Tag Archives: Brain health

Phyllis Ferrell Named Chief Impact Officer for StartUp Health’s Alzheimer’s Moonshot



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.

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Virtual Reality for Brain Health: Virtuleap’s New Platform Uses VR to Detect Cognitive Decline Early



Our StartUp Health NOW guest this week is Amir Bozorgzadeh, CEO & Co-founder of Virtuleap, a brain health company that joined StartUp Health in 2019.

Headquartered in Lisbon, Portugal, and expanding to Barcelona, Spain, Virtuleap improves brain health with VR. In this chat, Amir will walk us through their new platform – Cogniclear VR – that combines neuroscience with virtual reality games and activities to detect cognitive disorders. He’ll explain how VR can play an important role in the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and other dementias, why VR needs to be applied with care in health, and where virtual reality is going next.

Enjoy!


FundersBecome 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.


Creative Collaborations: Bringing Next-Gen Alzheimer’s Tech to West Africa



One of the words that gets thrown around so much at StartUp Health that you might get tired of hearing it is ‘collaboration.’ We say it a lot. However, you’ll only get sick of the word if you think it’s just startup jargon or lip service. But at StartUp Health that’s just not the case.

StartUp Health was designed from day one to promote a collaborative ecosystem in health innovation. For more than a decade we’ve been bringing like-minded founders together to learn from each other and support each other. It can be lonely out there as a founder, and StartUp Health has made it a top priority to connect people in meaningful ways. So that companies can grow faster, yes. But also so that founders survive and thrive in the face of the day-to-day grind of entrepreneurship.

We say all of that because it explains why our StartUp Health NOW guests today resonate so much for our team. David Nguyen, PhD, CEO & Co-founder of BrainScanology, and Ismail Badjie, PharmD, CEO & Founder of Innovarx Global Health, are from two very different health sectors – and two very different regions of the world. But they met at a StartUp Health event. And because they were fellow Health Transformers they knew they shared certain values. That prompted a connection and a conversation, which then allowed them to leapfrog into a business partnership.

In the interview we’ll get into how they met and what they’ve building together to help patients thrive into old age in West Africa. And we’ll also talk about the role of creative collaborations in achieving audacious health moonshot goals. Enjoy!


FundersBecome 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.


Four StartUp Health Entrepreneurs Tackling Cognitive Health Concerns



This episode is part of our monthly Health Moonshot series. Last month it was all about women’s health, today, we’re talking about founders and companies rethinking brain health. Kate Rosenbluth, PhD, Chief Science Officer & Founder at Cala Health, is transforming the standard of care for patients living with chronic diseases using non-invasive wearable neuromodulation therapies. The team has developed Cala Trio™, the first non-invasive targeted therapy that reduces hand tremor for people living with essential tremor (ET). Maor Cohen, CEO & Co-founder of n*gram health, is improving the quality of life for older adults with cognitive impairment using immersive digital experiences. RC21X co-founder Mark Cavicchia has developed two brain performance assessment tools, Roberto and RC21X, that create brain performance trend data for organizations through repeated use and produce session results in real-time, which bring about measurable improvements in work performance, productivity, and safety. Lastly, Amir Bozorgzadeh, CEO & Co-founder of Virtuleap, has created a virtual reality-based brain training platform. In this episode, the four entrepreneurs break down their innovative solutions and how they’re unlocking the mysteries of the brain.  

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.


StartUp Health Festival Founder Stories: Mylea Charvat, PhD, Savonix with Susan Schneider Williams



Susan Schneider Williams, Fine Artist and Passionate Advocate for Brain Health and Lewy Body Dementia Awareness, talks with Savonix CEO & Founder Mylea Charvat, PhD, on the main stage of the StartUp Health Festival in San Francisco. January 13, 2020. Host by: Mylea Charvat, PhD, CEO & Founder, Savonix

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.


#203: John-Ross “JR” Rizzo, MD, Assistant Professor NYU Langone Health



John-Ross “JR” Rizzo, MD, Assistant Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine & Neurology at NYU Langone Health, talks about his research in visual-motor integration and how the use of new cameras and sensors for eye- and hand-tracking are helping to better understand what is happening within the brain after a stroke or other brain injury.

WATCH MORE NOW EPISODES: https://www.startuphealth.com/startup-health-now

Location: NYU Langone Health Tech Symposium in New York, NY


#147 Revolutionizing the Diagnosis of Brain Disorders: John Kelley, CereScan



In this episode of StartUp Health NOW, Kelley shares his vision for the future of brain health, and describes what CereScan is doing to make that vision a reality.
Watch here: https://healthtransformer.co/revolutionizing-the-diagnosis-of-brain-disorders-2132b58de7e5

Guest: John Kelley, CereScan
Host: Unity Stoakes, StartUp Health
Location: Prime Health Summit, Denver, Colorado


#124: A Mobile Game That Monitors Your Brain: Clarence Carlos, RC21X



What if a game could give your brain a check-up? In this episode of StartUp Health NOW, Clarence Carlos, CEO of RC21X, shares how his company is helping former NFL players assess their cognition, and allowing parents to monitor the brain health of their children.

GUEST: Clarence Carlos, RC21X
HOST: Steven Krein, StartUp Health
LOCATION: StartUp Health Studio, StartUp Health Village, New York, NY
Watch Here: https://healthtransformer.us/the-game-that-monitors-your-brain-cc2752dd7451


#94: Cracking the Code on Mobile Brain Monitoring – Nathan Intrator, Neurosteer



Nathan Intrator, Professor of Computer Science and Founder of Neurosteer, talks about the progress his company has made in the development of new applications for brain monitoring, the impact home monitoring will have on patients and the general population, and Israel’s evolving digital health ecosystem.

GUEST: Nathan Intrator, Tel Aviv University & Neurosteer
HOST: Unity Stoakes, StartUp Health
LOCATION: Wearable Tech + Digital Health Conference, New York, NY

IN THIS EPISODE:
The Impact of Home Monitoring
Virtual and Augmented Reality As It Relates to Science and Technology
Israel’s Evolving Digital Health Ecosystem

(Access the full transcript here: https://medium.com/p/cdc23459bf75)


#84: Turning Accidents into Opportunities – Dr. Philip Low, NeuroVigil



Dr. Philip Low, Founder, Chairman and CEO of NeuroVigil, discusses the mission of his neurodiagnostics company, the importance of taking risks in building your business and how unexpected circumstances can be turned into valuable opportunities.