening for disease risk.

5. How does IMU Biosciences leverage advances in flow cytometry?

IMU leverages advances in flow cytometry instrumentation, labeling 75 markers to phenotype cells at unprecedented resolution. Robust processes ensure scalability by accounting for technical variability across samples.

Learn more about IMU Biosciences here to explore their pioneering work in unlocking the complexity of the immune system and advancing precision medicine.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#9 Ardy Arianpour, Seqster Feb 28, 2022

Joe Shonkwiler is joined by Ardy Arianpour, CEO and founder of Seqster, a company looking to make it quick and easy for anyone to have real-time access to their health data. Ardy shares his thoughts on why DNA is the ultimate tool for healthcare interoperability, what opportunities exist at the intersection of digital health and life science, and why a strong mission trumps a traditional business plan. Learn more about Seqster (https://www.seqster.com/) and learn more about healthcare and life science startups on AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/health/)

#106, Precision Medicine for Neurodegenerative Diseases, with Brian Pepin from Rune Labs Oct 30, 2024

Rune Labs is pioneering the use of real-world data to revolutionize therapy development for neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's. In this episode, Mike Tarselli, Specialist Leader - HCLS Data & AI at AWS, talks to Brian Pepin, CEO of Rune Labs, about the company's innovative approach to digital biomarkers and how they're working to make a difference in the lives of patients.

What is Rune Labs' approach to decoding neurodegenerative diseases?
- Rune Labs uses real-world data to accelerate therapeutic development for neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's, providing access to engaged clinicians, patients, and longitudinal datasets. As precision medicine gains traction, companies like Rune Labs are well-positioned to drive innovation in this space.
How are digital biomarkers revolutionizing disease tracking?
- Rune Labs aims to quantify subjective clinical assessments using standardized sensing and data formats, offering a more objective, repeatable, and scalable way to track disease progression and medication effects compared to traditional rating scales. This approach holds promise for neurology, which lacks quantitative biomarkers.
What is StrivePD, and how does it reimagine dopamine management?
- StrivePD, Rune Labs' flagship product, is a dopamine care management system that automatically detects and classifies Parkinson's symptoms using the Apple Watch, providing insights to patients and clinicians for better disease management. This innovative solution reduces cognitive burden and improves access to care.
How is Rune Labs empowering precision clinical trials?
- By leveraging data and their network, Rune Labs aims to shift the economics of phase 3 clinical trials, enabling more precise measurements and identifying better responders for promising Parkinson's drugs. Their approach could make economically viable trials for disease-modifying therapies a reality.
How is Rune Labs harnessing AI for personalized care?
- Rune Labs utilizes machine learning on dense time series data and large language models to identify patterns predictive of medication responses, progression events, and risk factors, enabling contextualized feedback and virtual patient coaching. This multimodal approach exemplifies the potential of AI in healthcare.
What advice does Brian Pepin, Rune Labs' CEO, have for founders?
- Brian Pepin advises founders to clearly identify and focus on one major risk at a time (scientific, clinical, or business model) and ensure early team and investors are committed to the long-term vision in healthcare, which often spans 10+ years.

To learn more about Rune Labs and their innovative approach to neurodegenerative diseases, visit their website or learn more about their Parkinson’s patient app, StrivePD, by visiting www.strivepd.com.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#81, Thinking Big to Improve Liver Disease Outcomes, Quin Wills from Ochre Bio Mar 20, 2024

Using a combination of deep analysis of liver genetics and precision RNA design, Ochre Bio is developing breakthrough RNA therapies for chronic liver diseases like hepatitis, cirrhosis and liver cancer. On this episode of the AWS Health Innovation Podcast, host Dr. Terence Tan speaks with Ochre Bio Co-Founder & CSO Quin Wills about the company's unique approach to treating liver disease.

We cover:

Transdisciplinary Science

Ochre Bio believes combining deep expertise across genetics, computer science, and math enables the company to accelerate liver disease research.

RNA Therapies

Ochre Bio selected RNA therapies as the modality for targeting liver diseases based on RNA's potential to maximize success.

Human-Relevant Platform

Ochre Bio uses human cells, tissues and organs to validate findings without relying solely on animal models.

Aiming Big Picture

Unlike biotechs focused on one part of the value chain, Ochre Bio wants to improve prediction, validation and clinical trials holistically.

COVID Challenges

COVID severely impacted Ochre Bio's access to human livers, requiring quick iteration as organ transplants reopened post-pandemic.

Partnership Plans

Ochre Bio will soon announce partnerships with two major pharmas to generate large, high-quality data sets for discovering new liver disease targets.

Pushing Boundaries

Over the next 3 years, Ochre Bio aims to expand the boundaries of their platform's capabilities in discovery, validation and translation.

Tackling Tissue Remodeling

The team recently set goals to study liver metabolism, cell death and tackle major tissue remodeling and scarring underlying diseases like cirrhosis.

Irrational AI Hype

Quin believes there is irrational investor excitement that AI will effectively solve many problems, when quality data remains extremely expensive.

Accelerating Learning Cycles

To get better AI predictions, we must close the 10-15 year learning cycle in biopharma with better data and feedback loops.

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#61, AI, Cardiology & Next-Gen Echocardiograms with James Hare & Dr. Carolyn Lam of Us2.ai Aug 29, 2023

Join host Dr. Terence Tan, Business Development Manager, Healthcare and Life Sciences Startups for AWS, as he welcomes James Hare, CEO & Co-Founder, and Dr. Carolyn Lam, Co-Founder & Non-Exec Head of Medical Affairs of Us2.ai. This Singapore-based company is on a mission to democratize echocardiograms through AI, aiming to improve patient outcomes and expand healthcare access globally.

In this episode, we discuss:

AI in Cardiology and the democratization of echocardiography [07:30]
Evidence Generation through key research studies and community-based efforts [10:55]
Technical Challenges in achieving 100% automation [14:57]
Empowering Clinicians with Us2.ai's Co-Pilot [18:08]
Global Customer Footprint from Uganda to the Philippines to Boston [22:04]
Regulatory & Tech Deployment strategies [24:01]
Goals for the Future and the evolving perception of AI [27:30]
Advice to Founders in the clinical decision support space [30:55]
COVID-19, AI Adoption & Final Thoughts. Happy Anniversary to James & Carolyn! [33:59]

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

#93, Harnessing Data to Scale Innovations, Part Five of the Health Innovation Compilation Series Jul 08, 2024

To scale health innovation, we need to take a broad view and redefine the art of the possible in Real-World Evidence, Data & Population Health. In the fifth and final episode of our Health Innovation Compilation Series, we hear from Mendel, Akrivia Health, Epistemix, Ovation, and Evidation Health, innovative companies that are transforming how we leverage data to drive better health outcomes.

1. How does Mendel reconcile conflicting medical data?

Mendel's AI structures unstructured patient data into coherent journeys, reconciling conflicting information from sources like pathology reports and genomics.
It enables querying consolidated data through intuitive interfaces, providing faster answers backed by evidence.

2. How is Akrivia Health unlocking insights in mental health?

Akrivia Health uses AI/NLP to curate and deidentify unstructured clinical notes from electronic medical records, translating them into structured data for mental health research.
This enables safe data sharing and treatment development for mental health and dementia.

3. How does Epistemix simulate population health interventions?

Epistemix created a synthetic US population to model infectious disease spread, expanding to chronic conditions and social determinants.
Their simulations evaluate cascading effects of interventions like faster testing on community outcomes.

4. How is Ovation bridging genomics and healthcare?

Ovation envisioned being a genomic data company, building a biobank and research network from diagnostic lab data.
Linking genomic and longitudinal patient data enables studying disease origins and advancing therapeutics.

5. How does Evidation Health incentivize healthy user behaviors?

Evidation Health incentivizes users to contribute real-world data from wearables to impactful research studies.
This provides insights into health outside clinical settings for disease prevention and management.

Featured Companies:

Mendel: Karim Galil, Co-founder & CEO (https://www.mendel.ai/about, Full Episode)
Akrivia Health: David Newton, COO & Co-Founder (https://akriviahealth.com/, Full Episode)
Epistemix: John Cordier, CEO & Co-Founder (https://www.epistemix.com/, Full Episode)
Ovation: Barry Wark, Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, Curt Medeiros, Chief Executive Officer (https://www.ovation.io/, Full Episode)
Evidation Health: Alessio Signorini, CTO (https://evidation.com/, Full Episode)

Get in touch with AWS here to learn how we can help your organization accelerate healthcare innovation.

Please take a moment and let us know what you think of the podcast, access our feedback survey here.

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