Tag Archives: Addiction

(Re)Meet Pelago: Well-Funded Quit Genius Rebrands to Make Addiction Treatment More Accessible

Business, Health, Innovation, Startups, , , , , , , , ,

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:27 — 39.1MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | iHeartRadio | Email | Deezer | RSS | More

When we first met today’s StartUp Heatlh NOW podcast guest, he was a newly-minted doctorpreneur. After finishing med school Yusuf Sherwani, MD, teamed up with a couple fellow doctors to tackle a massive, pervasive problem they were facing in their clinics: Day after day they were seeing patients struggling with addiction, whether smoking or drinking or opioids. These were people stigmatized by their addictions into fear and inaction or they’d reached out for help and found the options unsuccessful.

This group of physicians thought, with today’s technology and breakthroughs in addiction management, there has to be a better way. So they built Quit Genius, the world’s first virtual clinic for substance use management. They combined the best digital health tools with leading cognitive behavioral therapy and medication assisted treatment.

Their solution met a hungry market. Since inception, Dr. Sherwani and his team – who joined StartUp Health in 2020 – have helped more than 750,000 people manage their substance use, and with $77 million raised, they are poised to scale even further.

We wanted to sit down with Dr. Sherwani to hear their scale-up vision and also to get the story behind their recent rebrand to Pelago. In this episode, Dr. Sherwani explains the name change – it’s derived from the word archipelago – and shares where this growing company is heading next.

Founders: 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.

Live From the Conflict Zone: How David Sarabia of inRecovery Is Supporting His Team in Ukraine

Business, Health, Innovation, Startups, , , , , , , , ,

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 32:25 — 44.5MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | iHeartRadio | Email | Deezer | RSS | More

This week, we talk with David Sarabia, the CEO and Founder of inRecovery, a StartUp Health-backed company that brings digital health tools to the addiction recovery market.

David was on vacation in Mexico when he saw the headlines: Ukraine was under attack and Russian forces were moving in on the capital. After the initial shock of the news wore off, David snapped into action. He’d spent a good deal of time in Ukraine, cultivating a development team there for his startup. And now his team was in trouble. So instead of taking his flight back to California, he booked a ticket to Poland. He had no plan and few connections, just a desire to help.

David has been on the ground in Krakow now for more than month, organizing supply runs into Ukraine while still running his company. When we heard about the important work he was doing we tracked him down for an interview. Exhausted but encouraged by the strength of the Ukrainian people, he shares a bit about the work he’s doing and how others can help.

—

Connect with the team at inRecovery via email.

—

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com

Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots healthmoonshots.com
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.

youturn’s Shay Houser Is Making Addiction Treatment More Accessible

Business, Health, Innovation, Insights, Startups, Uncategorized, , , , , , ,

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:17 — 24.1MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | iHeartRadio | Email | Deezer | RSS | More

On this podcast episode, which was recorded live on the floor of HLTH in Boston in October, StartUp Health’s Logan Plaster sits down with Shay Houser, the CEO and Co-founder of youturn. Shay and his team are working to fight addiction by making addiction treatment resources more accessible. They’ve recognized that it isn’t just the addicted person who is effected, but a wide community of friends and family, so they’re working with employers to address problems early and to respond to addiction as a community of support. Shay comes at youturn as both a serial entrepreneur and as someone who has struggled with addiction. That combination of tactical and personal experience has helped the startup secure important early partnerships, which Shay discusses in the interview.
Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com

Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots healthmoonshots.com
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.

These Three Startup Health Entrepreneurs Are Working to Fight Addiction and End the Opioid Epidemic

Business, Health, Innovation, Insights, Startups, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 21:39 — 29.7MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | iHeartRadio | Email | Deezer | RSS | More

This special episode is part of our monthly Health Moonshot series. Each month we take one of StartUp Health’s 12 audacious health goals and highlight founders working to make the impossible a reality. This month we’re talking about the moonshot to End Addiction & the Opioid Crisis. Hosts Logan Plaster and India Edwards discuss three entrepreneurs from the StartUp Health portfolio who have developed incredible technology to help fight addiction. J.D. Meints, CEO and Founder of NuLife Virtual, has created a behavioral health platform that extends the benefits of a close-knit rehab community into the home. Yusuf Sherwani, MD, CEO & Co-founder of Quit Genius, has built one of the world’s first digital clinic delivering a comprehensive medication-assisted treatment program for multiple addictions. Last but not least, Sumeet Maniar, CEO & Founder of WellBrain, has developed a digital chronic pain management platform for providers.
Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com

Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots healthmoonshots.com
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.

Brand Newland Is Fighting Opioid Overprescribing by Improving and Standardizing the Surgery Experience

Uncategorized, , ,

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:43 — 34.0MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | iHeartRadio | Email | Deezer | RSS | More

Established with the goal of improving recovery time and bettering outcomes for patients undergoing surgical procedures, the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocols have revolutionized that experience. Unfortunately, variations in surgical practices do not allow every patient to benefit. Brand Newland, CEO and Co-founder of Goldfinch Health, hopes to change that. Through Goldfinch, Newland is making sure that employers are able to provide their patients with the best surgery options available; An opportunity for patients to recover faster, employers pay less in sick leave, insurance companies pay for fewer complications and setbacks. Finally, and perhaps most importantly at this moment in history, faster recovery times mean less reliance on opioids. And Newland sees his work at Goldfinch as a critical upstream component to fighting the opioid crisis.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com
Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots healthmoonshots.com

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.

One Health Transformer’s Decades-Long Journey to Cure Chronic Pain

Business, Health, Innovation, Startups, , , , , , , , , ,

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:30 — 25.9MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | iHeartRadio | Email | Deezer | RSS | More

23 years ago a car accident left Richard Hanbury with debilitating nerve pain that was so bad he was given just five years to live. While in recovery, he realized that a film was doing something to his brain that was providing greater pain relief than the morphine he was prescribed. It was this accidental discovery that inspired Hanbury to learn how he could use external neuromodulation to hack his own brain and cure his chronic pain. In this episode, StartUp Health’s Editor-in-Chief Logan Plaster sits down with Hanbury, CEO & Founder of Sana Health, to discuss his wearable device that reproduces that same neuromodulation in an effort to end all chronic pain.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health https://www.startuphealth.com/
Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots http://www.healthmoonshots.com

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.

Beyond Lucid Technologies

The Health Transformer Making EMS COVID-Ready

Business, Health, Innovation, Startups, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 17:41 — 16.2MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | iHeartRadio | Email | Deezer | RSS | More

One day after the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, Beyond Lucid Technologies announced that it would be appending its EMS health information exchange platform, adding the ability to receive and sort fire and EMS encounters involving patients suspected of suffering from, or being exposed to, the deadly coronavirus. In this fireside chat with the company’s CEO & Co-founder Jonathon Feit, he shares how his platform is transforming EMS in over half of the United States.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health https://www.startuphealth.com/
Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots http://www.healthmoonshots.com

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.