Tag Archives: Cancer

Welcome to the Genomic Medicine Revolution



On this episode of StartUp Health NOW, we’re talking with Jo Bhakdi, CEO & Founder of Quantgene, a company that joined StartUp Health in 2019. Bhakdi and his team have made a name for themselves by offering a kind of deep genomic profiling that allows them to identify cancers early, detect hereditary diseases, and find adverse drug interactions.

The name of the game here is genomic medicine and we’re not talking about 23andMe or Ancestry.com.

As you’ll hear in the interview, Bhakdi has a revolutionary vision for where the field of genomic medicine is heading in the next five years. And he’s got a strategy for getting there. Spoiler alert: Bhakdi believes that if we can get the cost of genomic testing down which he’s actively working on – and can scale access to genomic medicine to millions of people, that could knock cancer out of the top 10 list of leading causes of death entirely. Since cancer is currently at number two, it’s a pretty radical idea, but Bhakdi has a strong track record and a compelling market strategy through Quantgene’s new offering called Serenity.

We’ll let him explain the vision in this episode.


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Passionate about Type 1 diabetes? If you’re an entrepreneur or investor, contact us to learn how you can join our T1D Moonshot.


How One Founder Raised $5M to Help Women Detect Breast Cancer Earlier



On this StartUp Health NOW episode, we go to Portland, Oregon, to meet a Health Transformer helping women assess their risk for breast cancer. We chat with Kaitlin Christine, CEO & Founder of Gabbi, because she successfully raised more than $4M in 2022, at a time when many other young startups were struggling to raise. We stress with the startups in our portfolio that raising capital is just one small piece of the health moonshot journey, but there is no denying that it can give rocket fuel to a great idea, so we wanted to hear how she did it. What were the strategies and mindsets that helped her grow from a passionate solopreneur to building her first executive team and scalable product? And, what lessons could she share with other founders who find themselves facing a similar challenge?


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

InvestorsContact us to learn how to invest in Health Moonshots
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.

Passionate about Type 1 diabetes? If you’re an entrepreneur or investor, contact us to learn how you can join our T1D Moonshot.
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.

Luis Santiago on How a Recent Team Tragedy Brought PEGASI’s Health Moonshot Into Focus



Every company in the StartUp Health portfolio can draw a line between their business objectives and a very real human impact. Even companies working on highly technical, administrative solutions are doing so, at the end of the day, in order to help people get the care they need faster or better. Our stance is that no database integration, supply chain management tool, or insurance platform should exist apart from its ability to improve lives. In other words, health innovation is personal.

For some founders, like our guest today, the human face of healthcare technology is startlingly clear. Our guest is Luis Santiago, the CEO and Co-founder of PEGASI, which StartUp Health backed in 2020. PEGASI is in the business of digitizing health information systems in Latin America, and they’re currently focused on upgrading those systems within oncology so that cancer patients can get diagnosed and treated sooner. That mission gained a tragic level of clarity this year as PEGASI’s CTO Janper Garbi went through a devastating battle with cancer. Luis Santiago shares that personal story, and how it could have ended differently had the hospital been using a digital platform to speed up diagnosis and treatment.

This isn’t just a story about what could have been, but how a tragedy becomes fuel for a health moonshot that could improve the lives of millions.

Learn more and connect with the team a PEGASI.

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

Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots healthmoonshots.com
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Health Transformers Live: Gray Oncology Solutions, Gennev, AvoMD, Valera Health



This week we wanted to break from our typical format and introduce you to four inspiring founders from the StartUp Health portfolio.

This episode is excerpted from an on-stage Health Transformer discussion that was held at the StartUp Health Festival @ ViVE in Miami Beach in March. You’ll hear from André Diamant, PhD, CEO & Founder of Gray Oncology Solutions, about how they’re improving efficiency in cancer care. Jill Angelo, CEO & Founder of Gennev, talks about how they’re improving women’s health in their post-reproductive years. Yair Saperstein, MD, CEO & Co-founder of AvoMD, explains how they’re crowdsourcing knowledge in order to put the best decision support tools in the palm of the physician’s hand. And finally, Tom Tsang, MD, CEO & Co-founder of Valera Health, explains how his company is bringing comprehensive mental health services to the virtual healthcare ecosystem.

The session was hosted by Lauren Schafer from StartUp Health. In addition to sharing the moonshot missions of each of their companies, they talk about changes seen in health innovation due to COVID’s impact, their biggest messages for partners and investors, and more.


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.


Live From the StartUp Health Festival @ ViVE 2022



This week’s podcast is coming to you live from the StartUp Health Festival @ ViVE in Miami Beach where Health Transformers have come together from around the world. StartUp Health’s Media Director, Logan Plaster, interviewed 26 Health Transformers on the first full day of the Festival, learning more about the news our portfolio companies are ready to announce to the StartUp Health community. In this conversation, Logan chats with our Social Media Coordinator, Rachel Freeman, about key takeaways from his interviews: including covering the basics in healthcare, developing surgeries that will solve a multitude of health problems, an exciting announcement from Welwaze, and so much more.


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.


Health Transformers Bringing Diagnostics Into the Home



A tricorder, a centrifuge that fits in the palm of your hand, stick-on thermo patches that can detect early stage breast cancer… What used to be considered sci-fi are now existing technologies that are helping medical professionals meet patients where they’re at – in their home. Tune into this episode of the StartUp Health NOW podcast to learn how the founders of Welwaze, Sandstone Diagnostics, and Aidar Health are using these devices to bridge the access to care gap and why tech like theirs is paramount to an effective pandemic response.

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.


#119: Dr. Joshua Schiffman of the Huntsman Cancer Institute



What can elephant DNA teach us about cancer? In this week’s episode of StartUp Health NOW, Dr. Joshua Schiffman, a pediatric oncologist and researcher at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, explains why he believes elephant DNA might hold the secret to preventing cancer in humans.

GUEST: Dr. Joshua Schiffman, Huntsman Cancer Institute
HOST: Howard Krein, StartUp Health
LOCATION: StartUp Health Festival, San Francisco, CA

Read more here: bit.ly/2pEWT2W


#116: Lessons from the White House Cancer Moonshot with Greg Simon



We have the opportunity to end cancer as we know it during our lifetimes. In this week’s episode of StartUp Health NOW, Greg Simon, director of the Biden Foundation’s Cancer Initiative, shares what he learned as the head of the White House Cancer Moonshot Task Force, and discusses how moonshot thinking can radically transform the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

GUEST: Greg Simon, Biden Cancer Initiative
HOST: Howard Krein, StartUp Health
LOCATION: StartUp Health Festival, San Francisco, CA


#100: Transforming Disease w Data, Tech & Personalized Medicine-Mike Pellini, MD, Foundation Medicine



Mike Pellini, MD, Chairman of the Board of Directors for Foundation Medicine, sits down with StartUp Health co-founder Unity Stoakes at the 2017 StartUp Health Festival for a Fireside Chat on analyzing tumors through genome sequencing and how new innovations are helping to advance the way physicians can treat cancer and potentially cure all diseases.

GUEST: Mike Pellini, MD, Foundation Medicine
HOST: Unity Stoakes, StartUp Health
LOCATION: StartUp Health Festival, San Francisco, CA

IN THIS EPISODE:
Mike Pellini and Foundation Medicine’s Moonshot
Curing All Diseases – A Bold Goal
Mike and StartUp Health – An Interesting Connection


#77: Changing the Face of Cancer – Jasvir Zonobi, Kuveda



http://www.startuphealth.com/video/index/46331
Jasvir Zonobi, Kuveda Co-founder & CEO, and Unity Stoakes, StartUp Health Co-founder & President, delve into Kuveda’s approach to transforming healthcare that could ultimately change the face of cancer medicine.

GUEST: Jasvir Zonobi, Kuveda
HOST: Unity Stoakes, StartUp Health
LOCATION: Wearable Tech + Digital Health Conference, San Francisco, CA

IN THIS EPISODE:
Kuveda’s Mission
An Agile Approach to Transforming Healthcare
Changing the Face of Cancer: What the Future Looks Like

Key takeaways from this episode of StartUp Health NOW can be found here: https://medium.com/p/9cdc80fec6d8