HealthTech Remedy

Is the traditional academic path failing doctors who want to innovate? For many physicians, the dream of impacting patient care on a massive scale feels out of reach within the slow-moving world of grants and publications. This episode explores the alternative: the dynamic and rapidly evolving physician career paths in health tech. We're joined by Dr. Shrujal Baxi, a physician executive and former Chief Medical Officer at Iterative Health, who shares her incredible journey from being a top medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering to becoming a leader at pioneering tech companies like Flatiron Health, Verana Health, and Iterative Health.

Dr. Baxi reveals the critical moment she realized academic research, despite its rigor, couldn't deliver solutions at the speed technology could. This conversation is a masterclass for any doctor questioning their career trajectory, offering a candid look at the challenges and rewards of transitioning from the clinic to the tech industry. We dive deep into how her skills as a clinician became her greatest asset in corporate settings, the pivotal role of real-world evidence in shaping modern medicine, and the future of AI in medicine. If you've ever wondered how to commercialize a great idea to truly help patients or what the role of clinicians in tech companies truly entails, this discussion provides the roadmap. Dr. Baxi breaks down her experience working on everything from large-scale data sets in oncology to using computer vision for endoscopy in gastroenterology, demonstrating the vast opportunities available for physicians outside of traditional practice. This episode isn't just a story; it's a guide to forging impactful physician career paths in health tech, exploring the academia vs industry for physicians debate, and understanding how to build a scalable solution that changes patient lives.

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

Dr. Shrujal Baxi is a physician executive who has built a remarkable career at the intersection of medicine and technology. After training as a medical oncologist and conducting health services research at the world-renowned Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, she made the leap to industry. She has held leadership roles at some of the most influential companies in health tech, including Flatiron Health, Verana Health, and most recently as Chief Medical Officer of Iterative Health. Dr. Baxi shares her unique perspective on leveraging real-world evidence and AI in medicine to drive innovation and improve patient outcomes.

TIMESTAMPS / CHAPTERS:

(00:00) The Rise of Physician Innovators in Health Tech

(01:40) Dr. Baxi's Origin: From Oncology to Health Services Research

(05:51) The Turning Point: Why Academic Research Moves Too Slowly

(08:49) Making the Leap to Flatiron Health & a New Career Path

(12:46) The Untapped Value of Clinicians in Tech Companies

(17:43) Scaling Real-World Evidence Beyond Oncology at Verana Health

(21:31) Pioneering AI in Medicine with Computer Vision at Iterative Health

(25:32) The Future of Health Tech & Early-Stage Innovation

(28:48) Dr. Baxi's Advice for Aspiring Physician Innovators

Episode Resources:

• Connect with Dr. Shrujal Baxi
• Learn more about Flatiron Health
• Learn more about Verana Health
• Learn more about Iterative Health

Is a "normal" mammogram result enough to truly protect your health? What if your standard scan is missing crucial information that could predict your risk for both breast cancer and heart disease years in advance? This episode challenges the one-size-fits-all approach to medical imaging and explores the future of AI in radiology for personalized patient care. We uncover how machine learning is moving healthcare from a reactive model to a proactive one, where diseases are caught earlier and treatments are tailored to the individual, not the average.

In this installment of our Physician Innovators series, host Dr. Trevor Royce sits down with Dr. Sean Raj, a practicing radiologist and the Chief Innovation Officer and Chief Medical Officer at SimonMed Imaging. Dr. Raj breaks down how his team is pioneering this shift at one of the largest outpatient imaging practices in the nation. We dive deep into SimonMed's groundbreaking programs, which are redefining what patients can learn from a single imaging session. Dr. Raj explains the revolutionary "Mammogram Plus" program, which provides a highly personalized breast cancer screening by analyzing not just the image, but a patient's individual risk factors like breast density to provide actionable insights. We also explore the incredible innovation of detecting heart disease from mammograms—a capability that leverages the same scan to identify early signs of breast arterial calcifications, giving women a powerful two-for-one look at their health. The conversation also turns to the rising trend of proactive health screening with the whole body MRI for early detection. Dr. Raj details SimonMed's "simonONE" program, which utilizes advanced 3-Tesla MRI machines and AI to conduct comprehensive scans in as little as 30 minutes, finding silent diseases years before symptoms might appear. Throughout the discussion, Dr. Raj emphasizes the benefits of AI in medical imaging, from enhancing radiologist performance to making advanced diagnostics more affordable and accessible. This episode is a must-watch for anyone interested in the future of medicine, technology, and for aspiring physician innovators in health tech looking to make a scalable impact on patient outcomes.

About Our Guest:

Dr. Sean Raj is the Chief Innovation Officer at SimonMed Imaging. A practicing radiologist who completed his breast imaging fellowship at Harvard Medical School's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Dr. Raj is dedicated to integrating cutting-edge technology into clinical practice. He leads SimonMed's initiatives in evaluating and implementing new technologies like artificial intelligence, developing patient-centered research programs, and making proactive healthcare accessible and affordable on a national scale.

Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction to Physician Innovators & Dr. Sean Raj

(02:20) Dr. Raj's Journey: From Medicine to Health Tech Innovation

(06:12) Mammogram Plus: Using AI for Personalized Breast and Heart Health

(11:02) Measuring Success: Patient Outcomes, Experience, and Scalability

(12:01) The Radiologist's Experience: Integrating AI into the Clinical Workflow

(15:52) Proactive Health Screening with the simonONE Whole Body MRI

(19:19) Balancing Innovation, Affordability, and Patient Access

(21:10) Enhancing Patient Understanding with Digital, Digestible Reports

(25:32) The Future of Radiology: Towards Proactive and Hyper-Personalized Care

(27:22) Advice for Aspiring Physician Innovators

Learn More From Our Guest / Episode Resources:

• Learn more about SimonMed Imaging
• Explore the simonONE Whole Body MRI
• Discover Mammogram Plus and Mammogram Plus Heart
• Check out Cascaid Health's digital reports

How does a successful academic cardiologist leave a prestigious career to build a pioneering virtual mental health company from the ground up? This episode unpacks the incredible physician transition to health tech with Dr. Reena Pande, a cardiologist turned innovator who scaled a startup to a major acquisition and is now shaping the future of clinician executive leadership. If you've ever wondered how to leverage your clinical expertise beyond the bedside and make an impact at scale, this conversation is for you.

In this deep dive, Dr. Reena Pande shares the untold story of her journey from a grant-funded researcher and faculty member at Harvard Medical School to becoming the first Chief Medical Officer at AbleTo. She details the "ferocious curiosity" that led her to explore the world of health tech and venture capital, driven by a desire to address patient needs more holistically, particularly in the intersection of physical and mental health. Dr. Pande explains the challenges and triumphs of scaling a virtual mental health company, detailing how AbleTo grew from a 10-person team with a $1.5M Series A to a thousand-person organization acquired by Optum. She provides a candid look at the Chief Medical Officer role in tech, emphasizing the need to blend clinical and business acumen, roll up your sleeves, and grow as a leader as the company evolves.

This discussion offers invaluable advice for physicians in health tech, covering the pitfalls to avoid—such as acting like the sole expert—and the mindset required to succeed, including humility and a willingness to learn the language of business (from EBITDA to COGS). Dr. Pande also recounts the dramatic impact of the pandemic, which she describes as "pouring gasoline" on the simmering need for virtual care, and how AbleTo's rigorous, quality-first approach enabled them to meet the explosive demand. Now a Partner at Oxeon leading their clinician executive search practice, she shares insights on what the industry needs most from physician leaders today and her vision for training the next generation of clinicians in the age of AI. This episode is a masterclass in clinician executive leadership and a must-listen for any doctor considering a physician transition to health tech.

About Our Guest:

Dr. Reena Pande is a Partner at Oxeon, where she leads the clinician executive search practice. Before joining Oxeon, she spent nearly a decade as the Chief Medical Officer of AbleTo (now Optum Behavioral Care), a pioneer in virtual mental healthcare. At AbleTo, she led the company’s product, data, and research efforts, scaling the organization through its acquisition by Optum. Dr. Pande was previously an academic cardiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and a faculty member at Harvard Medical School. She is a passionate advocate for integrating technology with empathetic, human-centered care to transform health outcomes.

Timestamps / Chapters:

(00:00) Introduction to Dr. Reena Pande

(01:23) Dr. Pande's Origin Story: The Path to Medicine and Cardiology

(05:16) The Leap: Pivoting from Academic Medicine to Health Tech Innovation

(09:43) Building AbleTo: A Pioneer in Virtual Mental Healthcare

(12:04) The Chief Medical Officer Role: Scaling a Health Tech Company

(13:57) How the Pandemic Became a Catalyst for Virtual Mental Health

(19:13) From CMO to Matchmaker: A New Chapter at Oxeon

(23:16) Common Pitfalls for Physicians Transitioning to Tech Roles

(28:43) "Know Thyself": Key Advice for Aspiring Physician Innovators

(30:39) Forecasting the Future: AI and the Next Generation of Clinicians

Learn More From Our Guest / Episode Resources:

• Read Dr. Pande's writing on her Substack, "Open Mic"
• Listen to Dr. Pande's podcast, "Leadership Rounds"
• Learn more about Oxeon

What if the millions of hours of video captured during medical procedures weren't thrown away? A revolution in AI in endoscopy is underway, turning this once-wasted data into a powerful tool to predict disease and accelerate cures. In this episode, we talk to Matt Schwartz, CEO and co-founder of Virgo Surgical Video Solutions, a company at the forefront of this transformation.

Every year, over 20 million GI endoscopies are performed in the U.S., generating a massive amount of high-definition video that, until now, was simply deleted. We dive deep with Matt on how Virgo developed a seamless system for endoscopy video capture, using a small hardware device and a HIPAA-compliant cloud platform to automatically record, de-identify, and store this valuable data without changing the clinical workflow. This enormous dataset, comprising billions of video frames, is the fuel for Virgo’s groundbreaking endoscopy foundation model, EndoDINO. Matt explains how this model, pre-trained on an unprecedented scale of real-world video, can achieve state-of-the-art results in tasks like identifying anatomical landmarks and scoring ulcerative colitis severity. The most exciting application? Using AI for clinical trial endpoints. Matt reveals how EndoDINO was able to predict with remarkable accuracy (an AUROC of 0.78) whether a patient with ulcerative colitis would respond to a placebo, a breakthrough that could revolutionize how pharmaceutical companies design and run clinical trials, making them faster and more efficient. We also discuss the future of this technology, including the potential to analyze the GI tract to find early signs of cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases.

About Our Guest:
Matt Schwartz is the CEO and Co-founder of Virgo Surgical Video Solutions. A biomedical engineer who previously worked as a product manager at Intuitive Surgical on the DaVinci robotic surgery platform, Matt was inspired to found Virgo after realizing the immense, untapped potential of endoscopy video data. He saw an opportunity to build the infrastructure to capture this "treasure trove" of data and use it to power a new generation of AI that could fundamentally improve patient outcomes and even eliminate the need for certain surgeries altogether.

Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro: The Problem with Wasted Endoscopy Data
(01:12) Introducing Virgo: Tapping into Underutilized Video Feeds
(06:02) What is an Endoscopy Foundation Model?
(13:12) The Spark for Virgo: A Challenging Case at the Mayo Clinic
(16:09) How the Virgo Cloud Platform Automates Endoscopy Video Capture
(23:51) Building EndoDINO: Virgo’s Foundation Model for GI Endoscopy
(30:51) Applying AI to Clinical Trial Endpoints in Ulcerative Colitis
(36:23) How AI Can Revolutionize Pharmaceutical Trials
(39:11) Why Virgo Embraced a Hardware Component
(41:41) The Future: Predicting Systemic Disease from the GI Tract

Learn More & Episode Resources:

• Learn more about Virgo Surgical Video Solutions
• Connect with Matt Schwartz

How can a brilliant oncologist, computer scientist, and former top FDA official fix the slow, broken, and expensive system of clinical trials? In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Amy Abernethy, a true physician innovator, to uncover the critical need for streamlining clinical research with real-world data. Dr. Abernethy has spent her career tackling one of healthcare’s biggest challenges: how to get effective treatments to the patients who need them, faster. From pioneering research at Duke to scaling a startup to a multi-billion dollar acquisition and modernizing the FDA’s entire data infrastructure, she reveals the playbook for building a true learning health system.

In this deep-dive conversation, Dr. Amy Abernethy shares her incredible physician innovator career path, which took her from the clinic at Duke University to executive roles at Flatiron Health, the FDA, Verily, and now as the co-founder of Highlander Health. She begins by detailing her early academic work building a "Center for Learning Healthcare," where she focused on using patient-reported outcomes and electronic data to understand what treatments truly work. However, she hit a ceiling in academia, realizing that the grant-based model couldn't scale. This led to her pivot to industry and Flatiron Health, where she shares invaluable lessons on scaling health tech companies. Dr. Abernethy discusses the importance of creating a common language ("lingua franca") between clinicians, engineers, and product teams, and establishing a North Star through shared corporate values.

This experience was crucial for her next chapter at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, where she served as Principal Deputy Commissioner. Dr. Abernethy provides a rare insider's look at the immense challenges and surprising speed of government work, particularly her focus on FDA data modernization. She explains how the looming wave of cell and gene therapies and the EVALI vaping crisis created an urgent need for a cloud-forward, scalable agency capable of using real-world data for regulatory decisions. This work in advancing real-world evidence in regulatory science set the stage for her current mission. Now in "founder mode" at Highlander Health, she is building the infrastructure for the future of evidence generation by both funding non-profit research and investing in key companies like Target RWE, continuing her lifelong mission of streamlining clinical research with real-world data. This episode is a masterclass for anyone interested in health tech, public policy, and the future of medicine.

ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Dr. Amy Abernethy is a physician, researcher, and health tech leader who is currently the co-founder of Highlander Health. Her distinguished career includes roles as a medical oncologist and researcher at Duke University, Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Officer at Flatiron Health, Principal Deputy Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and a leader in product development at Verily. She is a world-renowned expert in real-world data, evidence generation, and building learning health systems.

TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00) Introduction to Dr. Amy Abernethy's Trailblazing Career
(02:19) The Origin Story: From NASA Programmer to Clinical Oncologist
(05:35) Building a "Learning Health System" at Duke University
(07:57) The Pivot from Academia to Industry: Why Scale Matters
(10:10) Lessons in Scaling a Mission-Driven Health Tech Company
(15:54) Shaping the Narrative for Real-World Evidence (RWE)
(18:43) From Industry to Government: A New Chapter at the FDA
(22:27) Modernizing FDA Data Systems for Future Health Crises
(27:39) Founder Mode: The Launch of Highlander Health
(35:41) Advice for Aspiring Physician Innovators

LEARN MORE FROM OUR GUEST / EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Learn more about Highlander Health
• Learn about Highlander Health's acquisition of Target RWE
• Read the article on CMO archetypes Dr. Abernethy co-authored

In modern medicine, a patient's outcome often depends less on the skill of their doctor and more on the speed and efficiency of the hospital system itself. When workflows break down, critical time is lost, and lives are put at risk. This episode provides a comprehensive analysis of the Viz.ai AI healthcare platform, a company at the forefront of solving this problem by using artificial intelligence to detect disease earlier and coordinate care faster. We are joined by Viz.ai's co-founder and CEO, Chris Mansi, a former neurosurgeon who saw firsthand how fragmented communication could lead to devastating consequences and set out to build a solution.

How can a simple software platform save lives in cases of stroke, pulmonary embolism, and cancer? In this deep dive, we explore the rise of Viz.ai, from its initial breakthrough in AI for stroke detection to its current status as a unicorn company installed in over 1,800 hospitals. We dissect how their technology optimizes AI in clinical workflows, not just by flagging critical findings on medical images, but by mobilizing entire care teams in real-time. The discussion covers the "time is brain" philosophy that drives the company’s mission and the powerful real-world evidence, backed by over 100 publications, demonstrating how this approach reduces treatment delays and improves patient outcomes. This has allowed Viz.ai to expand far beyond stroke to tackle aortic disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, cancer, and more, proving the power of a unified platform.

We also analyze the company's evolving business strategy, particularly the crucial role of Viz.ai pharma partnerships. These collaborations with companies like BMS, Sanofi, and Medtronic are not just a revenue driver; they are essential for expanding the platform's reach into chronic diseases and ensuring that life-saving treatments get to the right patients. The conversation then shifts to the incredible Chris Mansi founder story, as the CEO himself recounts the patient story that inspired him to leave neurosurgery and become an entrepreneur. He shares invaluable insights from navigating the complex worlds of FDA clearance and CMS reimbursement, and what it takes to build a mission-driven company. Finally, we look to the future, discussing the biggest barriers to AI adoption in healthcare and Chris's vision for an "AI doctor assistant" that will augment physicians, reduce care variability, and democratize access to the best treatments available.

About Our Guest:

Chris Mansi is the Co-founder and CEO of Viz.ai. A former neurosurgeon trained in the UK, Chris experienced the systemic delays in patient care firsthand. While at Stanford's Biodesign program, he saw the potential for deep learning to fix these broken workflows, leading him to found Viz.ai in 2016. He has since led the company to become a health tech unicorn, pioneering new regulatory and reimbursement pathways for AI in medicine.

Timestamps / Chapters:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:01) What is Viz.ai? A Pioneer in AI-Powered Clinical Workflows

(02:10) How AI Expedites Care for Stroke, PE, and Aortic Disease

(05:40) Beyond the Algorithm: Optimizing Care Coordination & Reducing Variability

(07:12) From Acute Care to Chronic Disease: The Pharma Partnership Model

(14:55) The Viz.ai Origin Story with CEO Chris Mansi

(21:13) Navigating FDA Clearance & CMS Reimbursement as an AI Pioneer

(26:42) How Viz.ai Decides Which Medical Problems to Solve Next

(32:28) The Strategy Behind Pharma & MedTech Partnerships

(35:49) What Are the Biggest Barriers to AI Adoption in Healthcare?

(39:15) Viz.ai's 5-10 Year Vision: The AI-Powered Doctor's Assistant

(41:20) Leadership Lessons from a Unicorn CEO

Most clinicians are forced to manage chronic diseases with just a few data points a year. Dr. Lucienne Ide, a physician-turned-CEO, founded Rimidi to change that.

In this insightful conversation from HLTH 2025, Dr. Ide shares her journey from the exam room to the C-suite and explains how her company is making remote patient monitoring (RPM) a seamless, equitable, and financially sustainable standard of care.

Listen to learn why a clinician-first approach is critical for technology adoption, how new reimbursement models are unlocking access to remote care, and what the future of connected health—from CGM to ambient monitoring—truly looks like.

Learn more about Rimidi’s work in chronic care management at rimidi.com.

The energy from HLTH 2025 was incredible, and we're excited to share one of our most insightful conversations recorded live from the conference. Although the event has wrapped, the ideas discussed are setting the agenda for the year ahead.

In this episode, Dr. Tim Showalter sits down with Antoine Pivron, Head of Healthcare Solutions at Withings, the company bridging the gap between consumer-friendly design and clinical-grade data.

Withings is known for its smart scales, blood pressure monitors, and sleep trackers, but its biggest impact may be in the B2B world. Antoine details the company's strategic shift from wellness to medical, focusing on how to build devices that drive engagement for all patients—even those who aren't tech-savvy.

Tune in to explore the critical role of connected health in the new era of chronic care.

Key Topics Discussed:

• From Wellness to Medical: The strategy behind Withings' evolution into a B2B clinical partner.
• Beyond BMI: Why the GLP-1 and obesity care boom demands a focus on body composition, not just weight.
• Engaging Every Patient: How do you design for a 75-year-old with chronic heart failure? Antoine shares simple yet powerful engagement hacks (like putting the weather on a scale).
• Powering GLP-1 Programs: How Withings' ecosystem provides the data to personalize treatment, improve adherence, and prove outcomes to payers.
• Making Data Actionable: Translating a flood of home health data into simple, actionable alerts and trends for busy care teams.
• The Future of Home Health: Why Antoine believes "health starts at home" and that using connected technology will soon be non-negotiable for providers.

In another special episode recorded live from the floor of the HLTH 2025 conference, Dr. Tim Showalter sits down with Jacob Hansen, Chief Product and Technology Officer of AvaSure.

AvaSure is a leader in intelligent virtual care, powering over 5,000 deployments in 1,100 hospitals with its virtual sitting and nursing platform. Jacob discusses how AvaSure's unique, nurse-centric approach to product design (15% of their team are nurses) is critical to building technology that clinicians actually trust and use.

In this conversation, Jacob unveils major new partnerships with Suki, to integrate ambient clinical documentation, and Verizon, to leverage private 5G for rapid, reliable deployment in hospitals. He shares how AvaSure is tackling healthcare's biggest challenges—patient safety, workforce productivity, and clinician burnout—and "bringing the joy back to the bedside."

Tune in to hear how AvaSure is delivering millions in financial value, reducing staff attrition, and leveraging its massive data asset to prove clinical efficacy. Finally, Jacob shares his vision for the future of in-hospital care: the rise of "agentic AI" that moves beyond simple models to create true, outcome-driven solutions.

In this special episode of HealthTech Remedy, recorded live from HLTH 2025, Dr. Paul Gerrard sits down with Roland Dias, a leader at GE Healthcare, to discuss the profound transformation happening at the intersection of medical devices, data, and artificial intelligence.

Roland shares his unique career journey—from Medtronic to Microsoft and now GE Healthcare—and explains how his background in both devices and cloud AI is shaping their new patient-centric strategy.

Tune in to explore:

• The "Three-Legged Stool": Roland's framework for driving real-world AI adoption by balancing clinical benefits, IT simplicity, and a strong ROI.
• AI Beyond Diagnostics: How GE is moving AI out of the lab and into therapeutic devices to enable adaptive therapies and better decision-making.
• Patient-Centric Care Pathways: Why GE is shifting its focus from selling individual machines to providing end-to-end solutions for oncology, cardiology, and neurology.
• A 10-Year Vision: Roland's exciting look at the future of healthcare, including AI-driven early detection in your local pharmacy, true personalized medicine, and the rise of the connected "home care" ecosystem.

This conversation is essential listening for anyone interested in how one of healthcare's largest incumbents is pivoting to become a digital-first company and what it means for the future of patient care.