The Pulse by Wharton Digital Health

Latest Episodes:

Daniel Brillman and Taylor Justice, Unite Us, on bridging health and social care Apr 09, 2020

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In this episode of the Pulse Podcast, Vivien interviews Dan Brillman and Taylor Justice, Co-Founders of Unite Us, an outcome-focused technology company that builds coordinated care networks of health and social service providers. Based out of New York, Unite Us has raised a total of $45M after their latest Series B round in March 2019, led by prominent healthcare investors Oak HC/FT, Define Ventures and Town Hall Ventures. We cover topics from how Unite Us is supporting their partners and communities on the frontlines of the COVID-19 public health crisis, building the foundational infrastructure and network to bridge social and healthcare, as well as the lessons they have gained from attending business school.

Eric Kinariwala, Capsule, on rebuilding the pharmacy from the inside out Apr 02, 2020

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In this episode of the Pulse Podcast, Vivien interviewsEric Kinariwala, Founder and CEO of Capsule, a technology company rebuilding the $425 billion pharmacy industry from the inside out with an emotionally resonant experience, and technology that enables customized outcomes for doctors, hospitals, insurers, and manufacturers. Based out of New York, Capsule has raised $270M from investors such as TCV, Thrive Capital, and Sound Ventures. Capsule delivers prescription drugs to local patients in two hours via an online app, website or SMS.

Dr. Melynda Barnes, Ro, on why we should all be bullish about telemedicine Mar 26, 2020

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In this episode of The Pulse Podcast, Lora interviews Dr. Melynda Barnes, Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs at Ro. Lora and Dr. Barnes discuss why Ro's mission and why the company views telemedicine as such a critical component of clinical care in the future (spoiler alert: Ro is not trying to replace in-person visits!). They also talk about Dr. Barnes' transition from clinical practice to working at a tech company. We recorded our episode with Dr. Barnes just weeks before COVID-19 broke out in New York City but, where relevant, we've added editors notes in our Medium transcript to share more about how Ro and the team have responded to this situation so promptly.

Dan Trigub, Uber Health, on building healthcare marketplaces and influencing SDoH through technology Mar 18, 2020

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In this episode of the Pulse Podcast we interview Dan Trigub, Head of Uber Health, the technology giant Uber’s bid on the multi-billion dollar non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) market. Uber Health's goal is to increase access to transportation to reduce patient no-shows, recapturing lost revenue and helping underserved populations manage their care plans. Uber has over 1,000 partnerships across the healthcare landscape, including hospitals such as BayCare Health System, Boston Medical Center, MedStar Health and the Cleveland Clinic - along with 27,000+ systems that use Cerner's EHR through Uber Health’s October 2019 integration with the IT platform. Before Uber, Dan spent time at Lyft as Regional VP of Strategic Partnerships focused on healthcare, eBay in Business Development, and founded several companies including OpenPlacement, a care coordination platform allowing hospital professionals to connect with post-acute care providers for their patients at the moment of discharge.

Jack Stoddard, Haven and Accolade, on building and scaling new models of consumer-driven healthcare Mar 05, 2020

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In this episode of The Pulse podcast, we interview Jack Stoddard about his entrepreneurial journey with Accolade, his impressive leadership, as well as his thoughts on Big Tech entering healthcare and new models of care. Jack is a senior operating leader with over two decades of experience applying technology, data science, people, and design thinking to improve the healthcare for the consumer, elevate clinical quality and lower the total cost of care. He has proven leadership in understanding the market, setting growth strategy, and scaling transformational healthcare companies, including: Haven (past COO), Accolade (Founding Team, COO and CSO), Optum (SVP), Health Dialog, and The Advisory Board. He is the Executive Chairman of Eden Health and on the Board for Carrot and The Discovery Labs.

Nancy Yu, RDMD (now AllStripes), on accelerating R&D for rare diseases Feb 28, 2020

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In this episode of The Pulse podcast, we interview Nancy Yu, Cofounder and CEO of RDMD, about making drug research, development and commercialization faster, cheaper, and better. Backed by Lux Capital and Village Global, RDMD is a healthcare technology company dedicated to accelerating treatments for patients with rare diseases.

Fred Ronnau, RubiconMD, on improving primary care access to expert consults Feb 24, 2020

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In this episode, we interview Fred Ronnau (WG ’08), Chief Technology Officer at RubiconMD. Fred graduated from the University of Arizona in 1999 with a degree in Industrial Engineering and spent time in big tech before pivoting to consulting for providers. He earned his MBA at the Wharton School, where he majored in Healthcare Management, and worked at Intel, McKesson, and Cigna before joining RubiconMD in September 2019. RubiconMD is an eConsult platform that connects primary care physicians to specialists in order to obtain timely, educational opinions for the care of their complex patients. The RubiconMD platform enables the remote exchange of insights between clinicians that eliminates unnecessary referrals and services, reduces patient wait time and travel burdens, and allows primary care physicians to practice at the top of their license.

Florian Otto, Cedar, on bringing the patient experience to the 21st century Feb 24, 2020

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In this episode, we interview Florian Otto, Co-Founder and CEO of Cedar. Cedar is deploying the best in technology to power a more meaningful patient experience. The company started off by tackling billing, creating a more seamless and transparent manner in which patients can pay their medical bills. Cedar is on an ultimate mission to make the patient experience as easy as ordering something from Amazon or Starbucks. Florian Otto began Cedar after running the Sales team at ZocDoc and founding & scaling Groupon Brasil, both after time spent at McKinsey.

Derek Newell, Virta Health, on reversing - not just managing - diabetes Feb 24, 2020

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In this episode of The Pulse Podcast, we interview Derek Newell, SVP of Commercial at Virta Health. Virta is the first clinically-proven treatment to safely and sustainably reverse type 2 diabetes (T2D) without medications or surgery. Derek Newell joined Virta in 2019 and brings with him a 20-year successful track record of growing and leading innovative healthcare technology and service companies. He previously was CEO of Jiff, which he then sold to Castlight where he became president, leading Sales, Marketing, Technology, Product, and Customer Success. Earlier in his career, Derek was the CEO of Health Hero, pioneer of the first internet-connected medical device approved by the FDA. After growing it into the largest remote patient monitoring company, he sold it in 2008 to Robert Bosch Healthcare, where he served as president of Bosch’s healthcare activities worldwide. Derek also served as the Chief Marketing Officer LifeMasters, a leading disease management company, growing it from less than $10M to over $150M in annual revenue during his 5 year tenure.

Abner Mason, ConsejoSano, on the cultural determinants of health Feb 24, 2020

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In this episode of The Pulse Podcast, we interview Abner Mason, the Founder and CEO of ConsejoSano. Founded in 2014, ConsejoSano is the only patient engagement and care navigation solution designed to help clients activate their multicultural patient and member populations to better engage with the healthcare system. Abner Mason has held several leadership roles including at Workplace Wellness Council of Mexico; AIDS Responsibility Project; U.S. Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (appointed by President George W. Bush in 2001); Chief Policy Advisor, Chief Secretary, and Undersecretary of Transportation and Construction for Massachusetts; and Bain & Company. Abner is a 1985 graduate of Harvard College.