Empowered Patient Podcast

Dr. Robert Rifkin, medical oncologist and hematologist at the University of Colorado in Steamboat Springs. He was also a clinical investigator in the trial that led to the approval of BLENREP, a multiple myeloma drug from GSK. Multiple myeloma is the second most common blood cancer, and while the prognosis has dramatically improved, BLENREP is a novel treatment for patients whose disease has relapsed after other therapies. It is the first drug antibody conjugate approved for relapsed multiple myeloma, targeting the BCMA antigen, which is present on nearly all myeloma cells. Robert explains, "This is a condition that is really what I would call a disease of the Medicare population. So the median age of diagnosis is often early 60s, but occasionally you do see the younger patients with more aggressive disease. It's thought that African Americans who contract myeloma also may have a more virulent form of the disease."   "Right now we live in a great day and age where we have a tremendous number of good treatment

Haresh Patel, Founder of Diagnostic MD AI, discusses the transformative potential of AI in healthcare diagnostics, particularly for patients with chronic or complex issues. Based on his own struggle to get an accurate diagnosis of an autoimmune condition, Haresh has developed a patient-centric platform where individuals can build their complete health story, integrating modern and functional medicine with a more holistic approach, which AI analyzes to help doctors connect disparate symptoms, ask the right questions, identify patterns, and reach the correct diagnosis faster while reducing human bias.  Haresh talks about his own journey in his book The Ghost in My Body, where he emphasizes the need to identify the root cause of disease and to understand the patient narrative over time.  Haresh explains, "Sometimes that story has to come together in different ways because sometimes the patient doesn't want to share it or doesn't remember. But if we can get the whole story, then we're going to have a much better

Ben Scharfe, Executive VP of AI at Altera Digital Health, addresses the evolving regulatory landscape for AI in healthcare, emphasizing AI developers' primary responsibility to ensure transparency so clinicians can understand and verify AI-generated outputs. AI is positioned to be a supportive tool for providers, not as an autonomous decision-maker, with emerging regulations beginning to codify the human-in-the-loop requirement. Ben warns of setting higher standards for AI than physicians and automation complacency, in which clinicians might over-rely on AI. Ben explains, "Altera provides electronic health records predominantly as well as interoperability solutions for hospitals, health systems, and ambulatory systems. We predominantly serve the US, but we're also present in Canada, in Europe, and in the Asia Pacific region. So we have a global presence, but we do a lot of our work in the US."   "I think the regulatory landscape around the division of responsibilities is really something that is evolving. A

Dr. John Birkmeyer, President of the medical group at Sound Physicians, defines value-based care as an evolution from older managed care models, with closer alignment of incentives for quality of care and cost-effectiveness. Working within the hospital environment, this approach emphasizes standardizing patient-centered care and communication across multiple hospital departments, reducing redundant tests and improving patient outcomes. The use of AI is one way to reduce the administrative burden on physicians, freeing up more time for patient care, a departure from earlier technologies that added to clinicians' workload. John explains, "Sound Physicians is a multi-specialty medical group. It's distinguished in a couple of ways from a lot of the physician groups that your listeners and patients are used to. Number one, it focuses exclusively on specialties that are practiced inside the hospital. So in that context, we work in anesthesia, in the ICU, in hospital medicine, and in the emergency department. And w

Dr. Jim Berenson, Founder of the Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research and the Berenson Cancer Center, describes the Institute's work, which includes maintaining a large biobank of patient samples that support both its own research and that being conducted by external groups. This biobank is being used to develop new blood markers for faster disease diagnosis, to assess treatment efficacy, and to support drug development for multiple myeloma and other cancers. Real-time monitoring of patient symptoms with a mobile app is capturing critical, often-missed patient data and providing evidence of clinical trial success. Jim explains, "Myeloma is a bone marrow-based cancer of a type of white cell called a plasma cell. These cells normally make a type of protein antibody that helps us fend off infections. And what happens in myeloma is that one of these types of cells goes rogue and takes over the bone marrow.  As a result, these patients make lots and lots of only one type of antibody, and that protein

Tom Looby, CEO of Conavi, is focused on developing hybrid intravascular imaging technology that combines two established modalities into a single imaging catheter to provide a comprehensive view of the coronary arteries. This eliminates blind spots when using either intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) or optical coherence tomography (OCT) alone and is driving a shift away from relying solely on traditional angiography toward the use of advanced intravascular imaging to guide coronary procedures. Using AI to analyze dual-stream co-registered data allows interventional cardiologists to more accurately assess lesions, determine the appropriate stent size, and ensure proper placement, thereby reducing cardiac death and blood clots around stents. Tim explains, "So our technology is an imaging catheter. We're unique in that we combine two imaging modalities that are already well established in the market. But because each of them has blind spots, by combining them into a single catheter, we remove those blind spots, an

Theresa Lyons, CEO and Founder of Navigating AWEtism, is providing parents with current, accurate information about autism to help them focus on manageable issues for their child. She strongly cautions about information about autism from social media, which is often over-generalized and incorrect. Autism spectrum disorder presents a wide range of behaviors from mild communication difficulties to complex challenges requiring lifelong care, and Theresa advocates for an individual approach, including lab testing, before choosing a treatment plan. Theresa explains, "What we strive to do is educate parents on the cutting-edge information of autism so that they can make the best decisions for their kids. All too often, parents and I, including myself, are autism parents. We get information that is 20 to 30 years old. So it's really important to make decisions for your child's future based on quality information."   "So autism is a spectrum, and we can talk about one end of the spectrum. A child might be speaking,

Lori Runion, a director at Resultant, identifies inadequate scheduling and related staffing unpredictability as a central cause of clinician burnout. Healthcare organizations traditionally rely on historical averages for scheduling, often resulting in a mismatch between patient demand and clinician capacity. Breaking down data silos and using analytics and AI to create predictive staffing models can help forecast demand, anticipate seasonal spikes, and enable proactive staffing to reduce clinician burnout. Lori explains, " From my perspective, burnout is driven at the operational level. To say it most simply, I think that burnout is driven by unpredictability, specifically, what I want to talk a little bit about, predictive staffing. And so, when we think about staffing, the unpredictability and misalignment between patient demand and staffing capacity are really what's driving it. So I don't think it's a lack of resilience. I don't think it's necessarily that there are gaps in care, but there are constant co

Bill Heller, Chief Operating Officer at CHG Healthcare,  is focused on the significant and growing demand for physicians across numerous specialties and on providing a flexible solution for healthcare facilities to maintain services with temporary physician staffing. Rural healthcare facilities are especially dependent on temporary staffing to overcome challenges in attracting and keeping permanent medical professionals. Physicians at all career stages are drawn to locum tenens work, and it has evolved from a niche practice to a mainstream strategy for healthcare facilities and physicians. Bill explains, "CHG Healthcare is a physician workforce solutions company, which means our primary business is physician staffing. So we're the largest physician staffing company in the country. We staff primarily on a part-time temporary basis, but we also do perm and a whole bunch of other stuff. We also do allied staffing, so we have a big staffing arm."   "In addition to that, we have an advisory services arm where we

Jean-Philippe Vert, the Co-Founder and CEO of Bioptimus, is building a foundational AI model for biology to solve the problem of siloed biomedical research. Key goals are to bridge the translational gaps between drug discovery and development, and between clinical research and real-world patient outcomes, and to redesign clinical trials for greater efficiency and improved results. Creating digital twins of patients is a way to simulate treatment outcomes and create synthetic control arms for clinical trials, ultimately lowering the risk and cost of drug development and enabling the creation of new medicines for a broader range of conditions, including rare diseases. Jean-Philippe explains, "So at its core, what we try to build at Bioptimus is the foundational AI infrastructure for biology. The problem we're trying to solve is that biology is complex and operates across different scales, from genes and proteins to cells, organs, patients, etc. And historically, lots of research, lots of biological, biomedical

David Stamler, CEO of Alterity Therapeutics, is developing a drug to treat multiple system atrophy (MSA), a rare and rapidly progressing neurodegenerative disease that often presents as Parkinson's disease but is distinct and more aggressive. There is no single genetic cause or specific biomarker, making accurate diagnosis a significant challenge. The lead drug is a novel small molecule designed to manage excess reactive iron in the brain, which drives the disease, and may be effective for other neurodegenerative diseases involving iron dysregulation. David explains, "Multiple system atrophy is a rare disease, and that's part of the reason people may not know so much about it. It is a neurodegenerative disease, and as the name implies, there are multiple regions of the brain that are affected, hence the term multiple systems that are governed by those regions of the brain. And as the disease progresses, some of these regions degenerate, and you get abnormal function in various areas."   "Now, we like to char

Greg Mayes, President and CEO of Reunion Neuroscience, and Dr. Manish Agrawal, the Co-Founder and CEO of Sunstone Therapies, shine a light on adjustment disorder, a disproportionate emotional or behavioral reaction to a significant life stressor such as a cancer diagnosis. This under-recognized condition lacks FDA-approved treatments and is often managed with SSRIs or talk therapy.  The REKINDLE study evaluated the use of a psilocybin analog drug in development for treating adjustment disorder and has shown positive results by integrating emotional treatment into the standard of care for serious illnesses. Greg explains, "In fact, there are no approved investigational assets that had been approved by the FDA for adjustment disorder. But it was an area of exploration that the FDA encouraged us to move into in light of people's disproportionate and really unfortunate reactions in terms of a depressive or anxiolytic reaction to cancer diagnosis or other major medical illness like Parkinson's disease, MS, ALS, o

Russ Nix, Consulting Associate Director, and Dr. Stacey McCoy, Pharmacy Clinical Program Manager for the Clinical Surveillance and Compliance business at Wolters Kluwer Health, highlight the problem of drug diversion in healthcare environments and the shared responsibility to prevent this breach. AI-enabled software is becoming crucial in detecting suspicious patterns, the types of individuals most likely to steal drugs, and gaps in the supply chain from ordering to delivering drugs to the patient. While opioids are the most commonly diverted drugs, motivated by substance abuse and addiction, other medications, including non-controlled substances, insulin, and high-cost cancer drugs, are also at risk. Effective prevention programs focus on a culture in which staff feel safe reporting concerns and seeking help. Russ explains, "Drug diversion is basically when you're in a healthcare system where the medications in that facility are not going to their intended destination. And that's typically what we see most

Meghan Gutierrez, CEO of the Lymphoma Research Foundation, and Jennifer Branstetter, the Executive Director, North America Corporate Affairs at BeOne Medicines, join me to discuss the growing use of AI in patient care with a specific focus on individuals with lymphoma and other blood cancers. Emphasis is on the necessity of a collaborative, patient-centric approach to developing AI tools, bringing together patient advocacy organizations, healthcare professionals, and pharma partners to provide accurate information to patients. The goal is to serve a diverse population by providing personalized, accessible information to help patients have more meaningful discussions with their healthcare providers, not to replace the clinician's role. Jen explains, "We know that tens of millions of people are using AI tools in general, like ChatGPT, for health questions, including patients with blood cancers like chronic lymphocytic leukemia or CLL, they're all turning to the different AI tools that are out there. And from o

Dr. Mike McCullar, CEO of RegCell, is developing a novel cell therapy to treat autoimmune diseases that specifically addresses the loss of tolerance, in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the body's own tissues. This approach contrasts with current treatments, which broadly suppress the immune system and may cause side effects. The key goals of the therapy are to achieve long-term disease control and restore the immune system's natural balance. The company's manufacturing process is designed to simplify cell therapies, making them more affordable and accessible to a broader population of autoimmune patients. Mike explains, "The real driver of immunity, we believe, is what's called loss of tolerance, which is a system in our bodies that protects us from bad immune cells that attack our tissues. So that's a fundamental limitation in biology, and there really is not a curated treatment at this point. So our view has really been to try to restore the natural balance of our immune system by regulatory T c

Amy Mendoza, Chief Marketing Officer at Alphaeon Patient Financing, highlights the advantages of working with a finance company that provides options for treatments in cosmetic, dental, vision, audiology, and veterinary care. This is an approach for patients who might delay or forgo treatment and preventive care due to cost, including those with average credit or who need subprime options.  Working with providers, Alphaeon helps grow their practices and improve patient experience and outcomes.  Amy explains, "I think the most charming and attractive part of Altheon in healthcare is that it is opening access and providing solutions for patient financing. This includes access to treatments that providers can offer in healthcare markets, including cosmetic, dental, vision, audiology, and now veterinary care."   "Financing is access. And so it's not that patients lack a desire for care, they're lacking affordable pathways. And so, being able to deliver and present the right financing solutions opened the door t

Dane Stevens, Founder, CEO, and Director at Optimi Health, a Canadian company that manufactures MDMA and naturally derived psilocybin from mushrooms for use in therapy for PTSD and treatment-resistant depression. These psychedelic-based mental health treatments are being used in the regulated market in Australia and in Special Access programs in Canada, and showing real-world evidence of a positive impact. Dane emphasizes the importance of a clinical setting for the administration of psychedelic medicines and integration with traditional therapy. Dane explains, "We exist to support the responsible use of psychedelic medicines within regulated healthcare systems. We are a manufacturer of both MDMA and psilocybin, and our company exports those products to the only truly regulated market in the world right now, which is Australia. There, our MDMA is being prescribed for PTSD, and our psilocybin, naturally derived psilocybin extract, is being prescribed for treatment-resistant depression. And so we're not your c

Renzo Luzzatti, Founder and CEO of US-Rx Care, discusses the role and practice of the Pharmacy Benefits Managers and the advantages of working with a company that uses a fiduciary model. Inherent conflicts of interest in the traditional PBM model, such as manufacturer rebates and requirements to use PBM-owned pharmacies, drive up prescription drug costs. US-Rx Care eliminates these conflicts by charging a flat administrative fee with its sole incentive to lower drug costs for the plan and its members. Renxo explains, "We've been around since 2007. We do have about 5 million lives under management, both self-funded employers, which is the bulk of our business. Then we also tap into Medicare health plans and have some programs and offerings that we assist there to lower costs and improve the quality of care. Our approach is unique in that we've taken a fiduciary stance from day one. We can talk about that in a little bit. It is a legal term. It's defined under ERISA, which governs health plans. They have a fid

Kory Daniels, Chief Security and Trust Officer at LevelBlue, discusses the multifaceted cybersecurity challenges in the healthcare industry and the risks posed by legacy systems not designed for secure internet connectivity. Artificial intelligence is being used successfully to defend against cyber attacks, while threat actors are using AI without ethical constraints to launch sophisticated attacks. Managing cybersecurity includes using digital twins to model vulnerabilities and to develop strategies for identity and access management for human and non-human identities, such as robots and AI agents.  Kory explains, "We must recognize that we're not starting from a clean slate - we have a lot of decades-old systems operating both within the physical footprint of the healthcare and hospital facility and in record retention and data management. Many organizations are looking at how to get ahead in identifying what needs to happen to embrace new technology and much of the innovation. At the same time, being cons

Chase Idleman, Chief Executive Officer of Arlow, is leveraging emerging AgeTech and the longevity economy to develop solutions for an aging population, their families, and caregivers. With a human-centered approach to the entire aging process, Arlow uses AI to create a system for action for adults over 65 and their support networks. The main goal is to make tasks like care coordination, document management, medication adherence, and detecting changes in behavior and physical abilities easier. Chase explains, "AgeTech is more around the people in the population. So if you look at aging, it is not one point in time, but is truly a continuum and impacts so many people. It's not just the person who's aging, but also the family members and the entire circle of care around them. So, AgeTech is that kind of emerging field, which is how I try to differentiate it. Again, it's not product-centric, but it is really human-centric over a continuum of time."   "What we felt was the biggest opportunity was not only creatin