"Second Opinion" with Christina Farr, Ash Zenooz MD & Luba Greenwood JD

If you’re obsessed with health-tech and life sciences, this is the podcast for you. Second Opinion doesn't hold back. Join Luba Greenwood, Christina Farr, and Ash Zenooz as they bring influential entrepreneurs, experts and investors into the ring for candid conversations at the frontlines of healthcare and digital health every week. Healthcare, health-tech and life sciences in particular, is hard to navigate even for the most seasoned professionals. Unpacking the latest technological, medical, and scientific advances, regulatory hurdles, global economic shifts, and industry and investment trends, requires a powerful combination of hosts like us.We aim to sift through the noise and help you navigate what’s really going on in healthcare and how to spot the next win. This season, we’re tackling meaty topics like biosecurity, the latest in telemedicine, why patient acquisition is so hard, and the pros and cons of VC versus private equity in funding startups in the healthtech space.Christina Farr is a former investigative journalist for CNBC — during her tenure as a reporter, she broke some big health-tech stories ranging from Amazon’s first moves into the sector to Apple’s secretive acquisitions. Now Christina is the author at Second Opinion, a newsletter with +20K subscribers. Joining Christina are co-hosts Luba Greenwood, JD — former CEO of Kojin Therapeutics and managing partner at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute — and Ash Zenooz, MD — former CEO of Commure and partner at Luxeda Holdings. Second Opinion is is a part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: turpentine.co

Latest episodes

Sep 25, 2024 • 56min

AI's role in diagnosing disease -- with Dr. Isaac Kohane of Harvard Medical School

In this episode of the Second Opinion Podcast, Christina Farr, Ash Zenooz, and Luba Greenwood engage in a candid conversation with Dr. Isaac (Zak) Kohane, a renowned AI expert and chair at Harvard Medical School's Department of Biomedical Informatics. Zak expresses his optimism about AI in healthcare, sharing personal anecdotes to illustrate how tools like ChatGPT can enhance patient care by providing detailed and understandable information, and highlights AI's potential to address healthcare system gaps by complementing human doctors. They explored regulatory issues, data privacy concerns, and the importance of patient control over their health data, while emphasizing the need for a balanced approach that prioritizes patient care and ethical guidelines.—SPONSORS: 👩‍⚕️ Hot flashes, insomnia, brain fog? You don't have to accept these as just another part of aging. Midi Health is the virtual care clinic for women navigating midlife hormonal transition, offering FDA-approved medications, supplements and lifestyle coaching - all covered by insurance. Visit https://www.joinmidi.com/ to book your virtual visit today.🩺 AWELL: Transform your healthcare operations with Awell! Say goodbye to manual work and Excel hell. Awell's CareOps orchestration platform helps design, implement, and improve care flows in days. Trusted by Astrana Health, Commons Clinic, and Better Health, Awell automates processes for faster care model improvements in 2 days or less. Visit awellhealth.com and mention Second Opinion for a free bootcamp.—LINKS: Department of Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School: https://dbmi.hms.harvard.edu/ NEJM AI, a journal from the publishers of the New England Journal of Medicine: https://www.nejm.org/ The AI Revolution in Medicine: GPT-4 and Beyond: https://www.amazon.com/AI-Revolution-Medicine-GPT-4-Beyond-ebook/dp/B0BXNVM6FCAMIE: A research AI system for diagnostic medical reasoning and conversations: https://research.google/blog/amie-a-research-ai-system-for-diagnostic-medical-reasoning-and-conversations/ Medical Artificial Intelligence and Human Values: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra2214183 Transformer: A Novel Neural Network Architecture for Language Understanding: https://research.google/blog/transformer-a-novel-neural-network-architecture-for-language-understanding/ Subscribe to Second Opinion Newsletter: https://secondopinion.media/ —FOLLOW:https://www.linkedin.com/in/isaac-kohane-729b03 https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinafarr/https://www.linkedin.com/in/lubagreenwood/https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashzenooz/—TIMESTAMPS:(00:00) Intro(02:24) Skepticism in advanced technology(04:56) AI in Medicine: Personal Anecdotes(07:29) Challenges in healthcare access(08:26) The role of ai in patient empowerment(11:26) Human clinicians vs. AI(19:45) Sponsor: Awell(20:57) Privacy concerns with AI(25:13) HIPAA compliance and medical data(26:19) Bias and alignment in AI models(29:00) The role of AI in medical decision making(33:13) Challenges in AI regulation(38:21) The future of AI in healthcare(43:56) Wrap(45:05) The Debrief

Sep 18, 2024 • 35min

Selling into the employer is harder than it's ever been with Included Health's Owen Tripp

In this episode of Second Opinion, hosts Christina Farr, Ash Zenooz, and Luba Greenwood sit down with Owen Tripp, the CEO of Included Health. They discuss digital health models, the challenges and opportunities in selling directly to employers, growing digital health companies, and the potential return to a more personalized, concierge-style primary care model to actually make a difference in people's health.—RECOMMENDED PODCAST:🎙️ This Won't Last - Eavesdrop on Keith Rabois, Kevin Ryan, Logan Bartlett, and Zach Weinberg's monthly backchannel. They unpack their hottest takes on the future of tech, business, venture, investing, and politics.Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1765665937Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2HwSNeVLL1MXy0RjFPyOSzYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWontLastpodcast—SPONSORS: 👩‍⚕️ Hot flashes, insomnia, brain fog? You don't have to accept these as just another part of aging. Midi Health is the virtual care clinic for women navigating midlife hormonal transition, offering FDA-approved medications, supplements and lifestyle coaching - all covered by insurance. Visit https://www.joinmidi.com/ to book your virtual visit today.🩺 AWELL. Transform your healthcare operations with Awell! Say goodbye to manual work and Excel hell. Awell's CareOps orchestration platform helps design, implement, and improve care flows in days. Trusted by Astrana Health, Commons Clinic, and Better Health, Awell automates processes for faster care model improvements in 2 days or less. Visit https://awellhealth.com and mention Second Opinion for a free bootcamp.—LINKS: Subscribe to Second Opinion Newsletter: https://secondopinion.media/ Thinking of selling into the employer? You probably shouldn't: https://secondopinion.media/p/thinking-of-selling-into-the-employer The thing that is breaking digital health is marketing: https://secondopinion.media/p/the-thing-that-is-breaking-digital —FOLLOW:https://www.linkedin.com/in/owenwtripp/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinafarr/https://www.linkedin.com/in/lubagreenwood/https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashzenooz/—TIMESTAMPS:(00:00) Intro(01:16) Owen Tripp's journey in digital health(02:04) Challenges in healthcare vs. other sectors(03:29) Building a business model in healthcare(05:07) Grand Rounds: from concept to success(08:07) The role of AI in healthcare(13:48) Sponsor: Awell(14:50) Growth strategies in digital health(17:33) Selling digital health solutions to employers(19:10) Cancer care and digital health(22:22) Navigating employer sales(26:12) Utilization and awareness of digital health services(35:01) The future of digital health and primary care(38:57) The Debrief

Aug 21, 2024 • 39min

Raising from VC and PE in Health Tech with Meg FitzGerald of Grey Ghost Capital

Meg FitzGerald, a nurse turned private equity investor at Grey Ghost Capital, dives deep into the healthcare investment landscape. She discusses the slowdown in private equity deals driven by high interest rates and how venture capital is merging with private equity in health tech. FitzGerald emphasizes the importance of clinical expertise in making investment decisions and shares insights on navigating the digital health market. She also provides strategies for healthcare professionals looking to break into this competitive field.

Aug 14, 2024 • 43min

Big tech's healthcare hurdles with Sumit Nagpal, CEO of Cherish

In this eye-opening episode, Christina Farr and Luba Greenwood dive deep into the challenges big tech faces in healthcare with serial entrepreneur and Cherish CEO Sumit Nagpal. Drawing from his experience founding five companies over the past 25 years and his time working with Steve Jobs at NeXT, Nagpal offers unique insights into why tech giants struggle to gain traction in the medical world. They discuss: Apple's healthcare ambitions, the untapped potential of hardware in health tech, the importance of understanding healthcare business models, and how lessons from the diagnostics industry could shape the future of digital health innovation.—SPONSORS: 👩‍⚕️ Hot flashes, insomnia, brain fog? You don't have to accept these as just another part of aging. Midi Health is the virtual care clinic for women navigating midlife hormonal transition, offering FDA-approved medications, supplements and lifestyle coaching - all covered by insurance. Visit https://www.joinmidi.com/ to book your virtual visit today.🩺 AWELL. Transform your healthcare operations with Awell! Say goodbye to manual work and Excel hell. Awell's CareOps orchestration platform helps design, implement, and improve care flows in days. Trusted by Astrana Health, Commons Clinic, and Better Health, Awell automates processes for faster care model improvements in 2 days or less. Visit awellhealth.com and mention Second Opinion for a free bootcamp.—LINKS: Cherish Health: https://www.cherishhealth.com/Subscribe to Second Opinion Newsletter: https://secondopinion.media/ —FOLLOW:Sumit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sumitknagpal/Christina https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinafarr/Luba https://www.linkedin.com/in/lubagreenwood/Ash https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashzenooz/—RECOMMENDED PODCAST: TURPENTINE VC🎙️ This Won't Last - Eavesdrop on Keith Rabois, Kevin Ryan, Logan Bartlett, and Zach Weinberg's monthly backchannel. They unpack their hottest takes on the future of tech, business, venture, investing, and politics.Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1765665937Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2HwSNeVLL1MXy0RjFPyOSzYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWontLastpodcast—TIMESTAMPS:(00:00) Intro(02:04) Why big tech fails in healthcare(05:00) Has Apple succeeded in becoming a healthcare company?(08:44) Finding adjacencies(10:11) Billionaires' health concerns driving tech investments(14:19) Sponsor: Awell(15:19) Revolving door of healthcare leaders in tech(17:14) Culture clash in tech-healthcare partnerships(19:26) NVIDIA's successful approach to healthcare(20:21) Waystar IPO(24:10) Limited options for health tech companies(26:19) Diagnostics industry parallels with digital health(28:22) Aligning Incentives(31:54) "Follow the Money" approach to healthcare solutions(34:41) The Debrief

Aug 7, 2024 • 40min

Breaking down biotech with Daphne Zohar: VC dynamics, drug development, and the Biosecure Act

Daphne Zohar, Founder and CEO of Seaport Therapeutics, shares her deep insights into the biotech landscape. She discusses the complex challenges of drug development, particularly in psychiatric treatments, while shedding light on high failure rates and funding obstacles. Daphne explores the intersection of tech and biotech investment, emphasizing the regulatory hurdles and the implications of the Biosecure Act on innovation. She advocates for greater transparency in the industry and the necessity of political support to drive progress in patient care.

Jul 31, 2024 • 43min

Whose job is it to prevent chronic disease? with Dr. Robin Berzin, Founder & CEO of Parsley Health

On the first episode of Second Opinion, Christina Farr, Ash Zenooz, and Luba Greenwood chat with Dr. Robin Berzin, the Founder & CEO of Parsley Health. Robin shares her journey from being a physician to founding Parsley Health, a digital health company that uses root cause medicine to drive powerful outcomes for patients with complex health needs. She also talks about how breakthroughs in data and AI are helping redefine primary care with data-driven insights. They explore crucial healthcare questions like "Whose job is it to prevent chronic disease?" and discuss whether digital health can deliver on prevention, treatment, and longevity. They reflect on the shortcomings of primary care, the impact of the standard American diet on health, the latest studies on cortisol, and the importance of a holistic approach to medicine. Thank you to our sponsor Awell, the leading CareOps platform.—SPONSORS: 👩‍⚕️ Hot flashes, insomnia, brain fog? You don't have to accept these as just another part of aging. Midi Health is the virtual care clinic for women navigating midlife hormonal transition, offering FDA-approved medications, supplements and lifestyle coaching - all covered by insurance. Visit https://www.joinmidi.com/ to book your virtual visit today.🩺 AWELL. Transform your healthcare operations with Awell! Say goodbye to manual work and Excel hell. Awell's CareOps orchestration platform helps design, implement, and improve care flows in days. Trusted by Astrana Health, Commons Clinic, and Better Health, Awell automates processes for faster care model improvements in 2 days or less. Visit awellhealth.com and mention Second Opinion for a free bootcamp.—LINKS:Subscribe to Robin’s Newsletter: https://robinberzinmd.com/ Subscribe to Parsley Health Newsletter: https://www.parsleyhealth.com/blog/category/news/ Parsley Health: https://www.parsleyhealth.com ARTICLES MENTIONED:Health care's "churn" problem: https://secondopinion.media/p/health-cares-churn-problem How to balance cortisol levels to increase energy and lose weight: https://robinberzinmd.com/how-to-balance-cortisol-levels-to-increase-energy-and-lose-weight/ A Lot of What You’ve Heard About Cortisol Is Wrong: https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/cortisol-stress-hormone-adrenal-fatigue-02aab49a —FOLLOW:https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-berzin-md/https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinafarr/https://www.linkedin.com/in/lubagreenwood/https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashzenooz/Subscribe to Second Opinion Newsletter: https://secondopinion.media/ —TIMESTAMPS:(00:00) Intro(02:30) Robin Berzin's Journey: From Physician to CEO of Parsley Health(07:11) Functional Medicine (aka Root Cause Medicine) and Parsley Health(09:31) Challenges in Traditional Healthcare(11:06) The Role of AI and Data in Healthcare(14:34) Whose Job Is It To Prevent Chronic Disease?(21:19) SPONSOR: Awell Health(22:22) Healthcare’s “Churn” Problem, Insurance and Healthcare Costs(27:57) Partnering with Insurance Companies(30:43) How Diet and Lifestyle Impact Health(34:34) The Role of Cortisol in the Body(36:32) WrapThis podcast is part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: turpentine.co

Jun 17, 2024 • 1min

Introducing Second Opinion

Second Opinion doesn't hold back. Join Christina Farr, Ash Zenooz, Luba Greenwood, as they bring influential entrepreneurs, experts and investors into the ring for candid conversations at the frontlines of healthcare and digital health every week. Episode 1 with Robin Berzin, CEO of Parsley Health, will be available starting on July 31, 2024. Subscribe to Second Opinion wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more at https://www.podpage.com/secondopinion/Til then, meet your hosts: Christina Farr draws on a decade of experience covering the industry as a reporter at CNBC, Fast Company and Reuters, as well as an investor at OMERS Ventures. During her tenure as a reporter, she broke some big health-tech stories ranging from Amazon’s first moves into the sector to Apple’s secretive acquisitions. Luba Greenwood, JD is a veteran biotech CEO and investor. She is the managing partner and founder of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute venture fund and has served as CEO and Chair of multiple companies including Kojin. She has led over $10b in deals and served in leadership roles at large healthcare and tech companies, including Roche and Google. She is a thought leader in the industry and senior lecturer at Harvard. Ash Zenooz, MD — former CEO of Commure and partner at Luxeda Holdings. As former CEO of Commure, she drove over 550% ARR growth and led a merger. Previously, she grew Salesforce's global health and life sciences unit to $2.5b ARR. Ash also served as Chief Medical Officer at the VA, overseeing an $80B portfolio and leading telehealth and precision medicine reforms. This season, we’re tackling meaty topics like biosecurity, the latest in telemedicine, why patient acquisition is so hard, and the pros and cons of VC versus private equity in funding startups in the healthtech space.

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts

Save insights instantly, chat with episodes, and build lasting knowledge - all powered by AI.