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Digital Health Review : Conversations with a Black Health Tech Nerd

Digital Health Review : Conversations with a Black Health Tech Nerd

By Digital Health Review

If you want to better understand what's going on with healthcare, Digital Health Review is the podcast that brings relevancy into the health technology conversation.

Digital Health Review presents stories around health technology, as well as actionable advice and news at the intersection of digital health, public health and health equity.

Hosted by Blair Hirst (@BlairSHirst), an entrepreneur, self-professed black health tech nerd and product builder at some of the world's most innovative hospitals, AI and health tech startups.
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Starting as a digital pharmacy for birth control then expanding to telehealth and more: with Dr. Sophia Yen of Pandia Health

Digital Health Review : Conversations with a Black Health Tech NerdAug 12, 2022

00:00
21:45
What is a services company vs a digital health product business : with Jeremy Schwach of Hummingbird Healthcare

What is a services company vs a digital health product business : with Jeremy Schwach of Hummingbird Healthcare

Our guest today is Jeremy Schwach founder of BlueTree Network (acq. by Tegria) and Hummingbird Health, an innovative Patient Access as a Service (PaaS) company.

Jeremy is proven two time founder, starting his career at Epic and Northwell Health and launching subsequent businesses after spending years in the trenches.

In this episode, we discuss the differences between being a digital health product company versus a services company, why many "AI" companies on the market are secretly service businesses and how a company decides to capitalizes will ultimately determine what kind of model they can sustain.



Episode sponsored by: PolicyMap , the data platform that let's you easily measure inequities on multidimensions to understand the impact of health disease and solutions.
Mar 04, 202431:41
Policy in health tech : with Orriel Richardson of Morgan Health

Policy in health tech : with Orriel Richardson of Morgan Health

Our guest today is Orriel Richardson, VP of Health Equity & Policy at Morgan Health, of JPMorgan. Orriel is an attorney, mediator, and health care law/policy expert. Orriel's tenured career encompasses solving complex governmental issues within the Department of Health Care Finance, Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and as Health Counsel to the US Congress Committee on Ways and Means. Orriel holds multiple degrees from Howard University, Tulane University, and George Washington Law.  In this episode, we discuss why policy expertise is so valuable in tech, under utilized ways to affect health tech policy, the decline in DEI investment, and the power struggle of private capital dictating health innovation. Episode sponsored by: PolicyMap , the data platform that let's you easily measure inequities on multidimensions to understand the impact of health disease and solutions.
Jan 29, 202426:15
Building with community supports regulatory strategies and user-centered data privacy: with Cindy Adam of Choix Health

Building with community supports regulatory strategies and user-centered data privacy: with Cindy Adam of Choix Health

In this episode we discuss provider-led entrepreneurship, the impact of Roe v Wade on women’s health, building around regulatory minefields and practices to improve data privacy.


Cindy Adam, is the CEO and co-founder of Choix Health (pronounced "choice") Health. Choix Health is a venture backed telemedicine clinic that provides abortion care - as well as other reproductive & sexual healthcare services like emergency contraception & birth control.


Dec 19, 202321:15
The market advantages of Social Determinant of Health Data : with Maggie McCullough of PolicyMap

The market advantages of Social Determinant of Health Data : with Maggie McCullough of PolicyMap

This episode, we speak with Maggie McCullough, on how her organization PolicyMap has developed a platform that leverages social determinant of health (SDOH) data for better community insight. We discuss how SDOH data can be used to prevent ER visits of pediatric asthma attacks, measure inequities to understand the impact of health disease and solutions, develop synthetic populations, propel go-to-market advantages and the pros/cons of using open source data in AI models.


Maggie’s career in City, State and Federal government fueled her passion for making information easy-to-understand and actionable. That passion, along with an amazing team, enabled her to conceive of and launch PolicyMap in 2008. Maggie has a degree in Economics from St. Joseph’s University and a Master’s in Governmental Administration from the University of Pennsylvania.

Nov 28, 202325:01
How to build equitable principles within digital health: with Deonta Wortham of RockHealth.org

How to build equitable principles within digital health: with Deonta Wortham of RockHealth.org

This episode, we speak with Deonta Wortham, on how his organization RockHealth.org supports digital health innovators. RockHealth.org is ensuring that equitable principles are embedded in health technology by building the leadership, resource and community infrastructure in the ecosystem.

Deonta Wortham is Chief of Staff and Head of Strategy at RockHealth.org, where  he leads the strategic direction and integration of RockHealth.org’s  impact and organizational activities in collaboration with the  organization’s CEO, Board, Initiative Leads, and team members. Deonta  previously held portfolio investing, advisory, and field leadership  positions at New Profit, a national venture philanthropy fund. Academic  research and accelerator management positions at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. He has also served as a featured contributor  to +Acumen, has published research in the Stanford Social Innovation  Review, was a 2022 Aspen Ideas Health Fellow, and is an Advisory  Committee Member to Impala, a nonprofit intelligence platform. Deonta is  a graduate of Manhattan College, where he received a B.A. in  International Relations with minors in Economics and Philosophy.

Nov 10, 202221:33
Sextech as the future of the consumer pleasure industry: with Lex Gillion of Modality Group

Sextech as the future of the consumer pleasure industry: with Lex Gillion of Modality Group

This episode, we speak with Lex Gillion, to better understand the sextech industry and why building in this industry creates unique challenges for founders. Lex is the CEO of Modality Group, a sextech intelligence firm unearthing insights around consumer pleasure. By building the data infrastructure the industry needs, Modality is giving the sex product industry the tools to innovate.

Prior to founding Modality, Lex lived in Asia for almost seven years. She is currently based in Berlin, Germany, where she splits her time between running Modality and working at blockchain infrastructure company Parity Technologies.

Sep 19, 202220:30
What does building cultural competency look like? : with Erik Cardenas of Zocalo Health

What does building cultural competency look like? : with Erik Cardenas of Zocalo Health

In this episode, we sit down with Erik Cardenas, co-founder of Zocalo Health. Zócalo Health is a virtual family medicine service designed for the  Latino patient. Zocalo remove barriers to healthcare by offering same-day appointments and providing care based on building relationships rather than completing transactions. At the core of this care model is a focus on prevention, primary care, behavioral health, and traditional practices that work together-in  relationship- to support our member’s wellness.

This conversation is a listening tour and gets personal as we listen to Erik unravel his first experiences in the healthcare system, his 20+ year career in health technology and the origin story of building Zocalo Health's in a culturally competent way. 

Now available in California, visit zocalo.health!

Sep 10, 202220:07
Privacy applied to healthcare : with Norman Shamas of Google

Privacy applied to healthcare : with Norman Shamas of Google

In this episode, we spoke with Norman Shamas, Privacy Lead at Google. Our conversation encompassed a rant on what privacy and security can mean for marginalized groups, the downsides of our current privacy systems and what implications are there when patient data is handled by many parties and exchanged between multiple sources.

Aug 22, 202225:26
Starting as a digital pharmacy for birth control then expanding to telehealth and more: with Dr. Sophia Yen of Pandia Health

Starting as a digital pharmacy for birth control then expanding to telehealth and more: with Dr. Sophia Yen of Pandia Health

Dr. Sophia Yen is the founder of Pandia Health. Pandia Health makes women’s lives easier by providing a one-stop shop for recurring medications, starting with birth control. From affordable telehealth to prescription fulfillment and medicine delivery, Pandia Health is building the Online Health Brand Women Trust.

In this episode, we talk about the inner workings of building a digital pharmacy around birth control, encouraging birth control tourism to improve access, navigating state by state laws and the burden on clinicians post Roe v Wade.


Aug 12, 202221:45
Measuring digital health impact on the public's health: with Sara Chokshi, DrPH of HITLAB (Part 2)

Measuring digital health impact on the public's health: with Sara Chokshi, DrPH of HITLAB (Part 2)

In this episode, I continue the conversation with Dr. Sara Chokshi on how we can measure the impact of digital care tools on public health at large. We discuss opportunities to create frameworks as building blocks for startups and how we can improve the research infrastructure to allow for iterative and agile design.

Aug 06, 202217:08
Consumer trust is also a fight for providers: with Sara Chokshi, DrPH of HITLAB (Part 1)

Consumer trust is also a fight for providers: with Sara Chokshi, DrPH of HITLAB (Part 1)

Consumer trust is elusive and highly sought after but are we looking at it the wrong way? Clinical validation has been one approach to gain consumer trust but what other areas are we missing? In this episode we discuss facets of consumer trust and what we are truly building for.

Our guest today Sara Chokshi, DrPH. Sara is a health services delivery researcher and digital health strategist  with expertise in health informatics, user-centered design and  implementation  science currently serving as the Director of Research at HITLAB. She is committed to improving the experience of patients and clinicians through the creation, evaluation and implementation of novel, evidence-based digital health solutions.

Jul 24, 202222:15
Women's health matters : with Mitzi Krockover of Golden Seeds and Beyond the Paper Gown Podcast

Women's health matters : with Mitzi Krockover of Golden Seeds and Beyond the Paper Gown Podcast

There has been a tremendous effort in digital health put towards women's health. With the overturning of Roe v Wade, what now? Where will women's health and healthcare in general go from here?


Our guest today is Mitzi Krockover, M.D., a leader in the area of women’s health and women’s issues through her work in investment, consulting, media and entrepreneurship. As CEO and founder of Woman Centered, LLC, she launched the Beyond the Paper Gown podcast, which aims to inform, inspire and engage women to achieve optimal health. She is a Partner at SSB Solutions, a health care management consulting, development and investment firm, where she focuses on women’s health services. She is also a Managing Director of Golden Seeds, an angel investment  organization dedicated to funding early-stage women-led companies; she serves as co-chair of the Golden Seeds Health Care Sector Group and is a founding member and co-leader of the Arizona Chapter of Golden Seeds.


Attend the upcoming Aftershock Aftershocks: Unexpected Consequences of the Roe v Wade Decision:

https://www.beyondthepapergown.com/event-details/aftershocks-unexpected-consequences-of-the-roe-v-wade-decision

Jun 26, 202218:48
Patient centricity translates into improved patient engagement: with Kavitha Gnanasambandan of Blooming Health

Patient centricity translates into improved patient engagement: with Kavitha Gnanasambandan of Blooming Health

80% of health outcomes are driven by non-medical events. Yet, there's still a question of whether building for digital health equity is not only the right thing to do but also profitable. 

Our guest today is Kavitha Gnanasambandan, Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Blooming Health. In this episode we discuss patient centricity in age tech - how it can empower our elders to age on their own terms and improve outcomes of value.

May 23, 202229:49
Data access is an act of health equity: with Estelle Giraud of Trellis Health

Data access is an act of health equity: with Estelle Giraud of Trellis Health

Health data has tremendous value for those who have access to it. In fact, it is estimated that a medical record with genetic information is worth $6500. Today, most of that value is captured by large industry leading companies and their investors. But where does that leave consumers who provide the data? And what benefits can consumers get from having equal access to their own information?

In this episode we sit down with Estelle Giraud, Co-Founder of Trellis Health, to discuss consumer health data and how having access to your data is an act of health equity.

May 03, 202226:23
Understanding and solving for the caregiver's needs: with Melissa Miller

Understanding and solving for the caregiver's needs: with Melissa Miller

There is so much content and product out there for the healthcare patient, but what about the caregiver?

In this episode, we speak with Melissa Miller who has worked as a certified nurse for 15+ years and is now a spousal caregiver and toddler mom trying to balance it all. The goal of this episode is to discover the story behind caregivers, their biggest needs and if technology could be used to help them in their journey.


May 03, 202220:44
Effects of healthcare consumerization and Web3 on Telehealth: with Sid Jawahar of Swiftarc Ventures

Effects of healthcare consumerization and Web3 on Telehealth: with Sid Jawahar of Swiftarc Ventures

What do the growing effects of healthcare consumerization and Web3 have on the future of telehealth? 

In this episode, we speak with Sid Jawahar who is the founder of Swiftarc Ventures. Sid has launched Swiftarc Ventures’ one-of-a-kind $75MM Telehealth-focused Fund dedicated to harnessing breakthrough innovation in the field of enterprise telemedicine & digital health.  


*Forgive the audio quality. Due to a platform error, we had to recover a secondary recording to not lose this amazing episode. 

Apr 05, 202227:25
Biting Off One Piece at a Time: with Kim L. Hunt from Aids Foundation of Chicago

Biting Off One Piece at a Time: with Kim L. Hunt from Aids Foundation of Chicago

Social determinants of health are not all directly related to health, so how can we harness innovation across all sectors for the greater good? 

In this episode, Digital Health Review speaks with Kim L. Hunt from Aids Foundation of Chicago about opportunities to serve the LGBTQ+ community with tech, innovation in public health and the beauty in trying to not build all of a solution but just a piece of it. 

Mar 25, 202223:24
February 27, 2022

February 27, 2022

Feb 27, 202200:31
Why We Must Start with Public Health: with Alessandro Ciari from CUNY School of Public Health

Why We Must Start with Public Health: with Alessandro Ciari from CUNY School of Public Health

If an individual's health can have larger effects on their community, then isn't all health public health? And what does this mean when we think about rebuilding healthcare - with tech?

In this episode, Digital Health Review speaks with Alessandro Ciari from CUNY School of Public Health about social impact, innovation and why public health needs digital health and digital health needs public health in order for each to succeed.

 

Feb 27, 202222:03