Tag Archives: Health Moonshots

Sue Siegel, Former CEO of GE Ventures and Chief Innovation Officer at GE, Joins StartUp Health’s Impact Board to Advance Health Moonshots

November 1, 2022Business, Health, Innovation, Startups, UncategorizedGE, GE Ventures, health equity, Health Moonshots, Healthymagination, Logan Plaster, StartUp Health, Sue SiegelNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:26 — 22.3MB)

In this week’s StartUp Health NOW episode, we continue a series we’ve been running where we sit down with members of StartUp Health’s Impact Board to learn a bit about their stories and why they’re so passionate about this health moonshot model of supporting founders at scale.

Today we’re talking to the venerable Sue Siegel, former Chief Innovation Officer at GE and CEO at GE Ventures and at Healthymagination, an initiative GE launched in order to invest billions of dollars into helping deliver better healthcare to more people at a lower cost.

Now, Siegel is leveraging all of that experience to help StartUp Health scale our mission of inspiring, educating, and investing in a global army of Health Transformers. In our interview, we get to hear Siegel’s wisdom about what it’s really going to take to move the needle on health. She also shares why she’s so passionate about professional mentorship and gives a few rules for the road for would-be mentors.

As you’ll hear in the interview, in addition to be a wealth of knowledge, Siegel brings an enormous level of empathy and humility to her work. We were inspired talking to her and are excited to share the conversation here.

Join us at the StartUp Health Festival @ HLTH, Nov 13-16, 2022, in Las Vegas, to learn more and get involved with our health moonshots.

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.
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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.

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.

Aaron Kowalski, PhD, CEO of JDRF, Brings His Professional & Personal Experience to StartUp Health’s T1D Moonshot Impact Board

October 25, 2022Business, Health, Innovation, StartupsAaron Kowalski, Cure Disease, diabetes, Health Moonshots, JDRF, JDRF International, Logan Plaster, T1D, T1D Moonshot, Type 1 Diabetes, Type 1 Diabetes MoonshotNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:40 — 22.5MB)

For this StartUp Health NOW episode, we are joined by Aaron Kowalski, PhD, the CEO of JDRF International. Anyone orbiting in the universe of Type 1 diabetes will know that JDRF is the world’s largest nonprofit funder of T1D research. In his role atop the organization, Kowalski has combined his professional experience as a molecular biologist and executive with his personal passion to fight Type 1 diabetes in order to impact patients like his own brother.

Kowalski is also a recent addition to StartUp Health’s Type 1 Diabetes Moonshot Impact Board. This board is a cross-disciplinary team of T1D experts spanning the gamut from research to funding to commercialization. We are thrilled that Kowalski is bringing his vast experience to this cohort in order to speed up innovation and support a generation of health entrepreneurs.

Join us at the StartUp Health Festival @ HLTH, Nov 13-16 in Las Vegas, to learn more and get involved with our T1D Moonshot.

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

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.

Health Innovation Implementation: Dr. Robert Wilson on How Partnering with PreventScripts Enhanced His Medical Practice

September 27, 2022Business, Health, Innovation, StartupsAccess to care, Brandi Harless, chronic care, Cost to Zero, CovenantCare, CovenantCare Family Practice, Cure Disease, diabetes, Digital Health, Dr. Natalie Davis, Dr. Robert Wilson, health innovation, Health Moonshots, health transformation, Health Transformers, Logan Plaster, md, Natalie Davis, PreventScripts, Robert Wilson, Type 2 Diabetes, Type II DiabetesNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:39 — 21.2MB)

Typically on this show we talk to the health tech founders – who we call Health Transformers – that are creating the tools and platforms that will modernize our health system. This week we have a different kind of guest who will help round out the picture of how healthcare innovation goes from idea to real-world implementation.

Our guest is Robert Wilson, MD, a family physician who runs CovenantCare Family Practice, a multi-site medical practice in Tennessee. Dr. Wilson popped up on our radar because he was an early partner for PreventScripts, a startup that’s part of the StartUp Health portfolio. PreventScripts, led by Brandi Harless and Natalie Davis, MD, has created a platform that helps family doctors like Dr. Wilson identify patients who would benefit from chronic care management. Think about a patient who is pre-diabetic and all signs point towards a long battle with Type 2 diabetes. While Dr. Wilson might be too overextended to identify and coach this patient before the disease sets in, PreventScripts can identify the risk and put the patient on a clinically-proven program. Patients with chronic diseases, or the risk of disease, get heightened care between visits, and Dr. Wilson gets added reimbursement.

We wanted to talk to Dr. Wilson to understand why he was interested in partnering with a health startup, as this is one of the key hurdles for any health innovator. How do you find the right clinical partner, a place to prove out your brilliant idea in the real world, and then iterate based on user feedback?

In the conversation, we’ll get into the real-world challenges that Dr. Wilson faces, his motivation for evolving his practice, and how PreventScripts has helped him fill gaps in patient care.

Learn more and connect with the team at PreventScripts.

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

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.

Salvo Health: Travelocity and Foursquare Exec Jeff Glueck Has Raised $10.5M to Disrupt the GI Health Market

August 16, 2022Business, Health, Innovation, StartupsFoursquare, Health Moonshots, Health Transformers, Logan Plaster, Nutrition and Fitness, Salvo, Salvo Health, TravelocityNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:22 — 41.7MB)

In health innovation – which is the world we inhabit at StartUp Health – there are certain issues that get the lion’s share of attention. Think wearables for tracking daily activity or new mental health solutions. A lot of attention is going towards interventions for seniors and addressing issues of loneliness and isolation. These are wonderful areas of development. But there are other areas of health that have huge implications across society, yet have a way of flying under the radar. There’s stigma – like our hesitance to talk about mental health struggles – and then there’s society’s reaction to gastrointestinal conditions. GI problems. Irritable bowel syndrome or IBS. Celiac disease. The list goes on. Each year, 62 million Americans are diagnosed with a digestive disorder. Another 30 million go undiagnosed. They’re often too embarrassed to even talk to their primary care provider about it, so they suffer in silence, and it has negative ripple effects across their entire life.

Well, all that seems to be about to change. The virtual healthcare revolution has reached the GI market with the launch of Salvo Health, a company that’s using virtual care to bring the best gut health tools and therapies to millions of people.

Heading up the effort is CEO and Co-founder Jeff Glueck, who is our guest on today’s episode. Jeff is a tech industry veteran, having been Chief Marketing Officer at Travelocity during their meteoric rise, and the CEO of the social app Foursquare. He’s leveraging that experience to disrupt an old school industry and bring relief to millions. The company, which joined StartUp Health last year, has just announced a $10.5M Seed raise to bring Salvo out of stealth mode and start to scale in earnest.

How’s Jeff going to use his experience at Travelocity and Foursquare to disrupt the GI health market? We’ll let him explain in the interview.

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

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

Former Dexcom Exec Claudia Graham Joins StartUp Health’s New T1D Moonshot Impact Board

August 9, 2022Business, Health, Innovation, StartupsClaudia Graham, Cure Disease, Dexcom, diabetes, Diabetes Moonshot, Health Moonshots, StartUp Health, Type 1 Diabetes, Type 1 Diabetes MoonshotNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 17:19 — 23.8MB)

“The more you know, the better you’ll do living with diabetes,” says Claudia Graham. “There’s nothing more important in diabetes than empowering patients.”

If you follow StartUp Health at all, you have seen headlines about our new Type 1 Diabetes Moonshot. To recap, we’ve launched an initiative designed to speed up innovation around Type 1 diabetes by bringing together a cross-disciplinary team of investors, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, researchers, and other industry experts. At the heart of the effort is an Impact Board – basically our T1D dream team – which brings together the top minds in the field for collaborative working sessions. We wanted to take some time on this podcast to introduce you to some of the inspiring folks on this Impact Board and invite you to get involved in the effort.

On this episode you’ll meet Claudia Graham, former executive at Dexcom, the company that revolutionized the continuous glucose monitor. She served as VP of Marketing and SVP of Global Access. Now she’s putting her decades of experience at Dexcom – and as someone living with Type 1 diabetes – to work as an advisor and investor. We caught up with Claudia over zoom at her home in Idaho to learn about the opportunities and challenges she sees in the Type 1 Diabetes Moonshot, how StartUp Health helps get away from institutional thinking to break down barriers and empower patients, and how she thinks about leaving a legacy for the next generation.

Entrepreneurs, are you working on a T1D solution? We want to hear from you.
Investors, want to back an impact-driven fund laser focused on T1D? Contact us.

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.

Dr. Tracy Dennis-Tiwary of Wise Therapeutics Shares How to Use Your Anxiety to Thrive

July 26, 2022Business, Health, Innovation, Startupsanxiety, Dr Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, Health Moonshots, Health Transformer, Logan Plaster, mental health, Moonshots, Personal Zen, Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, Wise Therapeutics, Wise TxNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:55 — 16.8MB)

Our guest this week, Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, PhD, doesn’t pull any punches. She’s the co-founder of Wise Therapeutics, which joined StartUp Health last year, and author of the new book Why Anxiety is Good for You (Even Though it Feels Bad).

As you’ll hear in the interview, Dr. Dennis-Tiwary is on a bold mission to change how society thinks about anxiety, so that millions of people can thrive in the face of adversity rather than settling for being comfortably numb. She’ll also explain how her work in digital therapeutics uses simple mobile games to help people rewire their brains. Wise Therapeutics’ research-backed app – called Personal Zen – trains users to make more positive subconscious choices, one swipe at a time.

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Learn more and connect with the team at Wise Therapeutics.

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

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

Living the Moonshot Mindset, with Lee Shapiro of 7wireVentures

June 14, 2022Business, Health, Innovation, Insights, Startups2022 StartUp Health Festival, 7Wire Ventures, 7wireVentures, Health Moonshots, Lee Shapiro, mindset, Moonshot Mindset, StartUp Health, StartUp Health @ ViVE, StartUp Health Festival, Unity Stoakes, ViVE, ViVE 2022, ViVE MiamiNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:54 — 23.9MB)

This week we bring you a conversation between Unity Stoakes, President & Co-founder of StartUp Health, and a very special guest, long-time StartUp Health investor, collaborator, and friend Lee Shapiro. Lee is the Managing Partner at 7wireVentures, a leading health tech investment firm, but that’s just one of the many hats he’s worn in recent years.

The “beachside chat,” which was held live at the 2022 StartUp Health Festival @ ViVE in Miami Beach, covers a range of topics, from what 7wireVentures looks for in a startup to how healthcare can learn from adjacent industries, like gaming and banking.

Lee Shapiro is one of those rare voices in the industry that combines hard-earned operational experience with the health moonshot wisdom of a philosopher. He embodies the characteristics of tenacity and humility that he looks for in a startup founder, and he’s always a pleasure to talk to. Enjoy the conversation.

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

With Particle Health’s API, Troy Bannister Is Making Health Data Interoperability a Reality

May 31, 2022Business, Health, Innovation, Insights, Startups2022 StartUp Health Festival, Cost to Zero, Health Moonshot, Health Moonshots, Health Transformer, Health Transformers, Katya Hancock, particle health, StartUp Health @ ViVE, StartUp Health Festival, troy bannister, ViVE 2022Nicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:01 — 26.1MB)

A 2021 report in Bloomberg Law stated that though “Health IT pros and federal regulators dream of a healthcare system in which the flow of information happens seamlessly through a simple mouse-click, at least 70% of healthcare providers still exchange medical information by fax.”

In the world of health innovation, we know what can be unlocked when patient data can move safely and quickly from point A to point B. We know it because we saw it in the world of personal finance. Interoperable financial data empowered normal people to take charge of their finances, sending and receiving money, investing with a click of a button. It also empowered a new generation of apps like Venmo and Robin Hood.

This week we bring you a conversation with Troy Bannister, CEO and Co-founder of Particle Health, a StartUp Health portfolio company that is working to bring to healthcare the same level of data interoperability that we’ve experienced in personal finance. Their API framework is a foundation for healthcare innovators to build upon, so really we’re just at the very beginning of seeing what’s possible.

Troy explains what they’ve built, and what’s coming next in health data interoperability in this conversation with Katya Hancock, partner at StartUp Health. The chat was held in front of a live audience at the StartUp Health Festival @ ViVE in Miami Beach in March.

Learn more and connect with the team at Particle Health.

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

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

May 17, 2022Business, Health, Innovation, StartupsAccess to care, Access to Care Moonshot, Cancer, End Cancer, health innovation, Health Moonshots, Health Transformer, Health Transformers, Innovation, Oncology, PegasiNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 48:08 — 110.2MB)

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.

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Learn more and connect with the team a PEGASI.

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

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

April 19, 2022Business, Health, Innovation, StartupsAddiction, David Sarabia, end addiction, entrepreneurship, Health Moonshots, Health Transformer, Health Transformers, InRecovery, Moonshots, UkraineNicole Kinsey

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

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.

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Connect with the team at inRecovery via email.

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