Tag Archives: COVID19

How Brian Neman Has Cultivated an Award-Winning Workplace at Sanguine Biosciences

October 4, 2022Business, Health, Innovation, Startupsbiopharma, Brian Neman, COVID19, Cure Disease, Forbes, Health Moonshot, Health Transformer, Logan Plaster, Pandemic Response, Sanguine Biosciences, StartUp HealthNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:12 — 27.7MB)

This week, our guest is Brian Neman, the CEO and Founder of Sanguine Biosciences, a company that joined the StartUp Health portfolio in 2018.

Brian and his team first made a splash by bringing an at-home on-demand business model to specimen collection for clinical trials. Instead of having to get yourself to a lab, you tap a few buttons on your phone and a nurse shows up at your house to take your blood. That business has evolved significantly over the years, which we’ll get into in the interview. But the spark for this interview had more to do with people than products.

You see, Brian’s company was just selected for the Forbes list of 100 Best Small Workplaces and top 10 in biopharma. Sanguine was also on Inc.’s list of fastest growing private companies, and Comparably named him on their list of best CEOs for women and for diversity in the workplace.

In this interview, Brian will talk about how he cultivates company culture, particularly in an era of remote work – and he had loads of wisdom to share, so we hope you enjoy.

Connect with the team at Sanguine Biosciences via email.

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

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With MouthWatch, Brant Herman Is Blazing a New Trail for Tele-Dentistry

February 28, 2022Business, Health, Innovation, StartupsAccess to care, Brant Herman, coronavirus, COVID19, Logan Plaster, MouthWatch, Pandemic Response, Tele-Dentistry, Telehealth, telemedicineNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:42 — 31.8MB)

Join us in Miami Beach next week for the StartUp Health Festival @ ViVE 2022 to meet the MouthWatch team and dozens of other Health Transformers: startuphealth.com/festival

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Thanks to COVID-19, the telemedicine industry saw an unprecedented boom over the last two years. Millions of people who never thought they’d see their doctor over a video call were introduced to the idea and discovered it was often pretty convenient. This phenomenon has gotten plenty of air time. But what about tele-dentistry? You may have to see your dentist in person if you want to get a cleaning done, but it turns out there’s a whole world of virtual dental care that has exploded in the last two years, following the same trend line as telehealth.

At the forefront of this movement is our guest today, Brant Herman, the CEO and Co-founder of MouthWatch. This company – which StartUp Health backed in 2015 – saw the need years ago and has designed an intraoral camera that can help visualize what’s going on in the mouth and send that information to a remote specialist. They’ve also built Teledent, a leading platform for managing teledentistry practices. For this work they’ve won a host of awards, and for two years in a row have been on Inc’s list of fastest growing private companies.

We’ll get into all of that in the interview, hear about the company’s journey, and talk about the critical role of oral health in holistic health.

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Join us in Miami Beach from March 6-9 for the StartUp Health Festival @ ViVE 2022 to meet Brant and dozens of other Health Transformers: startuphealth.com/festival

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Connect with the team at MouthWatch.

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

Responsum Health’s Latest App Puts Long-COVID Front and Center

January 10, 2022Business, Health, Innovation, Insights, Startups, UncategorizedAccess to care, coronavirus, Covid, Covid 19, COVID19, Cure Disease, Health Moonshot Update, Health Moonshots, Logan Plaster, Pandemic Response, Responsum HealthNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 21:14 — 19.5MB)

Our guest today is Andrew Rosenberg, CEO and Founder of Responsum Health, which StartUp Health backed in 2019. At Responsum, Rosenberg and his team have created disease-specific apps that bring together curated information and news about that disease as well as a professionally-moderated community chat, so patients can connect and learn in a safe environment. Their recent app developed around Long-COVID has exploded with activity, so we sat down with Rosenberg to hear what he’s learning from this community of patients.

Join us in Miami Beach in March at StartUp Health @ ViVE 2022 and meet Andrew Rosenberg and other Health Transformers: startuphealth.com/vive

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

UCSF’s Dr. Michael Blum Talks How COVID-19 Changed Expectations Around Virtual Care at the Highest Institutional Levels

December 15, 2020Uncategorizedcoronavirus, Covid 19, COVID19, Logan Plaster, Pandemic ResponseStartUp Health NOW

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 58:24 — 80.2MB)

As a cardiologist and the Chief Digital Transformation Officer at the University of California, San Francisco, Dr. Michael Blum assesses and deploys digital health technology across UCSF’s multi-layered health system. In this week’s podcast episode, we get an inside look at how one of the biggest, most advanced hospital systems in the United States thinks about health innovation, what successful integration looks like, what he looks for in a startup partner, and how COVID-19 changed expectations around virtual care at the highest institutional levels. This episode is pulled from a recent StartUp Health Fireside Chat where StartUp Health’s Editor-in-Chief, Logan Plaster, interviewed Dr. Michael Blum in a live session, which was attended by a panel of founders from the Startup Health portfolio.

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

Conversa Health Built on Its Virtual Care Platform to Quickly Launch COVID-19 Screening Tools for Frontline Workers

December 8, 2020UncategorizedAccess to care, coronavirus, Cost to Zero, Covid 19, COVID19, Cure Disease, Logan Plaster, Pandemic ResponseStartUp Health NOW

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 49:30 — 68.0MB)

Today’s episode is a conversation with Murray Brozinsky, CEO of Conversa Health. Before COVID-19 struck, Conversa was working with big health systems, supplying them with a type of chatbot that kept patients and doctors connected between appointments. Turns out a few well-worded and well-timed questions, even if they’re automated, can improve care and reduce costly bouncebacks. When COVID-19 hit, Murray and his team knew they had the technology – and institutional relationships – to really make a difference. They quickly scaled up multiple COVID-specific products using automated chat and have seen massive growth in 2020 as a result. This conversation with Murray is pulled from a recent Expert Office Hour, which was attended virtually by an audience of other founders from the StartUp Health portfolio. We dug into how Conversa was able to stay nimble and grow in spite of uncertainty, and other Health Transformers weigh in with their thoughts as well.

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

How LifeBio Is Using the Power of Storytelling to Improve Mental Health for Seniors

November 10, 2020Business, Health, Innovation, Startups, UncategorizedBeth Sanders, coronavirus, Covid 19, COVID19, elder care, Healthy Longevity, LifeBio, Logan Plaster, Loneliness, Longevity, memory care, mental health, Pandemic Response, senior, StartUp HealthStartUp Health NOW

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:52 — 42.4MB)

In 2020, the coronavirus caused a societal lock-down like this generation has never seen before. Many who were already isolated and lonely — like seniors – were put into a desperate situation. Beth Sanders, CEO and Co-founder of LifeBio, a startup that’s been with StartUp Health since 2014, has always had a heart for isolated and lonely seniors. She’d worked with them for years, helping them to tell their stories, using what’s called reminiscence therapy. But COVID-19 put LifeBio and this important work into overdrive. Not only was the work needed more than ever, but LifeBio was able to connect the dots between fighting loneliness and improving health outcomes. Turns out a phone call with a trained conversationalist can fight depression, anxiety and keep you mentally nimble. Their findings got the attention of health systems, insurance companies, and even won them a coveted SBIR grant. Logan Plaster, Media Director at StartUp Health, caught up with Sanders to learn more about how LifeBio works and the critical role of storytelling in healthcare in a post-COVID world.

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

Venus Williams Gets Candid About Entrepreneurship, Wellness and Bouncing Back From COVID-19

October 27, 2020Business, Health, Innovation, Startups, UncategorizedAlison Harmelin, Covid 19, COVID19, entrepreneurship, Health, health innovation, invest, investing, Logan Plaster, Longevity, massage, Startup, StartUp Health, Tennis, Venus Williams, ZeelStartUp Health NOW

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:23 — 28.0MB)

Tennis icon and Olympian Venus Williams has built on her success on the court to become a savvy and successful investor, advisor and entrepreneur. Now she’s making her mark on health innovation. Venus Williams has partnered with Zeel, the wellness company that invented the idea of massage-on-demand. Now, Zeel has expanded to a tech-platform that offers a range of wellness on the go services. Recently, Zeel Co-founder Alison Harmelin sat down with the iconic tennis star to get her candid thoughts about health, entrepreneurship, and how startups can bounce back from COVID-19 even stronger than they started.

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

The Transformation of Digital Health in COVID Times

August 25, 2020Business, Health, Innovation, StartupsCovid 19, COVID19, Digital Health, Health Moonshot, Logan Plaster, moonshot, StartUp Health, Unity StoakesStartUp Health NOW

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:08 — 18.6MB)

It’s late August, approximately six months since the coronavirus pandemic sent us indoors, stunted the economy and sparked a rapid global transformation in healthcare. To get a high-level retrospective on those six months and what this period in history means for health innovation going forward, we dialed up Unity Stoakes, Co-founder and President of StartUp Health.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health https://www.startuphealth.com/
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Pregnancy in the Time of COVID, With ROBYN Founder Alli Kasirer

August 4, 2020Business, Health, Innovation, StartupsAccess to care, Alli Kasirer, coronavirus, Covid 19, COVID19, Health Moonshot, Logan Plaster, moonshot, Pandemic Response, ROBYN, StartUp Health, womens healthStartUp Health NOW

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 21:17 — 16.4MB)

Today’s podcast is a throwback to one of our favorite interviews from 2020 thus far. Back in early May, we linked up with Alli Kasirer, CEO of a company called Robyn, for an interview on StartUp Health TV. Robyn – online at we are robyn.co – is a digital health company that acts as a 21st century guide for aspiring, expecting and new parents. They cover everything from fertility coaching to infant sleep training, with a modern, tech-forward sensibility. When COVID hit, demand for virtual services for expectant and new parents skyrocketed, and Kasirer and her team stepped up to the challenge. If you want to watch the full conversation, you’ll find it on the Startup Health YouTube channel, at youtube.com/startuphealth.

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

Despite COVID-Constrained World, Digital Health Investor Predicts Promising Future in Telemedicine

July 21, 2020Business, Health, Innovation, Startups7Wire Ventures, Alyssa Jaffee, Bari Krein, Covid 19, COVID19, Digital Health, health innovation, investing, StartUp HealthStartUp Health NOW

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:54 — 42.3MB)

Much has been said and written — here at StartUp Health and elsewhere — about how in healthcare there’s pre-COVID and there’s post-COVID. Regulations, reimbursements, consumer attitudes, and just basic human norms have shifted dramatically. Mass adoption of telemedicine has made headlines, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In today’s podcast, we turned to Alyssa Jaffee, industry pro and VP at 7Wire Ventures, an early-stage venture fund headquartered in Chicago, to delve deeper into understanding those shifts and opportunities in digital health from an investor’s lens. The conversation you’ll hear is between Jaffe and Bari Krein, StartUp Health’s Chief Strategy Officer. It took place during a recent Expert Office Hour session that we hosted for the Health Transformers in the StartUp Health community, but Jaffe’s advice was so spot on and honest that we couldn’t help sharing it with a wider audience on the podcast.

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