The Beat

Advances in data interoperability, democratized cloud access, and responsible AI governance are reshaping what is possible in healthcare innovation. In this episode, host Sandy Vance welcomes Jim Ducharme, Chief Technology Officer of ClearDATA, to discuss each of these forces impacting healthcare, from improving care through connected data, to empowering teams with greater cloud access, to building the policies and controls required to govern AI responsibly. 

Their conversation highlights the importance of secure, scalable infrastructure as healthcare organizations adopt AI and expand data sharing. Jim shares practical insights on balancing innovation with risk management, building trust in cloud environments, and establishing governance frameworks that support compliance.

Jim leads ClearDATA’s Engineering, Product Management, and IT teams. He has more than 25 years of experience leading product organizations in the identity, integrated risk, and fraud management markets. Prior to joining ClearDATA, Jim served as Chief Operating Officer of Outseer, an RSA Company, where he served over 10 years in executive leadership roles. Prior to RSA in 2012, he served in executive leadership roles for Aveksa, CA, and Netegrity. Ducharme frequently speaks at industry events and regularly contributes articles to trade publications. Jim also holds several patents and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science degree from the University of New Hampshire. He and his wife live in Maine in their dream log home, which was featured in Log and Timber Home Living magazine.

AI is revolutionizing how health information is managed. Utilizing sophisticated algorithms, it can assist professionals in making more informed decisions. For instance, optical character recognition (OCR) can read and interpret medical records, identifying potential compliance issues and ensuring every page represents the correct patient. 

In this episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Anupriyo Chakravarti, the Chief Technology and Product Officer at Verisma, about how healthcare organizations can use intelligent automation to reduce risk and uncover compliance gaps in order to free staff to work at the top of their license. 

Anupriyo Chakravarti joined Verisma Systems, Inc. in 2017 as the Senior Vice President of Research and Development. Anupriyo brings 25 years of experience as a highly effective leader in healthcare IT product management and software development for Fortune 500 companies and startups. Anupriyo joined Verisma after serving as vice president of product management and marketing at McKesson, where he led the product management and marketing functions of the Extended Care Services (ECS) business unit. Before McKesson, he worked for 11 years at Surgical Information Systems (SIS), where he led software development, and ultimately product management, to deliver solutions for the surgery and anesthesia departments at health systems and ambulatory surgery centers. Prior to working with SIS, Anupriyo worked for Arthur Andersen, Ryder Dedicated Logistics, IBM and TATA Motors. Anupriyo has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from IIT Roorkee in India.   

In this episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Dr. Sean Kelly, the Chief Medical Officer and the SVP of Customer Healthcare Strategy at Imprivata. Together, they unpack how healthcare organizations can strengthen cybersecurity without slowing clinicians down—exploring everything from mobile device security and passwordless authentication to adaptive authentication, risky user behaviors, and the very real implications for patient safety, workflow efficiency, and ROI for healthcare leaders.

• How cybersecurity can be improved
• The impact that Imprivata has on clinicians 
• Why multi-factor authentication systems aren’t more prevalent in the healthcare industry
• The risky behaviors that open up organizations to security risks
• The different things that Imprivata offers organizations
• The risks of patient harm in cybersecurity and privacy
• Advice for CIOs or CFOs: workflow implications, security compliance, security and efficiency ROI, and financial value
• Adaptive authentication at Imprivata

Dr. Sean Kelly brings a uniquely well-rounded perspective to healthcare, shaped by a career that spans emergency medicine, healthcare leadership, technology, teaching, and entrepreneurship. An emergency physician at Beth Israel Lahey Health in Boston and an Assistant Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School, he is also the Chief Medical Officer and SVP of Customer Healthcare Strategy at Imprivata, where he helps guide product vision, go-to-market strategy, and customer experience after more than a decade with the company from startup through IPO and private equity ownership. He has led high-performing teams in both clinical and executive settings, contributed to care delivery improvements impacting millions of patients, published widely in emergency medicine and medical education, and earned multiple teaching awards. His background includes training at Harvard College, UMass Medical School, and Vanderbilt University, co-founding a concierge medical practice on Martha’s Vineyard, international teaching and humanitarian work, and service in roles ranging from hospital administration to disaster relief—all grounded in a deep commitment to learning, mentorship, and collaboration.

The data necessary to achieve the promise of precision medicine are now available with low-cost whole-genome sequencing, microbiome analysis, proteomics, and other large datasets. Bioscope has developed a team of AI personas to help clinicians realize that promise in a way that will revolutionize the practice of medicine.

In this episode, Sandy Vance speaks with Don Brown, MD, Founder and CEO of Bioscope, about how AI and large-scale biological data are converging to make precision medicine practical for clinicians. They explore Don’s entrepreneurial journey, the origins of Bioscope, and how a subscription-based, clinician-first approach is shaping the future of personalized care.

• Don Brown’s unconventional journey from double-wide to CEO of a groundbreaking company
• The inspiration behind founding Bioscope and the problem it was created to solve
• How Don’s “entrepreneurial bat signal” attracted talent, partners, and early momentum
• Why Bioscope began by partnering with concierge medical practices rather than large health systems
• How Bioscope’s per-patient, per-year subscription model works in practice
• Real-world use cases and early case studies demonstrating clinical impact
• What the current early rollout looks like and where Bioscope is headed next

Don Brown, MD, is a serial software entrepreneur, physician, and leader in precision medicine. Over his career, he has founded and scaled multiple groundbreaking technology companies, including Software Artistry, Interactive Intelligence, LifeOmic, and most recently Bioscope.AI. His companies have collectively generated billions in value through public offerings and acquisitions by organizations such as IBM, Genesys, and Fountain Life. In addition to his entrepreneurial work, Don is an active advisor, investor, and philanthropist, including a $30 million gift that established the Brown Immunotherapy Center at Indiana University School of Medicine.

Don holds a bachelor’s degree in physics and a master’s degree in computer science from Indiana University, an MD from Indiana University School of Medicine, and a master’s degree in biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University. A lifelong learner, he is fluent in multiple languages, an instrument-rated pilot, an avid outdoorsman, and the author of Understanding Life. He currently serves as Founder and CEO of Bioscope.AI, where he is focused on transforming how clinicians use data to deliver personalized care.

In this episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Sophie Cheng, the Senior Vice President of Product Marketing at Sinch. They discuss the most common communication pitfalls and share a handful of remedies so you can start sending smarter messages. You’ll walk away with tangible tips on how to: 

✔️ switch from omnichannel to optimal channel

✔️ leverage AI to fix your no-show problem

✔️ build patient trust through advanced messaging

• What Sinch does and how it uses AI to simplify and personalize communication for customers
• How AI-driven communication is being applied in healthcare and what leaders need to understand
• Why better communication leads to faster interactions, improved patient experiences, and higher conversion rates
• How omnichannel communication strategies streamline workflows for healthcare organizations
• How Sinch helps organizations identify the right channels and interfaces for their patient populations
• What it means to operate at the speed of trust, and why transparency matters
• How AI can make patient interactions feel more empathetic and human
• Why organizations should never underestimate the impact of their communication strategy

Sophie Cheng is the Senior Vice President of Product Marketing at Sinch, the global leader in CPaaS and the company behind the Customer Communications Cloud. With more than 15 years of international marketing experience, Sophie has held strategic roles across Europe, Asia, and North America, partnering closely with Product, Growth, and M&A leaders to manage complex, global portfolios. At Sinch, she leads global product marketing, partner marketing, and analyst relations, helping organizations deliver seamless, trusted communication experiences across messaging, voice, and email.

Before Sinch, Sophie served as VP of Global Product and Customer Marketing at ZoomInfo and led Product Marketing at Chorus.ai. A true global citizen, she has worked extensively across EMEA, APAC, and the U.S. Sophie holds advanced degrees from the University of St. Gallen and Singapore University and is an active member of the CMO Alliance.

Enterprise IT is drowning in repeat incidents, slow triage, and reactive firefighting—burning teams out while costs rise and service quality slips. In this episode, Sandy and Umesh Shiknis of Publicis Sapient explore how Sapient Sustain uses AI-driven automation, predictive insights, and self-healing workflows to break the cycle, turning IT operations from constant crisis mode into a resilient, proactive engine that sustains the business. They also discuss how Publicis Sapient is leveraging AI to address challenges in the healthcare sector. They put an importance on modernizing legacy systems while also emphasizing the concept of agentic AI.

Check out more about Sapient Sustain here: https://www.publicissapient.com/sapient-ai/sustain

• Publicis Sapient focuses on human-centered digital transformation in healthcare
• AI can accelerate product development and modernize legacy systems
• It's easy to confuse automation with simple elements of machine learning, which are progressively more deterministic
• Organizations must establish guardrails for AI implementation because of how powerful agentic AI can be
• Sapient Sustain helps healthcare companies manage and stabilize their applications
• The end-user experience is crucial in technology deployment
• AI can significantly reduce technical debt in healthcare organizations
• Healthcare leaders should look at the boring stuff and focus on practical AI applications
• Educate your workforce to embrace the future instead of fearing it

Umesh Shiknis is Executive Vice President and Global Chief Growth Officer at Publicis Sapient, a human-centered, product-led digital business transformation firm. He leads global growth and go-to-market strategy, scaling new buying centers, accelerating client impact, and driving transformational revenue across industries. Previously, Umesh held senior leadership roles at Capgemini, Infosys, and ISG. His current focus is on taking the Publicis Sapient AI product suite—Sapient Slingshot, Bodhi, and Sapient Sustain—to market, turning AI innovation into measurable, enterprise-wide outcomes.

In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits down with Michael Gao, Chief Executive Officer of Smarter Technology, to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping revenue cycle operations in healthcare. Together, they dig into Smarter Technology’s vision and the practical ways AI can help provider organizations better capture the full value of the care they deliver. Michael shares why the revenue cycle is overdue for improvement, how moving from physical to digital workflows can unlock meaningful gains, and what real-world ROI looks like when AI is applied thoughtfully. 

• Smarter Technology’s vision for using AI in healthcare
• Why the revenue cycle needs modernization
• Moving from manual and physical processes to digital workflows
• What ROI looks like when AI is applied to revenue cycle operations
• Keeping human oversight where it matters most
• Common documentation and workflow challenges Smarter Technology helps address
• Advice for CFOs considering AI solutions

Mike is CEO of Smarter Technologies. He co-founded SmarterDx after discovering that hospitals were leaving significant revenue and quality opportunities on the table while he was leading AI at New York-Presbyterian. Prior to SmarterDx, Mike was an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell and Medical Director for Transformation for New York-Presbyterian. He completed his BS at the University of California, Los Angeles, his MD at the University of Michigan, and his Internal Medicine Residency and Silverman Fellowship for Healthcare Innovation at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell.

About Leandro Boer:

Leandro Boer, MD, PhD, is a seasoned global biopharmaceutical executive and physician specializing in cardiology and cardiovascular pharmacology. Currently serving as Vice President of US Medical, General Medicines at Amgen, he leads medical strategy and execution across cardiovascular, bone, neuroscience, nephrology, and obesity therapeutic areas, overseeing a nationwide organization of over 100 professionals. With more than two decades of experience spanning the United States, Latin America, Canada, Africa, and the Middle East, Dr. Boer has built a distinguished career at leading companies such as Amgen, AstraZeneca, and Novartis.

His leadership has shaped global and regional initiatives in medical affairs, clinical development, real-world evidence generation, regulatory strategy, and implementation science. Clinically, his expertise covers resistant hypertension, type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart failure, chronic kidney disease, and hyperlipidemia. Known for combining scientific rigor with strategic vision, Dr. Boer has directed cross-functional teams supporting drug development, commercialization, and lifecycle management across multiple therapeutic areas.

A medical doctor trained in cardiology with a Ph.D. in cardiovascular pharmacology from Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Dr. Boer has consistently demonstrated a commitment to advancing evidence-based medicine, patient outcomes, and collaborative leadership within the healthcare ecosystem.

Things You’ll Learn:

• The foundation of innovation lies in focusing on what never changes—patients, healthcare providers, and equitable systems of care.
• Amgen’s precision medicine and data-driven strategies prevent “data waste” and ensure every insight contributes to patient outcomes.
• Machine learning tools like Atomic are accelerating clinical trials by predicting successful sites, leading to faster drug development.
• The company’s bold goal to reduce cardiovascular events by 50% by 2030 relies on partnerships, AI, and implementation science.
• Representation in clinical research and decentralized trials is crucial to ensuring equitable access and meaningful outcomes for all populations.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Leandro Boer on LinkedIn.
• Follow Amgen on LinkedIn and explore their website.

In this episode, host Sandy Vance is joined by Julie Frey, Vice President of Product Management at Wolters Kluwer, for a thoughtful conversation on how artificial intelligence is shaping clinical intelligence across healthcare. Together, they explore how AI is supporting the work organizations are already doing, and how Wolters Kluwer helps teams identify meaningful use cases and turn innovation into real value. From trusted, evidence-based solutions like UpToDate and Lexidrug to the evolving standards around safety, reliability, and trust, this conversation digs into what responsible AI looks like in practice. They also discuss the wide range of healthcare use cases and why organizations need to define their own standards as they move forward with AI adoption.

• Wolters Kluwer has a range of evidence-based solutions that enable better care, including UpToDate® and Lexidrug
• How AI has impacted the services that Wolters Kluwer delivers through its products
• Different types of use cases in healthcare
• How they set the standard of what is safe, reliable, and trusted
• When it comes to AI, organizations need to develop their own set of standards for accuracy and effectiveness
• The importance of prompt engineering

As the Head of Provider Product, Julie is a crucial support for healthcare providers incorporating market-leading clinical decision support and patient solution technologies, such as UpToDate®. She brings over a decade of experience in corporate and product strategy to her current role, having held various leadership positions within Wolters Kluwer.

Before joining the Health team, she worked in strategy and risk analysis for Red24, now a division of Gardaworld. Originally hailing from South Africa, Julie earned her MBA from IE University.

Julie approaches her role with the understanding that the clinical need for intuitive, personalized, visually compelling, and actionable workflows will only become more critical. She assists providers in meeting their highest-priority use cases.

Move beyond the hype in this episode as we explore how Agentic AI is actively reshaping clinical research by moving from theoretical concepts to real-world autonomous deployments. Tune in to discover how intelligent agents are accelerating trials today and exactly what this shift means for the future of your work.

In this episode, host Sandy Vance is behind the mic with Michelle Longmire, the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Medable. Together they dive into what Medable is actually building and why it matters. They break down real examples of trials happening now, the evolving role of Clinical Research Associates, and how ambient and agentic AI are taking on the repetitive work that slows teams down. 

• Medable’s mission and long-term vision for clinical research
• A pilot clinical trial Sandy participated in and what it revealed
• Real-world examples of clinical trials Medable is supporting today
• The evolving role of Clinical Research Associates in AI-enabled trials
• Key use cases where Medable delivers the most impact
• How ambient AI handles repetitive operational work
• Why humans do their best work when focused on complex, meaningful challenges
• Using generative and agentic AI in safe, deterministic ways
• Common misconceptions about the risks of generative AI
• Emerging clinical research use cases expected in 2026

As the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Medable, Dr. Michelle Longmire is mission-driven to accelerate the development of new therapies for disease. A Stanford-trained physician-scientist, Dr. Longmire witnessed firsthand the critical barriers to drug development – including the time and costs associated with clinical trial participation. She founded Medable to pioneer a new category of clinical trial technologies that remove traditional roadblocks to participation and radically accelerate the research process. Medable is now the industry leader in decentralized and direct-to-patient research, with the ability to serve patients in over 120 languages, 60 countries, and across all therapeutic areas. In addition to having raised over $500M in venture capital and driving Medable to an industry-leading position, Dr. Longmire has received recognition as a leading innovator and businesswoman, including being named as one of the 100 most creative people in business by Fast Company.