Hosts: Na-Ri Oh & Ian Wendt

What if the biggest innovation in rare disease wasn’t a new drug—but a new way to navigate the system?

In this episode, Na-Ri and Ian sit down with Joshua Resnikoff, biomedical engineer turned founder of Sunstone Health, to explore how employers can fundamentally rethink healthcare spending—while dramatically improving outcomes for families facing rare diseases.

Josh’s journey into healthcare reform wasn’t academic—it was personal. After years navigating the healthcare system to diagnose his son’s rare periodic fever syndrome, Josh experienced firsthand the emotional, financial, and systemic toll of what’s known as the diagnostic odyssey. That experience sparked a mission: compress a seven-year diagnostic journey into just 12 weeks.

This conversation dives into rare disease, employer-sponsored health plans, insurance mechanics, and why aligning incentives might be the key to transforming care.

Josh’s background as a biomedical engineer at Harvard’s Wyss Institute

The rare disease journey that reshaped his career

Why getting a diagnosis—even without treatment—changes everything

The emotional and economic cost of delayed diagnosis

On average, it takes:

7 years from first symptom to effective treatment for rare disease patients

Countless ER visits, specialist referrals, medication trials, and escalating costs

Significant emotional strain—rare disease families face dramatically higher stress and divorce rates

Sunstone’s model reduces that timeline to approximately 12 weeks using:

Whole genome sequencing

AI-powered clinical interpretation

Expert clinician review (human-in-the-loop model)

Direct coordination with local care teams

The result?

Josh explains why self-funded employers—not traditional commercial insurers—are uniquely positioned to drive change.

Key insights:

~2/3 of Americans receive insurance through employers

Many large employers are self-funded, meaning they pay claims directly

Employers think in long-term employee retention (not 12-month insurance cycles)

Better healthcare = healthier employees = higher retention & productivity

Sunstone’s innovative model:

No per-employee-per-month subscription fees

Employers only pay when a family receives actionable results

High ROI through reduced ER visits, unnecessary treatments, and delayed care

The episode breaks down:

Fully insured vs. self-funded plans

Third-party administrators (TPAs)

Stop-loss / reinsurance

How high-cost cases (like $2M gene therapies) are financially managed

The takeaway:

A powerful theme throughout the conversation:

Many leaders in the rare disease ecosystem—including Josh—entered the field because of their own children.

That lived experience shapes:

Sunstone’s patient-first data ownership model

Continuous reanalysis of patient data

Clinical trial matching

Ethical alignment with families

As Josh says:

“Even if this whole thing went belly up, we will have helped hundreds of families—and I’d feel good about that for the rest of my life.”

Successfully raised Series A funding

800+ community investors via WeFunder

Integration with Broad Clinical Labs

Expanded epilepsy and autism-focused programs

Rapidly growing employer pipeline

🌐 Sunstone Health: https://sunstonehealth.com

💼 Connect with Josh on LinkedIn