The Pulse by Wharton Digital Health

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Casey Means, Levels Health, on maximizing human potential Dec 02, 2020

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In this episode of The Pulse Podcast, Vivien interviews Casey Means, Chief Medical Officer and Co-Founder of Levels Health. Levels is a metabolic health company that empowers individuals to radically optimize their health and wellbeing by providing real-time continuous glucose biofeedback coupled with machine learning driven insights to inform personalized diet and lifestyle choices. We discuss the founding journey of Levels, the science of metabolic health, and advice for first-time healthcare entrepreneurs. Levels recently raised $12M of seed funding from Andreessen Horowitz and angel investors including Marc Randolph (co-founder and first CEO of Netflix), Dick Costolo (former CEO of Twitter), Michael Arrington (founder of TechCrunch) and Matt Dellavedova (NBA player on Cleveland Cavaliers).

Stephanie Strong, Boulder Care, democratizing access to substance use disorder care via telehealth Nov 10, 2020

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In this episode of The Pulse Podcast, Vivien interviews Stephanie Strong, CEO and Founder of Boulder Care. We discuss Stephanie's amazing entrepreneurial journey, Boulder's evidence-based model of care, access deregulations during COVID, go to market and partnerships with your first pilot, and tactical advice for first time healthcare entrepreneurs.

Paul Martino, VillageMD, on the retailization of primary care Oct 09, 2020

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In this episode of The Pulse Podcast, we interview Paul Martino, Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer of VillageMD. Founded in 2013 with backers including Oak HC/FT and Kinnevik, VillageMD is a leading provider of healthcare for organizations moving toward a primary care-led, high-value clinical model. VillageMD works with physician groups, independent practice associations, and health systems to improve quality, deliver a first-rate patient experience, and lower costs in the communities they serve. It has grown to include more than 2,500 physicians across eight markets and is responsible for approximately 500,000 lives and $3 billion in total medical spend in value-based contracts. In July of this year, VillageMD made a big splash by announcing an expanded partnership with Walgreens Boots Alliance, who will invest $1 billion in its primary care partner VillageMD to open 500 to 700 physician-staffed clinics inside its drugstores in more than 30 U.S. markets within the next five years. A 30-year veteran of the healthcare industry, Paul has driven growth and fostered innovation as a health plan executive. Prior to VillageMD, he was Senior Vice President of Clinical Strategy and Innovation at Anthem/WellPoint, where he was instrumental in architecting Anthem’s payment innovation strategy, developing its Patient Centered Primary Care model, and establishing value-based contracts with Anthem’s primary care physician network. Paul also spent his early career at Cigna, Aetna, and Kaiser Permanente. When he isn’t negotiating for a better healthcare system around the country, you can find Paul spending time with his family, traveling for pleasure, or coaching his son’s little-league team.

Julie Yoo, Andreessen Horowitz, on unfolding healthcare's great unlock Sep 25, 2020

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In this episode of The Pulse Podcast, Vivien interviews Julie Yoo, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), a leading venture capital firm in Silicon Valley that backs bold entrepreneurs building the future through technology. Julie Yoo leads investments in healthcare technology, with a focus on companies that are modernizing how we access, pay for, and experience the healthcare system. We cover Julie's journey from operator to investor, a16z bio's investment philosophy and how they support their founders, and once in a century trends we are seeing in healthcare's great unlock.

Kate Ryder, Maven Clinic, on revolutionizing women's and family health Jun 29, 2020

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In this episode of The Pulse Podcast, we interview Kate Ryder, Founder & CEO at Maven Clinic, the largest telemedicine provider for family health and women, who control 80% of healthcare decisions in a $3.5 trillion healthcare industry. Besides the market dollar potential, Maven Clinic addresses critical gaps in maternity care. The U.S. maternal mortality rate has steadily increased since 2000, while declining in other countries, and its national C-section rate is 20% higher than what the WHO recommends. Today, more than a third of women and nearly half of women with children take a break from their careers, primarily because of the pull of family. Maven Clinic connects workers with OB-GYNs, nutritionists, lactation consultants, and other specialists via video chat or messaging to empower women to advocate for themselves in a broken system. With Maven Clinic, employers and health plans can see improved maternal outcomes, lower costs, and attract and retain more parents in the workforce. Maven Clinic has raised $90M as of its Series C closed February 2020, and its backers include Spring Mountain Capital, Sequoia Capital, Oak HC/FT, Female Founders Fund, Anne Wojcicki, Reese Witherspoon, Natalie Portman and Mindy Kaling. Maven Clinic was named among the world’s top 50 most innovative companies in 2020 by Fast Company, and has more than tripled the number of companies it serves in 2019 alone.

Corbin Petro, Eleanor Health, on building an innovative substance use disorder treatment platform May 21, 2020

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While they remain an incredibly stigmatized group of patients, those suffering from substance use disorders (SUDs) are finally finding a new breed of treatment centers focused on whole-person care. Eleanor Health is at the forefront of this movement, working to scale an innovative, tech-enabled, and peer-supported platform that supports patients through their recovery by aligning incentives in a value-based payment model. Corbin Petro (WG ’09) is co-founder and CEO of Eleanor. In this episode, we explore Corbin’s path to Eleanor, the unique market forces at play in the substance use disorder market, and Corbin’s perspectives on leading effectively in the COVID-19 era.

Nancy Brown, Oak HC/FT, on healthcare investing during and post COVID-19 May 14, 2020

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In this episode of the Pulse Podcast, we interview Nancy Brown, General Partner at Oak HC/FT, a growth venture capital firm where she focuses on growth equity and early-stage venture opportunities in Healthcare. Oak HC/FT's latest fund raised $800M in 2019, and currently has $1.9B under management. We cover Oak HC/FT's investment philosophy, how investing and the pace of healthcare innovation has changed since COVID-19, the inspirational leadership their portfolio companies has shown, the importance of humility and mentorship, and as a bonus, we find out Nancy's new quarantine cooking project.

Anmol Madan, Livongo, on using data science to transform care delivery May 07, 2020

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In this episode of The Pulse Podcast, Lora interviews Anmol Madan, Chief Data Scientist of Livongo, where he is responsible for machine learning and data science across all of Livongo's products and services, to help people be the best versions of themselves. Livongo empowers people with chronic conditions to live better and healthier lives, beginning with diabetes and now including hypertension, weight management, diabetes prevention, and behavioral health. Livongo pioneered the category of Applied Health Signals to offer Members clinically-based insights that focus on the whole person and make it easier to stay healthy. Anmol previously co-founded Ginger.io, an AI-driven behavioral health system that provides access to 24/7 coaching, therapy and psychiatry, and served as its Chief Executive Officer for 7 years. Under his leadership, Ginger.io built an AI-driven member and clinical product, established a high-growth distribution model with employers, became broadly available as an in-network health-plan benefit, and raised $35 million in venture funding from top-tier Silicon Valley VCs. Anmol received a Ph.D. in machine learning applied to human behavior from the MIT Media Lab, and has authored 20+ scientific publications (in Science, AAAI, Ubicomp, NIPS), and over a dozen patents related to machine learning in healthcare. He has been recognized as one of the 100 Most Creative people, and as a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer.

Kevin Kumler, Quartet Health, on mental health care in the time of COVID-19 Apr 30, 2020

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Kevin Kumler, Quartet Health, on mental health care in the time of COVID-19 by The Pulse by Wharton Digital Health

Halle Tecco, Natalist, on initiative-taking & leading through COVID-19 Apr 16, 2020

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In this episode, we interview Halle Tecco, Co-Founder and CEO of Natalist. Halle and Lora discuss Halle's career path, which includes founding Rock Health and teaching a digital health course at Columbia Business School. Halle also shares her insights on leading an organization during COVID-19, including her approach to celebrating important company milestones and how to get it right.

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