In January, StartUp Health launched the Alzheimer’s Moonshot with support from the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) and Gates Ventures. The Alzheimer’s Moonshot is an invitation to Health Transformers, Alzheimer’s funders, foundations, advocates, and innovators, as well as leading startups and research teams, to unite in pioneering comprehensive, collaborative approaches to Alzheimer’s disease. The Alzheimer’s Moonshot Community is powered by StartUp Health and our Health Transformer University, an entrepreneurial mastery program and lifelong learning community for ambitious founders and funders who are solving the biggest health challenges of our time. That brings us to our podcast guest this week. Phyllis Ferrell, DrPH, will serve as the Chief Impact Officer of the Alzheimer’s Moonshot and lead its Impact Board. Ferrell has three decades of related experience, most recently serving as the Global Head of Alzheimer’s and Neurodegeneration at Eli Lilly and Strategic Advisor to the Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative. The Alzheimer’s Moonshot Impact Board will also include representatives from the ADDF, Gates Ventures, and a diverse group of stakeholders from industry, clinical medicine, academia, investment and patient and caregiver communities. As we will discuss in the episode, shortly after Ferrell transferred from a marketing and sales role at Lilly to leading their Alzheimer’s division, her father was diagnosed with the devastating disease. She threw herself into the work and eventually became a leading voice in Alzheimer’s research and drug development. She’s served as a strategic advisor to multiple high-profile Alzheimer’s organizations, and now she’s marshaling her experience to lead StartUp Health’s Alzheimer’s Moonshot. We caught up with her to get a better understanding of where she sees this initiative going and why this is such a unique moment in time for Alzheimer’s innovation. Enjoy the episode and then learn more about StartUp Health’s Alzheimer’s Moonshot at startuphealth.com/alzheimers. Innovating in Alzheimer’s disease? Learn how you can join our Alzheimer’s Moonshot. Passionate about Type 1 diabetes? Learn how you can join our T1D Moonshot. Want more content like this? Sign up for StartUp Health Insider™ to get funding insights, news, and special updates delivered to your inbox. Innovators: Health Transformer University fuels your health moonshot Funders: Become a Health Moonshot Champion

Welcome back to StartUp Health NOW, the podcast where we hear directly from the entrepreneurs and innovators who are transforming health. Typically on this show we talk to founders of startups. We’re all about understanding what’s new and next in health, and that often means talking to the people who are in the early days of creating a product or business. Most early-stage startups – healthcare or otherwise – have one thing in common. They need money. It takes a long time to get a healthcare business profitable, and so founders need outside funds to get an idea off the ground, complete their research, or scale up. That brings us to this week's guest, David Panzirer, Trustee at the Helmsley Charitable Trust. To put it in simple startup terms, David is a funder. The Helmsley Charitable Trust is an $8 billion dollar philanthropy renowned for its work funding healthcare research and innovative programs. Of course David’s a lot more than a funder. He’s a father, for one thing, a fact that’s driven his work more than anything else. David’s also a firebrand and an instigator in an industry that often needs a little push in the right direction. The reason for our interview, which took place at a recent health tech event, is that the Helmsley Charitable Trust has been the anchor partner for StartUp Health’s Type 1 Diabetes Moonshot, and David has been instrumental in getting that effort off the ground. He’s been part of our T1D Impact Board and has met with founders on multiple occasions to give them invaluable feedback and advice. In this episode, we talk about the wild west of conversational AI, promising new T1D therapeutics, rural medicine, and why Helmsley has positioned itself as a high risk/high reward funder. Let’s get into it. Passionate about Type 1 diabetes? Contact us to learn how you can join our T1D Moonshot. Innovating in Alzheimer’s disease? Contact us to learn how you can join our Alzheimer’s Moonshot. Want more content like this? Sign up for StartUp Health Insider™ to get funding insights, news, and special updates delivered to your inbox. Innovators: Health Transformer University fuels your health moonshot Funders: Become a Health Moonshot Champion

This week, we're talking about gamification in healthcare. Gamification has been a popular buzzword in tech and in health, but it just means using elements we associate with games in non-game contexts. It means capitalizing on the motivations we find in games through things like progress updates and level-up badges to change behaviors and get us to do things that are going to be good for our health. Today on the show, we're talking to two founders who are gamifying the healthcare experience in two unique ways. The first conversation is with Raj Amin, CEO & Co-founder of Arcade Therapeutics, a company that has been in the StartUp Health community since TK. They are a science-first game studio developing games that act like medicine, focusing on mental health. We’ll hear exactly what they’re building and why clinical research is key to their approach. Then we’ll hear from Farhaneh Ahmadi, PhD, CEO & Co-founder of eddii, a company that is part of our T1D Moonshot. She and her team are using mobile gaming elements to help young people with their Type 1 diabetes management. Her company uses a character named eddii that talks to the user, tells them stories, and plays games with them – making it more relatable and more enjoyable to manage diabetes. Listen in to learn more about these innovative approaches to improving health.   Innovators: Health Transformer University fuels your health moonshot Funders: Become a Health Moonshot Champion Want more content like this? Sign up for StartUp Health Insider™ to get funding insights, news, and special updates delivered to your inbox. Innovating in Alzheimer's disease? Contact us to learn how you can join our Alzheimer's Moonshot. Passionate about Type 1 diabetes? Contact us to learn how you can join our T1D Moonshot. Looking to break down health barriers? Contact us to learn how you can join our Health Equity Moonshot.

Chuck Henderson, CEO of the American Diabetes Association (ADA), joins StartUp Health's Impact Board. They discuss transforming ADA, partnering for resources, and improving access for people with diabetes. The importance of balancing technology and business models in healthcare, advancements in diabetes research, and the need for leadership and collaboration are also highlighted.

Meet Jeff Glueck, CEO & Co-founder of Salvo Health, and Swathi Arulguppe, CEO & Founder at BetterMeal AI, as they discuss revolutionizing gut health, personalized care, and meal recommendations. They address the staffing shortages in healthcare, the importance of digital solutions, and the launch of a MASH program. Swathi Arogupe talks about improving gut health using blood tests, reversing chronic conditions, and expanding their enterprise.

Irem Rami, a former Fellow at StartUp Health, reflects on her early days at the company and their ambitious goal of supporting 1000 healthcare startups. She discusses the durability of the StartUp Health vision and offers advice for health innovators seeking funding in a challenging market. She also shares strategies for captivating investors and securing funding for early-stage health tech ideas.

The podcast discusses the issue of wasteful spending in healthcare and introduces two founders using AI to tackle the problem. They delve into the alarming amount of wasteful spending in healthcare, highlight examples of redundant care and unethical billing practices. The conversation focuses on how AI algorithms can identify and reduce wasteful spending, the role of audits and automating record review with AI.

Entrepreneurs and researchers are working to tackle Alzheimer's disease by using artificial intelligence to predict it earlier. They are also building digital platforms to empower community health workers and enhance senior care in communities.

This podcast explores the role of food as medicine in managing chronic diseases. It introduces two platforms, Yumlish and Edamam, which leverage nutritional information to improve health. They discuss the lack of nutrition guidance from doctors and the challenge of too much information online. The guests also highlight the need for tech-enabled solutions to address the shortage of dietitians. They emphasize the importance of clinical outcomes, engagement, trust, and culturally competent programs. Overall, the podcast showcases the next wave of tech-enabled nutrition.

According to some estimates, out of the HHS, nearly 50% of kids have experienced some kind of mental health challenge. And not just anxiety about an upcoming test or depression over a breakup, but persistent feelings that interfere with daily activities. Health innovation companies have been on the case for years, including many from the StartUp Health community. They're tackling the science – like what's the best way to treat mental health challenges in teens – and they're also tackling engagement. You can have the best tools in the world after all, but if a young person doesn't want to get help, it'll never go anywhere. Enter Katherine Grill, PhD, CEO & Co-founder of Neolth, one of our guests on this podcast episode. She's taken her doctorate in behavioral neuroscience and her experience as a clinician, combined with hundreds of interviews with young people, in order to build a platform that meets kids where they're at – offering self-guided mental health support in a variety of forms and flavors. Joining the podcast with us is former pro basketball player, Kenny Thomas. After spending 11 seasons in the NBA, Thomas became an entrepreneur and community advocate, with a focus on youth experiencing financial hardship via his own foundation. And now he's throwing his influence behind Neolth in order to help young people, particularly those involved in sports, gain access to mental health services. On this StartUp Health NOW episode, we’ll cover the ins and outs of the Neolth platform as well as some of Dr. Grill’s strategy behind working with a brand ambassador, which is somewhat unique in the world of early-stage health startups. Let's get into it. Innovators: Health Transformer University fuels your health moonshot Funders: Become a Health Moonshot Champion Want more content like this? You can subscribe to the podcast as well as other health innovation updates at startuphealth.com/content. Sign up for StartUp Health Insider™ to get funding insights, news, and special updates delivered to your inbox. Looking to break down health barriers? If you’re an entrepreneur or investor, contact us to learn how you can join our Health Equity Moonshot. Passionate about Type 1 diabetes? If you’re an entrepreneur or investor, contact us to learn how you can join our T1D Moonshot.