The Health Technology Podcast

Connor Landgraf founded Eko while undergraduate studying bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley, with the goal of improving monitoring for cardiovascular and pulmonary disease patients through machine learning non-invasive sensors. Eko became the youngest team to receive FDA clearance for a medical device, and Eko technology is used today by more than 4,000 hospitals, health systems, clinics, and practices for cardiac and pulmonary screening. Since its founding, Eko has built the world’s largest database for heart sounds and has successfully put the ears of a trained cardiologist in any clinician’s stethoscope. Connor Landgraf has been listed as a Forbes 30 under 30. We discussed the topic of recognizing an opportunity for growth in an industry, persevering through the challenges of finding early investors, and holding onto the core of the company’s mission.

Julia Hu is the CEO and Co-Founder of Lark Health, a chronic disease prevention and management platform that uses a cognitive behavioral therapy framework, conversational AI, and connected devices to help people stay healthy and in control of their conditions. Under Julia’s leadership, Lark's Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), which is Fully Recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Behavioral Health Program, Diabetes Care Program, and Hypertension Program have served nearly 2 million members, and have demonstrated clinically validated outcomes.

Sharon Vosmek is CEO of Astia and Managing Director of Astia Fund. Astia, which just closed a $100 million early-stage fund to address gender disparities in the funding space, is a global organization that works to level the playing field for startups founded and led by women. A renowned speaker, Ms. Vosmek has spoken at the United Nations and many universities about building inclusive ecosystems in entrepreneurship. Her approach, and Astia's, is to lead by example. Their mission is to create lasting change in the venture capital sphere by investing in companies with women in positions of power.    

SC Moatti, Managing Partner, Mighty Capital SC Moatti is the managing partner of Mighty Capital, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, and Products That Count, one of the largest and undoubtedly the most influential network of product managers in the world. Previously, she built products that billions of people use at Facebook, Nokia and Electronic Arts. Andrew Chen, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, called SC “a genius at making mobile products people love.” For more information, visit Mighty Capital.

Maria Sainz, President and CEO, AEGEA Medical Maria has over 25 years' experience in health technology and commercialization of health products and therapies. Prior to joining AEGEA (recently acquired by CooperSurgical), Maria served in chief executive roles at other medtech companies such as Cardiokinetix and Concentric Medical. Early in her career, Maria was a teacher. In this episode, we discuss how teaching helped her become a better leader and team manager. Her secret to creating a great team is cohesiveness through transparency and openness.

Glen Tullman, Managing Partner, 7wireVentures Glen Tullman is the Founder and former Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Livongo Health, the first at-scale consumer digital health company to truly empower people with chronic conditions to live better and healthier lives using data science. In his final year, Tullman led Livongo through the largest consumer digital health Initial Public Offering in history, a secondary offering, a convertible debt offering that raised over $550 million, and the industry’s largest merger to date between Livongo and Teladoc Health, valuing Livongo at $18.5 billion and beginning a new era of consumer centric virtual care. A visionary leader and entrepreneur, Tullman previously ran two other public companies that changed the way health care is delivered. During his time as Chief Executive Officer of Allscripts, the Company was the leading provider of electronic prescribing, practice management, and electronic health records. Glen led Allscripts IPO and Secondary offerings. Prior to Allscripts, he was Chief Executive Officer of Enterprise Systems, which he also took public and then sold to McKesson/HBOC. Before entering healthcare, Tullman served as President and COO of CCC Information Systems, a provider of computerized systems for the property and casualty insurance sector. Tullman is one of two Founding Partners at 7wireVentures, one of the highest returning venture capital funds in Illinois. He is the author of On Our Terms: Empowering the New Health Consumer, in which he proposes new solutions to address the chronic-condition epidemic facing our country. Glen is dedicated to finding a cure for diabetes and other chronic conditions—and to keeping people healthy until these cures are found. A strong proponent of philanthropy, he was honored in 2019 with a Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award for his career focused on improving the safety, empathy, and efficiency of our healthcare system. He also serves as a Chancellor to the International Board of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and as a Board Member of the American Diabetes Association. Tullman has three amazing children that inspire him every day.

Harith Rajagopalan, M.D., Ph.D., Co-Founder & CEO, Fractyl Dr. Harith Rajagopalan is co-founder and CEO of Fractyl, having started the company while serving as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at General Catalyst Partners. Prior to founding Fractyl, Harith was an academic cardiologist and physician-scientist. He received his B.S. in chemistry from Stanford University and went on to obtain M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. At Johns Hopkins, Harith did groundbreaking and award-winning research on intestinal cancers that was published in top medical journals, including Nature and Science. After medical school, Harith trained in internal medicine and clinical cardiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and completed a research fellowship at Harvard Medical School.   

Jon Bloom, MD, CEO & Co-Founder, Podimetrics Dr. Jon Bloom is a board-certified physician and entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience in technology development, patient monitoring, biomedical research, and health care delivery. He is the chief executive officer of Podimetrics, a virtual care management company dedicated to preventing diabetic amputations, one of the most debilitating and costly complications of diabetes. Dr. Bloom was inspired to create a solution to help prevent diabetic foot complications while practicing anesthesia. He frequently treated patients with diabetes who required foot amputations, and knew there had to be a less drastic way to manage common complications of that disease. Dr. Bloom co-founded Podimetrics in 2011 while a student at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Podimetrics combines an FDA-cleared SmartMat™ with wraparound care management to spot early warning signs weeks before they usually would present clinically. By combining cutting-edge technology with best-in-class care management, Podimetrics earns high engagement rates from patients and achieves unparalleled outcomes - keeping vulnerable patients healthy at home and saving limbs, lives, and money. Dr. Bloom served as a Clinical Assistant Professor and staff anesthesiologist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He also served as the Director of Global Medical Affairs for Covidien's Respiratory and Monitoring Solutions division in Boulder, Colorado. Dr. Bloom is a diplomate of the American Board of Anesthesiology, completing residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He has co-authored more than 20 peer-reviewed publications with a primary focus on health care economics and perioperative complications. Prior to his career in medicine Dr. Bloom studied cytochrome P450 drug metabolism at The Scripps Research Institute. 

Matt Abrahams, Co-Founder and Principal, Bold Echo Communications Matt Abrahams is a passionate, collaborative and innovative educator and coach. He teaches Effective Virtual Communication and Essentials of Strategic Communication at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business.   Matt is also Co-Founder and Principal at Bold Echo Communications Solutions, a presentation and communication skills company based in Silicon Valley that helps people improve their presentation skills.  Matt published the third edition of his book Speaking Up Without Freaking Out, a book written to help the millions of people who wish to present in a more confident and compelling way. He also hosts the GSB podcast called Think Fast Talk Smart. And he curates the NoFreakingSpeaking.com website.

Crystal Evuleocha, CEO & Founder, Kiira Health Crystal Evuleocha is Co-Founder and CEO of Kiira Health, a digital health company on a mission to increase access to women’s health resources for young women. Kiira’s first product is a virtual women’s health clinic and advanced AI care coordinator for colleges and universities. Crystal is a serial entrepreneur turned healthtech professional with over 6 years of project management, business development, and legal expertise in healthcare regulation and administration. Crystal has a passion for women’s health equity and creating safe spaces for young women to seek professional medical advice. Crystal has won numerous awards including the 2019 Afrotech Cup and most recently the Google for Startups Audience Choice Awards at Harvard Business School's 2020 Black New Ventures Competition.