The PennHealthX Podcast

In this episode, hosts Ziad Hassan and Habib Akouri sit down with Dr. Ryan Henrici for an engaging conversation that bridges science, innovation, and personal journey. Ryan Henrici, MD, PhD, is a physician-scientist specializing in infectious diseases and hematology. A former Marshall Scholar, he serves as Vice President of Discovery Medicine at BigHat Biosciences, where he leads the development of next-generation antibody therapeutics using artificial intelligence and synthetic biology. Additionally, he is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine.

Today’s episode is a conversation between Sope Eweje, one of the VP’s of Entrepreneurship and Ventures for Penn HealthX, and our guest, Dr. Josh Makower. Josh currently leads medical device investment as a general partner at NEA, one of the world’s largest and most active venture capital firms. Josh is also the Founder and Executive Chairman of ExploraMed, a medical device incubator that has created 8 companies over the past 20 years. Notable transactions from the ExploraMed portfolio include Acclarent, acquired by J&J in 2009, EndoMatrix, acquired by C.R. Bard in 1997, TransVascular, acquired by Medtronic in 2003 and Neotract acquired by Teleflex in 2017. On-going ExploraMed/NEA ventures include NeoTract, Moximed, Willow and ExploraMed V. In addition to his role at NEA, Josh serves on the faculty of the Stanford University School as an Adjunct Professor of Medicine and is Co-Founder of Stanford’s Biodesign Innovation Program, a unique training and educational program for multi-disciplinary health technology innovation with trainees that have gone on to form 50 companies that have had an impact over 2.7 million patients. Josh holds over 300 patents and patent applications for various medical devices in the fields of cardiology, ENT, general surgery, drug delivery, obesity, orthopedics, women’s health, and urology. He received an MBA from Columbia University, an MD from the NYU School of Medicine, and a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. In this episode, Sope and Josh discuss how he went from a music major to a prolific medical technology innovator and venture capitalist, and how each of the experiences he had along the way have shaped his passion for technological innovation in healthcare. We also discuss the role clinicians play in health care innovation and his view of invention as a skill that can be learned by technical and clinical stakeholders alike. We wrap up by discussing his thoughts on how COVID may impact the medical technology VC landscape and a piece of advice for students interested in using technology to improve healthcare. Footnotes Josh’s Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-makower-14a0b7ba/ NEA – https://nea.com Willow wearable breast pump - https://shop.willowpump.com/ Stanford Biodesign Innovation Program - http://biodesign.stanford.edu/

Today’s episode is a conversation I had with Dr. Arpan Parikh. Dr. Parikh was a colleague of mine at Wharton last year. He has since graduated and moved on to a role with CareMore Health. Dr. Parikh got his MD at Ohio State, and completed his residency in Psychiatry at Mt. Sinai in New York City. In the episode, we discuss what drew him to medicine and psychiatry, memories he had as a student, clinical roles he took on, why he chose to get an MBA, and how he will use his skills at CareMore Health. It was an absolute pleasure for me to speak with Dr. Parikh and learn from him. Host - Ryan O'Keefe Show Notes Arpan’s LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/arpan-parikh-724897125/ Mt. Sinai Addiction Institute https://www.mountsinai.org/locations/addiction-institute CareMore Health https://www.caremore.com/

Today’s episode is one I co-hosted with Mariam Alausa, who is the current co-VP of Curriculum for Penn HealthX. Our guest was Kwaku Owusu, who is the founder and CEO of DrugViu and TrialViu. Drugviu aggregates patient-related outcomes for people of color who take specific pharmaceutical drugs. TrialViu is a companion site that then educates those same patients about clinical trials, and then matches them to trials they may qualify for using AI. Their lofty mission is to eliminate underrepresentation in medicine Reading from DrugViu’s website to share more about the problem they are looking to solve: Racial and ethnic minorities are 40% of the US population and growing, yet represent less than 8% of the participants in pharmaceutical clinical trials. Especially concerning are clinical trials for diseases that disproportionately affect minorities. Here are few more examples: Per the National Cancer Institute, African-American men are twice as likely as their white counterparts to die from prostate cancer but represent 4% of clinical trial participants. The CDC reports that suicide is one of the leading causes of death among Asian-American women under 45 years of age. Yet, Asian-Americans constituted less than 1% of trials for CDER-approved treatments of major depressive disorders in the last two years. Cancer is the leading cause of death among Hispanics, yet Hispanic cancer patients only make up 4% of participants in cancer clinical trials in the U.S., according to the National Cancer Institute. Native Americans are often not represented in studies at all Without enough minority participants, it’s virtually impossible to determine the effectiveness and side effects of a particular medication to that group. To compound this, there is no place online for minorities to research drug information specifically targeted for them. There is no online community where users can read and contribute to side effect/drug efficacy reviews by people that look like them. In the episode, we discuss Kwaku’s background, more about what made him interested in this area of medicine, and what he has learned along the way getting these companies off the ground. Now, let’s get to our conversation with Kwaku Owusu. FootNotes Kwaku’s LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kwaku-owusu/ DrugViu Website https://www.drugviu.com/ TrialViu Website https://www.trialviu.com/

This episode is a conversation I had with one of my friends and Wharton colleagues, Catherine Bryt. Catherine is the CEO and founder of Sibi Health. Put simply, Sibi Health is a marketplace for healthcare services, now serving the Philadelphia area. You can compare local doctors and pre-set service prices for both in-person and video visits, select, book, and pay in advance using a credit card or HSA/FSA card, and then receive care. In the episode, we discuss Catherine’s background studying neuroscience and economics, some of the jobs she had before Wharton, and what her experience has been like starting a company in the Wharton environment, and during the COVID pandemic. To learn more about Sibi, check out their website sibihealth.com. Also check out their instagram @sibi.health. Footnotes Catherine’s LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/cbryt/ Sibi Health website https://www.sibihealth.com/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sibi.health/ MM.LaFleur https://mmlafleur.com/ Create Health Plans https://createhealthplans.com/

In this episode, I interview Zack Gray, who is the Co-Founder and CEO of Ophelia, which seeks to address the opioid epidemic by making medication-assisted treatment (MAT) private, convenient, and affordable for patients. Zack is a graduate of Columbia where he studied Astrophysics and Philosophy. After being in the working world for a few years, he pursued an MBA at Wharton. During this time, he was able to work on building Ophelia. Ophelia took the 1st Place prize at the Penn HealthX Conference Pitch competition last year when Ophelia was still in the works. Thus, I was excited to catch up with Zack to see how Ophelia has been doing since. The conversation is loaded with tons of information about the opioid epidemic, the many barriers that exist which keep innovators from helping patients who are addicted to opioids, and what he has learned along the way as he has started a healthcare company from scratch. I was so impressed by Zack’s dedication to solving the problem, and his approach to overcoming the obstacles inherent in the space and am excited to see what he and the Ophelia team are able to achieve in the coming years. We’ve linked off to many resources and articles that we discuss in the show notes – so please take a look if you are interested in learning more. Host: Ryan O'Keefe Foot Notes Zack’s LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/zack-gray-58437936/ Ophelia Website https://www.meetophelia.com/ Article Covering Ophelia’s Raise https://www.forbes.com/sites/berenicemagistretti/2020/05/12/rehab-20-yc-backed-ophelia-raises-27-million-to-help-people-quit-opioids-without-the-burden-and-cost-of-rehab/#8b248551ee82 Zack’s Explanation for Why He Founded Ophelia and What They Do https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22570133 Zack’s Graduation Speech http://media.licdn.com/embeds/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2Fa2kxSycPey0%3Ffeature%3Doembed&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Da2kxSycPey0&type=text%2Fhtml&schema=youtube Evidence/Research for the Efficacy of MAT with suboxone https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29934549 Atlantic Article on the Opioid Crisis https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/11/why-heroin-and-fentanyl-addicts-cant-get-treatment/576118/ Book by Dr. Bisaga - Overcoming Opioid Addiction: The Authoritative Medical Guide for Patients, Families, Doctors, and Therapists https://www.amazon.com/Overcoming-Opioid-Addiction-Authoritative-Therapists/dp/1615194584 Article on Primary Care Providers Not Prescribing MAT https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/20/opioids-addiction-physicians-doctors-naltrexone/?utm_source=STAT+Newsletters&utm_campaign=f5e5d9e1cc-MR_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8cab1d7961-f5e5d9e1cc-149667945

In light of the recent events across the country, I wanted to read a statement that Penn HealthX sent out to our community and the Perelman School of Medicine. Along with this, we decided to move up an episode in our release schedule with Michellene Davis. Michelle is a healthcare leader who has dedicated her entire career to addressing the Social Determinants of Health, especially as they impact communities of color. I’ll begin by reading our statement, and then I’ll tell you more about Michellene and the episode. --------------------------------------------------- Dear HealthX Community, We write to address the recent events happening across our country. George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and David McAtee are but a few of far too many innocent Black people that have been needlessly killed at the hands of police officers. These tragedies are indicative of the institutional and systemic racism that has plagued our country for centuries. This is deeply saddening for us and cannot continue. HealthX condemns all forms of racial hatred, violence, and injustice against our Black peers and the Black community at large. Predatory business practices, inequitable access to healthcare innovations, and unjust restriction from care based on financial constructs in our health system have perpetuated the racial inequities in this country. As future leaders in these sectors of healthcare, we have a responsibility to take an active role in dismantling the systems that promote harm to Black bodies and the exclusion of Black voices. As individuals, we must play an active role in fighting racial injustice in every aspect of our lives. We are committed to furthering the development of Black leaders in healthcare management, entrepreneurship, and technology. We have not been perfect in this regard, but we are dedicated to improvement. We have begun and will continue to develop inclusive programming and partner with Black organizations within Penn and the Philadelphia community to have a positive impact on our community in need. Through the generous commitment of alumna Marketa Wills, MD, MBA, in 2019, we received funding specifically dedicated to supporting students from backgrounds underrepresented in medicine which will help support this mission. We reaffirm our commitment to this cause today and every day. In solidarity, The Penn HealthX Board ----------------------------------------------- As I mentioned earlier, our guest for today’s episode is Michellene Davis. A graduate of Seton Hall for undergrad and law school, Michelle began her career as a trial litigator, before moving into government roles where she was the NJ State Treasurer, the CEO of the NJ Lottery, and worked as a Chief Policy Council for Jon Corzine. Today, she is the EVP and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer for RWJ Barnabas Health in New Jersey. She was a panelist at the Wharton Business in Healthcare Conference earlier this year, where she shared her experiences addressing the Social Determinants of Health. Notably, our conversation happened in mid-May before the recent tragedies, protests, and calls for policy changes, but the content of the conversation is more relevant than ever. I personally learned a lot from Michellene about the difficulties and barriers in place and what it will take to ensure that we continue to fight for change. We discussed her role at RWJ Barnabas, how she became interested in the SDoH, policy changes she would like to see, some examples of successful programs, and advice to those who want to be advocates. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Michellene Davis. Stay strong, and stay safe. Footnotes Michellene’s Website Bio http://michellenedavis.com/about/ Michellene’s RWJBarnabas Bio https://www.rwjbh.org/why-rwjbarnabas-health-/social-impact/social-impact-and-community-investment-strategic/the-team/michellene-davis/