Eriona Hysolli is the Head of Biological Sciences at Colossal Biosciences, a breakthrough biosciences and genetic engineering company focused on developing radical new technologies to advance the fields of de-extinction, species preservation and human healthcare through genomics. In January 2023, the company secured an oversubscribed $150M Series B financing led by the United States Innovative Technology Fund with participation from Bob Nelsen, Jazz Ventures among others, bringing total funding to $225M.

Eriona was previously a postdoctoral fellow in the George Church lab at Harvard Medical School from 2015 – 2021, where she focused on developing and optimizing novel genetic tools for multiplex mammalian genome engineering including mammoth de-extinction and building a virus-resistance human cell line. Her authored publications include characterizing different populations of human induced pluripotent stem cells arising during reprogramming, setting up a human cell-bacteria co-culture model to study how biocontainment can be exploited for probiotic development, and multiplex editing of TAG to TAA codons genome-wide in human cells.

We are excited to hear her story, the founding of Colossal, and what it means for humanity and the environment to bring back the wooly mammoth, Tasmanian tiger, and more recently announced, the Dodo bird.

Jingyun Fan is CEO and co-founder of Shuni, a company that provides CBT-I coaching for insomnia. Prior to Shuni, Jingyun was an AI research scientist at Accenture and a data scientist at Hello, the company behind the bedside sleep tracer Sense.

This episode was recorded in September 2022. Since the interview, Jingyun and her team have decided to wind down operations of Shuni. Nonetheless, Jingyun provides insightful reflections on her evolving role as co-founder and CEO and on creating a niche as a direct-to-consumer company within the insomnia market.

Kristin Apple is a healthcare leader and brand strategist, and is President of Linus, an insights, strategy, and innovation consulting firm that helps companies in health, wellness, and life science industries. She has worked on the client-side and as an advisor to the world’s largest consumer healthcare, pharmaceutical, and CPG companies for over twenty years.

Prior to LINUS, Kristin built and led the healthcare vertical at Egg strategy, a global brand and innovation consultancy where she focused on uncovering insights, guiding strategy, and fueling innovation for the world’s largest brands. Her interest in health and wellness started when she spent 6 years at Eli Lilly, launching five blockbuster drugs while in different roles in the sales and marketing divisions.

Kristin received her MBA  from the University of Colorado and her undergraduate degree from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business.

Ashlee Wisdom is co-founder and CEO of Health in Her Hue, a digital platform connecting Black women and women of color to culturally sensitive healthcare providers, content and community. Ashlee is a public health innovator, committed to dismantling racist systems to achieve a more equitable healthcare landscape. Prior to Health in Her HUE, Ashlee worked for an advisory firm, Junto Health, as the Program Director for the Strategic Ventures Group. In this episode, we discuss topics such as ways Health in Her Hue is working to ensure quality and culturally sensitive care, how to create buy-in from investors that may not relate to your product, and the importance of story-telling as a founder. Key advice for aspiring entrepreneurs - find a pain point that hits home to you or your family and create a solution.  

Kristina Saffran is the co-founder and CEO of Equip, a virtual program that delivers modern eating disorder treatment through family-based care that promises lasting recovery at home. Prior to Equip, Kristina founded Project HEAL, a leading grassroots eating disorder non-profit dedicated to treatment access. Kristina is an Ashoka Fellow, a Forbes 30 under 30 social entrepreneur, and a Facebook Community Leadership Fellow, and graduated from Harvard College with a bachelor's degree in psychology in May 2014.

Cindy Adam is co-founder and CEO of Choix, a telemedicine clinic providing sexual and reproductive healthcare in California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, and New Mexico founded in 2020. Choix provides professional and private abortion care to folks seeking to safely end a pregnancy from the comfort of their own home. Choix has been featured in USA Today, Insider, Fast Company, among many other news outlets.

Cindy trained at the University of California Family Nurse Practitioner Program and completed clinical preceptorships at SFGH, Planned Parenthood, and the Women’s Community Clinic. She focused her career on sexual & reproductive heathcare through work with the SF Department of Public Health Programs for Youth, in private practices with a local obgyn as well as with an early stage contraceptive care telehealth provider.

Today we welcome Dr. Marla Dubinsky who is the Co-Founder for Trellus Health, the first resilience-driven connected health solution for Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Dr. Dubinsky is the Chief of the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology at the Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital and is the Co-Director of the Susan and Leonard Feinstein Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinical Center at Mount Sinai. Her primary research focuses on the influence of genetics and immune responses on the variability in clinical presentations, treatment responses and prognosis of early-onset IBD. Dr. Dubinsky received her medical degree from Queen’s University, Canda and completed her Pediatric Residency at Alberta Children’s Hospital, Calgary, Canada, and her Clinical Fellowship in Gastroenterology and Nutrition at Sainte-Justine Hospital at the University of Montreal, Canada. She completed her Research Fellowship in Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles where she then served as the Director of the Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center prior to coming to Mount Sinai.

Dr. Mimi Winsberg is co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Brightside Health, a telehealth startup focused on delivering life-changing mental health care. A Stanford-trained psychiatrist with over 25 years of clinical experience, she was previously the on-site psychiatrist at the Facebook Wellness Center. Dr. Winsberg appears regularly on Good Morning America, and her work has been featured in HealthDay, Business Insider, Fast Company, and Bloomberg BusinessWeek. She has a B.A. in Neuroscience from Harvard College. She is also the author of the insightful book, Speaking in Thumbs.

We cover topics like her journey co-founding Brightside Health, the future of tele-psychiatry and the role data science can play, and general advice for aspiring physician-entrepreneurs.

Jennifer Steiner is the Chief Executive Officer of Lightfully Behavioral Health, which provides primary mental health treatment to commercially insured clients. Lightfully is one of the first behavioral health organizations built around Processed-based Therapy, a framework that delivers more personalized and holistic care. Previously, she was the Chief Executive Officer of Alsana, an Eating Recovery Community. Alsana combines data-driven, evidence-based treatment with a fresh perspective focused on total health and wellness. With communities in St.Louis, MO, Birmingham, AL, and Monterey, Westlake Village and Santa Barbara, CA, Alsana delivers compassionate, best-in-class care to individuals looking for recovery from eating disorders. 

Jennifer holds an MBA from the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business and earned her undergraduate degree in liberal arts from Colorado College. She lives with her husband and three children, and enjoys running marathons, reading and being outdoors. Jennifer is also an ardent supporter of “Lead like a Chiq,” a movement she founded that promotes the power of authentically female leadership.

Julia Bernstein is a former consultant turned healthcare strategy and growth leader, currently working as General manager of Platform at Thirty Madison, the virtual specialized care platform mixing direct-to-consumer and reimbursable models. Thirty Madison includes companies like Keeps, a men’s hair loss solution, Cove, focusing on migraine care, and Evens for GI symptoms, and Picnic, for allergies.

Prior to Thirty Madison, Julia was COO of Tempest and worked in health strategy, operations, and sales at Beacon Health Options, Institute on Aging, and Ginger. Earlier in her career, Julia worked at McKinsey and Company serving healthcare companies. She received an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business and a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College.