Shows
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers#49 - Reverse-engineering cancer survival - Nicolas Wolikow - Cure51Can we learn from extreme cancer survivors to develop new treatments?
This is the bet that Nicolas Wolikow and his team at Cure51 are making.
Backed by the world's top cancer centers and specialists, they work around the clock to build the largest-ever health dataset of patients who defied the odds—people diagnosed with stage 4 cancer who were given a few months to live, yet survived more than five years.
The goal is to understand what makes their biology unique and what characterises their incredible response to the treatments they received.
A...
2025-10-1943 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Nicolas Wolikow on understanding the mechanisms behind cancerTo discover the whole episode, type "#49 - Reverse-engineering cancer survival - Nicolas Wolikow - Cure51" on your preferred streaming platform.
2025-10-1903 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers#48 - Driving precision medicine with real-world data - Blythe Adamson - Flatiron HealthDisclaimer: Blythe and I both work for Roche; nevertheless, all opinions expressed in this episode are our own and do not necessarily represent the position of our employer.
What's really behind the term "real-world data" in clinical science?
And what can it actually be used for?
I asked Blythe Adamson of Flatiron Health to find out the answer.
It turns out real-world data is all the medical data collected in the “real world”, meaning outside of any clinical trial.
In other words, it's the vast majority of m...
2025-09-2142 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Blythe Adamson on the power of real-world data for precision medicineTo discover the whole episode, type "#48 - Driving precision medicine with real-world data - Blythe Adamson - Flatiron Health" on your preferred streaming platform.
2025-09-2103 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers#47 - Pushing responsible AI in health - Dr. Ricardo Baptista Leite - HealthAIHow can we solve the puzzle of regulating AI in healthcare?
This is the question that Dr. Ricardo Baptista Leite and his team at HealthAI - The Global Agency for Responsible AI in Health ask themselves every day.
Their goal?
To help international organizations, governments, and local stakeholders strike a balance between regulation and access to the latest innovation in the field.
A thorny equation, considering the speed of progress in AI and the time it takes to establish a regulatory framework that, by definition, applies in the long term.
2025-09-1452 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Dr. Ricardo Baptista Leite on blind spots in health systemsTo discover the whole episode, type "#47 - Pushing responsible AI in health - Dr. Ricardo Baptista Leite - HealthAI" on your preferred streaming platform.
2025-09-1403 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers#46 - Rethinking the stethoscope and its use - Diana van Stijn - Lapsi HealthWhen we think of the term "medicine," one of the symbols that comes to mind is the stethoscope.
Its use in almost every physical examination by healthcare providers makes it one of the most iconic and widely recognized medical devices.
Despite the emergence of digital technologies and the first electronic stethoscopes, their operating principle and design still rely heavily on the patent filed by Dr. David Littmann in the 1960s.
But in the era of miniaturization and artificial intelligence, there is a reason to believe that the stethoscope is ripe for a true...
2025-09-0746 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Diana van Stijn on the magic of body soundsTo discover the whole episode type "#46 - Rethinking the stethoscope and its use - Diana van Stijn - Lapsi Health" on your preferred streaming platform.
2025-09-0703 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers#45 - Measuring oxygen with a smart earring - Shavini Fernando - OxiWearDo you have to come close to death to invent a groundbreaking medical device?
That’s certainly not something we would wish upon every medtech entrepreneur.
But it is the story of Shavini Fernando and the connected earring OxiWear that she developed.
Shavini lives with Eisenmenger syndrome, a condition where the two ventricles of her heart communicate.
This condition dramatically increases the pressure in her pulmonary vasculature and severely limits the oxygen carried in her blood.
It’s a critical situation that has already caused her four cardiac arrests and...
2025-08-3152 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Shavini Fernando on designing smart wearables rightTo discover the whole episode type "#45 - Measuring oxygen with a smart earring - Shavini Fernando - OxiWear" on your preferred streaming platform.
2025-08-3103 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers#44 - Predicting cancer treatment response - Andre Esteva - ArteraOne of the greatest fantasies in medicine is to one day be able to offer any patient a therapy perfectly adapted to their profile and needs.
A "personalized" medicine.
The term was introduced to the public in 1999 through an article in The Wall Street Journal titled "New Era of Personalized Medicine: Targeting Drugs for Each Unique Genetic Profile."
The enthusiasm for these next-generation therapies was fueled by advances in DNA sequencing, which hinted at future discoveries in genomics and rapid progress in medicine.
Twenty-five years later, it is clear that personalized...
2024-12-1642 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Andre Esteva on the relevance of AI for clinical decision-makingTo discover the whole episode type "#44 - Predicting cancer treatment response - Andre Esteva - Artera" on your preferred streaming platform.
2024-12-1602 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers#43 - Rethinking medical prescriptions to save lives - Emmanuel Bilbault - PososAccording to the WHO, unsafe medication practices and medication errors are a leading cause of avoidable harm in health systems across the globe.
In the European Union alone, this translates to nearly 200,000 deaths annually.
The magnitude of this problem has led to global initiatives such as "Medication Without Harm," launched in 2017, aiming to reduce medical errors by 50% over five years.
Although there is a need for more data on the results of this initiative, we are far from having reached the goal.
The key lies in our ability to access medical...
2024-12-0851 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Emmanuel Bilbault on the complexity of modern medication prescribingTo discover the whole episode type "#43 - Rethinking medical prescriptions to save lives - Emmanuel Bilbault - Posos" on your preferred streaming platform.
2024-12-0805 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers#42 - Extending reality to transform surgery - George Papagiannakis - ORamaVRWhat will the future of surgery look like?
According to Dr. George Papagiannakis, we must count on virtual simulation.
After all, simulators are an integral part of professional training in highly demanding fields like aviation or F1. So why not medicine?
The approach might seem futuristic, but George and his team at ORamaVR share a vision that makes a lot of sense.
Integrating extended reality in surgery means increasing the volume of hours spent operating.
It means preparing each surgery on a virtual patient with properties close to the...
2024-12-0241 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - George Papagiannakis on reaching proficiency in medicine with virtual realityTo discover the whole episode type "#42 - Extending reality to transform surgery - George Papagiannakis - ORamaVR" on your preferred streaming platform.
2024-12-0203 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers#41 - Making sense of the gut microbiome - Leo Grady - JonaOur gut contains a world of microorganisms that impact many aspects of our health, well beyond the gastrointestinal system.
In fact, more than 30 trillion bacteria, archaea, fungi, and viruses live in the digestive tract of every human, a number that is higher than the number of human cells that make up our body!
Each microbiome is unique to an individual, and its genetic heritage represents approximately 100 times that of the human genome.
This field is fascinating and science is advancing rapidly, as evidenced by the 2,000 publications generated monthly on the subject.
...
2024-11-2647 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Leo Grady on why understanding the microbiome is an AI problemTo discover the whole episode type "#41 - Making sense of the gut microbiome - Leo Grady - Jona" on your preferred streaming platform.
2024-11-2605 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers#40 - Cracking biology through AI - Jean-Philippe Vert - OwkinAll experts agree: if there's one sector that AI will transform, it's healthcare.
Whether it's understanding pathologies, developing personalized treatments, the doctor-patient relationship, diagnostic methods, or creating tools to facilitate the work of healthcare professionals, everything is affected by the ongoing transformation!
This revolution raises many expectations and questions about the real impact these new technologies will have on tomorrow's medicine.
One of the leading figures in this movement on the international scene is none other than the French-American company Owkin, which aims to be "the first end-to-end AI biotech company," whose R...
2024-11-1851 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Jean-Philippe Vert on what AI changes for healthcareTo discover the whole episode type "#40 - Cracking biology through AI - Jean-Philippe Vert - Owkin" on your preferred streaming platform.
2024-11-1805 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers#39 - Crafting the best connected health experience - Matthieu Menanteau - WithingsAmong pioneering companies in connected health devices, few have been as forward-thinking as Withings, a flagship of French technology.
Their first connected scales date back to 2009 (when smartphones were still emerging!) and remain the industry standard today.
For that time, it was a subtle blend combining sleek design, intuitive user experience, and medical precision.
A formula that Withings has successfully applied and developed in many other areas, from smartwatches to sleep sensors, thermometers, blood pressure monitors, or even a urinalysis device for your toilet!
Their portfolio covers a wide range of...
2024-11-1052 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Matthieu Menanteau on the three pillars of a Withings productTo discover the whole episode type "#39 - Crafting the best connected health experience - Matthieu Menanteau - Withings" on your preferred streaming platform
2024-11-1005 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers#38 - Rethinking medical biology with AI - Alexandre Guenoun - KiroMedical biology and laboratories play an essential role in any health system.
No wonder 70 to 80% of all medical decisions are based on laboratory test results.
But even within the most advanced healthcare systems, the communication and analysis of lab data remain archaic.
Processing times can be lengthy, even after the analysis is completed.
Results are expressed as "out of range" or "in range", without complementary or actionable information.
An experience still far from current technological standards, and a gap that Alexandre Guenoun and his team at Kiro intend to...
2024-11-0449 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Alexandre Guenoun on rethinking the clinical biology experienceTo discover the whole episode type "#38 - Rethinking medical biology with AI - Alexandre Guenoun - Kiro" on your preferred streaming platform.
2024-11-0404 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers#37 - Hacking the dopamine system for good - Tryggvi Thorgeirsson - Sidekick HealthCan the attention economy be harnessed to serve health?
Paradoxical as it may seem, this is the thesis of Tryggvi Thorgeirsson and his team at Sidekick Health.
As a medical doctor trained in Iceland in the 2000s, Tryggvi experienced rural medicine firsthand and what working as a general practitioner in a remote setting means.
And he quickly found himself confronted with the limitations posed by the healthcare system at the time:
Prescribing medications at the expense of other therapies where patients are guided toward healthier behaviors.
The silos and impossibility of establishing...
2024-10-3044 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Tryggvi Thorgeirsson on human decision-making and how it can drive healthy behaviorsTo discover the whole episode type "#37 - Hacking the dopamine system for good - Tryggvi Thorgeirsson - Sidekick Health" on your preferred streaming platform.
2024-10-3003 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers#36 - Turning healthcare preventive with full-body MRI scans - Andrew Lacy - PrenuvoMaking healthcare preventive and better able to catch serious conditions earlier is a recurring topic for governments, health systems, and ultimately patients.
As healthcare resources become scarce while chronic conditions and their burden on society grow larger, a preventive and more proactive approach to healthcare is undoubtedly part of the solution.
There are many ways to go about it, with one emerging trend over the past few years focusing on holistic check-ups, providing a large set of scans, biological assays, and complimentary exams all at once on the same day, helping to give a broad...
2024-10-2447 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Andrew Lacy on the complexity of measuring the benefits of full-body MRI scans for health systemsTo discover the whole episode type "#36 - Turning healthcare preventive with full-body MRI scans - Andrew Lacy - Prenuvo" on your preferred streaming platform.
2024-10-2404 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers#35 - Making surgery smarter and safer - Björn Von Siemens - CaresyntaxModernizing surgery by making it smarter, safer, and more predictive.
This is the mission of Björn Von Siemens and his team at Caresyntax.
By developing a platform that integrates into hospitals’ infrastructures and leveraging their data flows throughout the planning, execution, and follow-up of surgeries, the company has established itself as a leader in connected surgery.
Their impact on health systems worldwide is massive and continues to grow at pace:
+3000 equipped operating rooms
+30,000 surgical teams served
+3 million surgeries assisted each year
In a world where healthcare resources are...
2024-10-1355 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Björn Von Siemens on providing modern tools for surgeryTo discover the whole episode type "#35 - Making surgery smarter and safer - Björn Von Siemens - Caresyntax" on your preferred streaming platform.
2024-10-1304 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers#34 - Uniting to bring medical technology forward - Dylan Attard - MedTech WorldLeaving your surgical training to create a healthcare conference from scratch...
...On an island of 300 km² in the middle of the Mediterranean!
This is the crazy bet that Dylan Attard took 5 years ago by founding MedTech World.
From its first online conference held in 2020 in the midst of COVID-19 to its early roadshows around the world two years later, the annual Maltese event led by Dylan and his team has now established itself as a must on the global healthtech scene!
Far from traditional trade shows sponsored by industry giants, MedTech W...
2024-10-0741 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Dylan Attard on making a successful healthcare conferenceTo discover the whole episode type "#34 - Uniting to bring medical technology forward - Dylan Attard - MedTech World" on your preferred streaming platform.
2024-10-0704 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers#33 - Building the next TechBio venture - Mati Gill - AION LabsAI and computational science are revolutionizing the biotechnology sector.
From identifying new therapeutic approaches to their production and accelerating the administrative processes for bringing them to market, the entire value chain of this sector is impacted!
These recent advancements have given rise to a new field in the industry: TechBio.
But what lies behind this futuristic term?
And how exactly do these technologies accelerate the development and introduction of new treatments?
These two questions are at the heart of this episode featuring Mati Gill from AION Labs.
...
2024-09-2953 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Mati Gill on identifying key challenges in biotechnologyTo discover the whole episode type "#33 - Building the next TechBio venture - Mati Gill - AION Labs" on your preferred streaming platform.
2024-09-2906 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers#32 - Accelerating radiology with AI - Amine Korchi - RadiologistRadiology is the field of medicine that has experienced some of the most dramatic technological changes over the past decades.
And given the record number of approvals for AI-based and machine-learning tools dedicated to radiology in Europe and the US (far ahead of all other medical specialties combined!), this trend is unlikely to slow down.
Such rapid evolution can be attributed to the abundance of imaging data from clinical practice, and it already has a huge impact on the way radiologists work and care for patients.
Faster workflows, enhanced diagnostic accuracy, and better...
2024-09-2254 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Amine Korchi on the power of multimodal AI in medicineTo discover the whole episode type "#32 - Accelerating radiology with AI - Amine Korchi - Radiologist" on your streaming platform.
2024-09-2202 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers#31 - Measuring sleep remotely - Soumya Dash - SleepizSleep is the resting state that nature has chosen for us by default.
Long overlooked or even neglected, it is one of the keys to good health, alongside nutrition, physical exercise, and mental and emotional health.
Moreover, it is an excellent indicator of our overall health: when our sleep is disturbed, it usually means at least one of these four components is affected.
It thus seems essential to be able to measure the quality of our sleep while minimizing the interaction or invasiveness of the measurement method with our body.
And...
2024-09-1554 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Soumya Dash on consumer versus medical grade productsTo discover the whole episode type "#31 - Measuring sleep remotely - Soumya Dash - Sleepiz" on your streaming platform.
2024-09-1502 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers#30 - Building the Shopify of digital health - Dan Vahdat - HumaDan Vahdat is an emblematic figure and entrepreneur in healthtech.
A visionary we could say, having anticipated the problem of point solutions in the industry, while predicting the essential role smartphones would have in empowering patients to take control of their health.
The company he founded after pausing his PhD, Huma, has pioneered the field of digital health and remote patient monitoring, having been one of the first to successfully deliver digital disease management programs across multiple conditions.
The first to receive regulatory clearance in Europe (IIb) and the US (II) for its...
2024-09-0848 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Dan Vahdat on enabling digital health programs at scaleTo discover the whole episode type "#30 - Building the Shopify of digital health - Dan Vahdat - Huma" on your streaming platform.
2024-09-0802 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers#29 - Fighting atherosclerosis with cavitation - Scott Nelson - FastWave MedicalScott Nelson is a true authority in the Medtech field. A serial entrepreneur, investor, and early podcaster with Medsider, he currently leads FastWave Medical, a startup developing a method to combat atherosclerosis, specifically the rigid plaques formed by significant calcium deposits in blood vessels.
The principle behind this technology is cavitation, which involves the formation, growth, and implosive collapse of bubbles in a liquid medium. When sonic pressure waves are transmitted through a balloon catheter filled with liquid, they cause rapid pressure changes in the surrounding fluid. These pressure changes result in the formation of bubbles within...
2024-09-0247 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Scott Nelson on proposing new tools for cardiac surgeryTo discover the whole episode type "#29 - Fighting atherosclerosis with cavitation - Scott Nelson - FastWave Medical" on your streaming platform.
2024-09-0204 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersModeling embryos to understand early life - Jacob Hanna - Weizmann Institute of ScienceBecause of ethical and medical challenges, early human embryo development remains “a black box” to us, as Prof. Jacob Hanna himself puts it.
Despite all the progress made in medicine over the past decades, there is still a whole lot to learn about the causes of miscarriages, infertility, or early developmental defects.
In 2023, Jacob’s group from the Weizmann Institute of Science published a pivotal paper in Nature that redefines how we study developmental biology, with the potential to accelerate our understanding of early human life.
Their achievement?
The creation of the fi...
2024-05-0748 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Jacob Hanna on the ethical implications of human embryo modelsTo discover the whole episode type "#28 - Modeling embryos to understand early life - Jacob Hanna - Weizmann Institute of Science" on your streaming platform.
2024-05-0704 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersReinventing neuroelectronic therapies - Carolina Aguilar - Inbrain NeuroelectronicsWe are at a turning point for brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) and neurotechnology.
We have all witnessed phenomenal progress in this field recently via images shared by Neuralink, showing paralyzed patients who can communicate with a computer through their own thoughts. Other fascinating applications, such as those being worked on by Gregoire Courtine and Jocelyne Bloch, enable paraplegics to regain an unprecedented degree of walking mobility.
These advancements are mind-blowing and illustrate the potential of these technologies to address conditions that have a major impact on quality of life.
What if we were to...
2024-04-0745 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Carolina Aguilar on the future of neurotechnologyTo discover the whole episode type "#27 - Reinventing neuroelectronic therapies - Carolina Aguilar - Inbrain Neuroelectronics" on your streaming platform.
2024-04-0703 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers#26 - Redefining allergy care - Kenneth Chahine - Nectar Life SciencesMany of us struggle with allergies, usually something we’ve been dealing with our whole life, either continuously or episodically.
Be it related to food, pollen, dust, pets, or many others, it’s quite a pain and it can take us away from many things we appreciate in life. And I deliberately include myself in this group.
Somehow it was engraved in my brain as a condition one needs to cope with, without much opportunity for improvement.
It turns out companies like Nectar Life Sciences are redefining the way we detect and treat alle...
2024-02-0445 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Kenneth Chahine on being dogmatic about improving allergy careTo discover the whole episode type "#26 - Redefining allergy care - Kenneth Chahine - Nectar Life Sciences" on your streaming platform.
2024-02-0404 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers#25 - Stopping a bleed in three seconds - Joe Landolina - CresilonWe don’t need to look far in the daily news to understand the stakes and the importance of having efficient solutions to control and stop bleeding.
In the times we live in, where the world is crippled by a series of humanitarian catastrophes (some of natural origin, some of human origin), technological wonders from the medical field make me truly hopeful about the future, and about what we can achieve as humans.
One of them is the hemostatic gel - a gel that can stop bleeding - that Joe Landolina and his team at Cr...
2023-11-1245 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Joe Landolina on the criticality of rapid bleeding control in medicineTo discover the whole episode type "#25 - Stopping a bleed in three seconds - Joe Landolina - Cresilon" on your streaming platform.
2023-11-1203 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersReimagining male contraception - L.R. Fox - NEXT Life SciencesHow would the world look like if men had the most efficient and reversible means of birth control?
The outstanding work that L.R. Fox and his team at NEXT Life Sciences are leading might bring a very tangible answer to this question.
Based on the pioneering work from Prof. Sujoy K. Guha and The Parsemus Foundation, they are developing one of the most promising male birth control methods medicine has ever known, under the name of Plan A.
As an American citizen who has grown under the Foster Care program, Fox (as...
2023-10-1849 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - L.R. Fox on the next generation of male contraceptivesTo discover the whole episode type "#24 - Reimagining male contraception - L.R. Fox - NEXT Life Sciences" on your streaming platform.
2023-10-1802 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersDisrupting the smart wearables industry - Leo Grünstein - SpidenWearables are a form of technology that has rapidly become a part of our lives over the past 15 years, with the introduction of devices from Fitbit, Apple, Samsung, and others to the market.
Initially informing us about our heart rate and daily step count, they have evolved to incorporate increasingly sophisticated features, allowing us to track our sleep relatively accurately, monitor our overall physical activity, and sometimes even include recognized medical functions (such as the FDA-approved atrial fibrillation detection of the Apple Watch).
However, no device of this type allows for real-time quantification of molecules...
2023-09-0449 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Leo Grünstein on the future of smart wearablesTo discover the whole episode type "#23 - Disrupting the smart wearables industry - Leo Grünstein - Spiden" on your streaming platform.
2023-09-0404 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersHarnessing self-driving technology to guide the visually impaired - Maël Fabien - Biped.aiGiven the rapid progress made in this field in recent years, autonomous vehicles could soon become part of our daily lives, bringing with them all the consequences and questions they raise in terms of modern mobility.
This would benefit people with visual impairments who are unable to drive.
However, it wouldn't necessarily assist them in their pedestrian moves, which will always play a significant role in their daily lives.
Maël Fabien became aware of the lack of available solutions in this regard during a walk in town. He noticed a visually impaired p...
2023-08-1549 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Maël Fabien on the notion of impact and building things that matterTo discover the whole episode type "#22 - Harnessing self-driving technology to guide the visually impaired - Maël Fabien - Biped.ai" on your streaming platform.
2023-08-1504 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersTransforming hypertension care with a bracelet - Jay Shah - AktiiaFew companies can claim to be a step ahead of tech giants in the wearable race.
The Swiss company Aktiia can.
They were the first to successfully bring to market a device capable of continuously and accurately measuring blood pressure, officially approved in Europe and soon to be in the US. All in a discreet bracelet that resembles a traditional jewel.
It changes the game for how we approach hypertension, the first chronic condition worldwide affecting a staggering 1.4 billion people, and which comes with dire long-term consequences like strokes and heart attacks.
2023-08-0151 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersJay Shah on how wearables are changing healthcareTo discover the whole episode type "#21 - Transforming hypertension care with a bracelet - Jay Shah - Aktiia" on your streaming platform.
2023-08-0104 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersRestoring touch through nerve repair - Karen Zaderej - AxogenRestoring one of our five senses, in this case, touch.
The stakes are immense (1 in 1000 people are affected yearly by a peripheral nerve injury!) and the origins are diverse: traumatic accident, cancer, amputation, and many others.
And solutions to this problem have long needed to be improved.
Karen Zaderej and her team at Axogen have set themselves the goal of changing this situation, by proposing new ways of treating nerves, taking advantage of their regenerative potential.
A chemical engineer by training, Karen began her career at Johnson & Johnson in its surgical...
2023-06-2652 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Karen Zaderej on the resensation technique for women having gone through mastectomyTo discover the whole episode type "#20 - Restoring touch through nerve repair - Karen Zaderej - Axogen" on your streaming platform.
2023-06-2504 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersSaving lives through cybersecurity - Richard Staynings - CyleraWe all know that medical data is sensitive personal information, which we would not like to have falling into the wrong hands.
Along with the progress of digitalisation in healthcare, the number of cyberattacks towards this particular sector has dramatically increased over the past years.
The ultimate risk?
Slowed or even paralysed hospitals, with lives lost as a consequence.
Since all of this happens in the background, it’s hard to grasp the severity of the situation, and the majority of us are not equipped with the expertise to understand how th...
2023-04-2655 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Richard Staynings on the consequences of cyberattacks in healthcareTo discover the whole episode type "#19 - Saving lives through cybersecurity - Richard Staynings - Cylera" on your streaming platform.
2023-04-2603 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersThe dark genome as the next revolution in drug discovery - Samir Ounzain - HAYA TherapeuticsMost of our genome does not code for any protein, which led us to believe that 98% of our genetic material was useless.
But what was initially termed as the “dark side of the genome” (which Star Wars fans will certainly appreciate!) turns out to play a crucial role in modulating our biology.
It is in fact the software translating environmental factors (e.g. air quality, lifestyle, stress, etc.) into biological mechanisms, which can either lead to the proper functioning of our body or to certain illnesses.
The stakes and the potential around its use...
2023-04-1453 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Samir Ounzain on the dark genome and its importance in human biologyTo discover the whole episode type "#18 - The dark genome as the next revolution in drug discovery - Samir Ounzain - HAYA Therapeutics" on your streaming platform.
2023-04-1403 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersCoaching as the key to a better health - Eugene Borukhovich - YourCoach.HealthHow can we support each and every one of us in identifying and pursuing our goals towards a healthier life, in a world where access to care seems to be continuously shrinking?
The solution may lie in health coaching and making it accessible across the globe.
Having witnessed his wife successfully battling breast cancer and becoming a certified health coach, Eugene Borukhovich joined her entrepreneurial adventure at YourCoach.Health in 2020 to co-found the first and only operating system for behavior change powered by an army of helath and wellness coaches.
As a recognized...
2023-02-2143 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Eugene Borukhovich on health coaching and the importance of human-to-human interactionsTo discover the whole episode type "#17 - Coaching as the key to a better health - Eugene Borukhovich - YourCoach.Health" on your streaming platform.
2023-02-2103 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersMaking ultrasound portable to transform medical imaging - Ohad Arazi - ClariusStarting a career in the Israeli army, becoming a lawyer, and finally transforming the field of medical imaging.
In a very schematic way, this is what might define Ohad Arazi’s path, who is now spearheading the field of handheld ultrasound as the CEO of Clarius.
His curiosity for medical imaging - coupled with a very product-oriented mindset and an unrelenting desire to understand the problems that healthcare faces - leads him to integrate different structures, including the Fortune 500 giant McKesson, the Canadian telecommunication company Telus, and the Israeli startup Zebra Medical Vision, where he qu...
2023-02-0950 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Ohad Arazi on the importance of understanding the problem you are trying to solveTo discover the whole episode type "#16 - Making ultrasound portable to transform medical imaging - Ohad Arazi - Clarius" on your streaming platform.
2023-02-0902 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersPropelling diagnostics through miniaturization - Nicolas Durand - AbionicNicolas Durand is the CEO of Abionic, a Swiss-based startup which developed and commercialises the abioSCOPE®, a unique diagnostic platform characterised by its compact size and ability to deliver high quality results in a fraction of time.
Passionate about high tech and wishing to become an entrepreneur from a very early age (he created his first company with a friend at school when he was 14 years old) he turned his PhD work into a venture, which today represents one of the most successful medtech startups in the country!
We discuss with Nicolas the nanotechnology behind A...
2023-01-1844 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Nicolas Durand on Theranos and how it could have been a successTo discover the whole episode type "#15 - Propelling diagnostics through miniaturization - Nicolas Durand - Abionic" on your streaming platform.
2023-01-1803 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersPreserving our health with smart clothes - Vincent Martinez - NanoleqWill the next revolution in personalized health be led by connected clothes?
This is the bet that Vincent Martinez and his team at Nanoleq are making, and they are putting all their efforts into turning their vision into reality!
Originally, their idea was to target the cable industry with a proprietary technology enabling to create stretchable cables, with superior physical and electrical properties.
The targeted companies being too slow in their adoption of the proposed approach, Vincent and his team decide to tackle the field of connected clothing, by proposing a set of...
2022-12-1456 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Vincent Martinez on the rise of smart textiles and their relevance in personalized healthTo discover the whole episode type "#14 - Preserving our health with smart clothes - Vincent Martinez - Nanoleq" on your streaming platform.
2022-12-1403 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersCatalyzing drug discovery using organ-on-a-chip models - Bas Trietsch - MimetasDeveloping a new drug is a tough and strenuous endeavour, requiring investments that go beyond $1 billion and sometimes up to 15 years of time.
On top of that, only 1 out of 10 drug candidates successfully passes clinical trial testing and regulatory approval.
The Dutch company Mimetas, specialized in the use of organ-on-a-chip technology, aims to address exactly this challenge by accelerating this laborious process and making it more predictable.
Their expertise actually lies in the development of in-vitro human tissue models (including diseases) which recapitulate the cellular complexity but also the biochemical and mechanical cues t...
2022-11-2854 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Bas Trietsch on the radical benefits of using organ-on-a-chip models early in drug discoveryTo discover the whole episode type “#13 - Catalyzing drug discovery using organ-on-a-chip models - Bas Trietsch - Mimetas" on your streaming platform.
2022-11-2803 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersUnleashing the power of digital health - Daniel Kraft - Digital.HealthDaniel Kraft is a surprising and admirable figure in the digital health landscape.
Originally trained as a physician in internal medicine and pediatrics, he then distinguished himself by his research work focusing on regenerative medicine, while at the same time initiating several entrepreneurial projects in the medtech space. RegenMed Systems is one of them, a company that he founded and which led him to create a new type of medical device to facilitate bone marrow harvest procedures. IntelliMedicine is another one, where he aims to create a system enabling patients to 3D print their own medication at...
2022-11-0147 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Daniel Kraft on 3D printing your own pills at homeTo discover the whole episode type “#12 - Unleashing the power of digital health - Daniel Kraft - Digital.Health" on your streaming platform.
2022-11-0102 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersTurning the lab into a wearable platform - Esmeralda Megally - XsensioMiniaturizing the lab to allow for the continuous analysis of proteins and hormones circulating in our body through a wearable.
This is the aim of Xsensio - a Swiss startup developing the Lab-on-Skin(c) platform - which will enable in the future to continuously track compounds present in the interstitial fluid, right underneath our skin.
It is in essence a similar concept as the established continuous glucose measurement devices (which are nowadays moving from pure medical applications to consumer-oriented wellness programs), the difference being the type of biomarkers that the Lab-on-Skin(c) platform will enable to...
2022-10-1941 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Esmeralda Megally on the emergence of wearable biosensorsTo discover the whole episode type “#11 - Turning the lab into a wearable platform - Esmeralda Megally - Xsensio" on your streaming platform.
2022-10-1903 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersApplying blockchain technology to the healthcare sector - Eberhard Scheuer - dHealth FoundationMost of us have already heard about blockchain technology, as well as many things about cryptocurrencies and how they are transforming traditional approaches in the field of finance.
But what about its relevance to healthcare and the potential applications it may have in this space?
Eberhard Scheuer is the President of the dHealth Foundation, a not-for-profit organization from Switzerland providing the infrastructure and tools to major stakeholders in healthcare to leverage blockchain technology.
He takes us through the basic concepts around blockchain and guides us through the benefits and the applications it may...
2022-10-0256 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Eberhard Scheuer on the benefits of tokenizing health dataTo discover the whole episode type “#10 - Applying blockchain technology to healthcare - Eberhard Scheuer - dHealth Foundation" on your streaming platform.
2022-10-0202 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersCreating the Gran Turismo of surgery - Raimundo Sierra - VirtaMedRaimundo Sierra is the Founder and CEO from VirtaMed, a Swiss company specialized in surgical simulation systems, covering interventions in orthopaedics, gynecology, laparoscopy and urology, providing true-to-life training for aspiring surgeons and established ones, as part of their continuing education.
At the edge of robotics and gaming, Raimundo takes us through the origins of this extremely ambitious project, explaining how the first systems from VirtaMed were developed, and how they currently fit in the diverse surgical curricula provided by established institutions in Europe, China and the US.
Beyond the volume of training that such platforms...
2022-09-1547 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Raimundo Sierra on creating the most realistic surgical simulation systemTo discover the whole episode type “#9 - Creating the Gran Turismo of surgery - Raimundo Sierra - VirtaMed" on your streaming platform.
2022-09-1502 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersUsing organoids to transform drug discovery - Nikolce Gjorevski - RocheDisclaimer: Nikolce and I both work for Roche, nevertheless all opinions expressed in this episode are our own and do not necessarily represent the position of our employer.
Nikolce is leading the Organoid Engineering Group at the Roche Institute for Translational Bioengineering.
Organoids are miniaturised versions of the organs and tissues that make up our bodies, sharing phenotypic and genetic aspects of them.
They carry a lot of hope in terms of applications in healthcare, from the replacement of animal testing involved in the assessment of drug safety and efficacy...
2022-08-3050 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Nikolce Gjorevski on transforming personalized medicine with organoidsDisclaimer: Nikolce and I both work for Roche, nevertheless all opinions expressed in this episode are our own and do not necessarily represent the position of our employer.To discover the whole episode type “#8 - Using organoids to transform drug discovery - Nikolce Gjorevski - Roche” on your streaming platform.
2022-08-3002 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersRedefining motor rehabilitation with digital neurotherapeutics - Naveed Ejaz - MindMazeNaveed Ejaz is VP Product Strategy and Clinical Development (formerly Director of Digital Therapies) at MindMaze, the very first unicorn from Switzerland, pioneering the fascinating field of digital neurotherapeutics.
Underneath these fluffy terms lies the concept of “software-as-a-medicine”, where pieces of code come together to drive a behavioural intervention, enabling patients suffering from neurological diseases to improve their condition.
In the area of neurology where pharmaceutical and medical device solutions have been limited, this field opens up promising perspectives in terms of extended care delivery, stronger engagement from patients towards their treatment plans, and facilitated care...
2022-08-011h 08
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Naveed Ejaz on the concept of software-as-a-medicineTo discover the whole episode type "#7 - Redefining motor rehabilitation with digital neurotherapeutics - Naveed Ejaz - MindMaze" on your streaming platform.
2022-08-0102 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SPECIAL EDITION] - Saul Marquez - Outcomes RocketThis is a special episode where we receive Saul Marquez, host of Outcomes Rocket, one of the leading podcast series in the healthcare space, having already interviewed key opinion leaders from the field throughout more than 1000 episodes!The format of the podcast is slightly different from the episodes produced so far as part of Impulse, with shorter conversations and a stronger business focus.The range of topics covered though is unprecedented: with testimonials from people working in the industry (from startups to big corporations), Academia, healthcare providers, or in insurance firms. It’s hard not to...
2022-07-1410 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersBringing back walking to paraplegics - Jocelyne Bloch - .NeuroRestoreBringing back mobility to those who lost it.
This is the challenge that Jocelyne Bloch, neurosurgeon at the CHUV, together with the neuroscientist Grégoire Courtine from EPFL and their teams at .NeuroRestore and Onward set out to address.
A decade after demonstrating that the technology developed by Prof. Courtine’s lab was able to bring back lower limb mobility to paraplegic rats, it has now been applied to humans in a research context through their joint work with phenomenal outcomes: most paraplegic patients implanted with the stimulation system they have developed were able to ret...
2022-07-0545 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Jocelyne Bloch on decoding brain signals to enable mind-controlled stimulation of the spinal cordTo discover the whole episode type “#6 - Bringing back walking to paraplegics - Jocelyne Bloch - .NeuroRestore” on your streaming platform.
2022-07-0503 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersTransforming diagnostics through spatial biology - Déborah Heintze - LunaphoreTransforming our understanding of how our immune system works and how certain pathologies like cancer unfold: that is the mission to which Lunaphore has committed since 2014.
Through a cutting-edge platform capable of accelerating complex staining and imaging procedures, the Swiss startup is pioneering what is now named “spatial biology”, recognized by the journal Nature as Method of the Year 2020.
Applicable to many disease areas, the field carries great hopes in bringing to light new insights that will accelerate drug discovery and drive the development of personalized therapies in the long run. Its power resides in the...
2022-06-0151 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Déborah Heintze on spatial biology and its potential applications in diagnosticsTo discover the whole episode type "#5 - Transforming diagnostics through spatial biology - Déborah Heintze - Lunaphore" on your streaming platform.
2022-06-0104 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersFiltering the blood with nanoengineered beads - Lukas Langenegger - HemotuneOne consequence of the covid-19 crisis we are still going through is sepsis, a lethal misguided reaction of the immune system following an infection, currently responsible for 11 million deaths yearly on a global scale.
Together with his team, Lukas Langenegger is addressing this life-threatening condition using a unique technology leveraging magnetic microscopic beads that enable the filtration of blood and the removal of toxic compounds circulating through the body during such a medical episode.
The so-called Hemosystem is akin to a dialysis machine where the traditional membrane filter is replaced by a solution containing these...
2022-05-0143 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Lukas Langenegger on blood filtration and its applications for the extension of our longevityTo discover the whole episode type "#4 - Filtering the blood with nanoengineered beads - Lukas Langenegger - Hemotune" on your streaming platform.
2022-04-2803 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersAugmenting the lives of paraplegics with exoskeletons - Tristan Vouga - TWIICEWearables bringing back the ability to walk for paraplegics: this is the world in which Tristan Vouga is evolving.
Passionate by the field of robotics and willing to have an impact on society, he turned his PhD thesis into the Swiss startup TWIICE.
The company is developing a modular exoskeleton, bringing back the ability for its users to stand, walk, climb stairs and even go on a ski tour!
Beyond the technological achievement and the numerous awards it has won in international contests, their platform has the potential to transform the lives of...
2022-03-3048 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Tristan Vouga on developing an exoskeleton for ski touringTo discover the whole episode type "#3 - Augmenting the lives of paraplegics with exoskeletons - Tristan Vouga - TWIICE" on your streaming platform.
2022-03-2802 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersTreating liver cancer with surgical robotics - Lucien Blondel - Quantum SurgicalLucien Blondel is one of the leading figures in the field of surgical robotics, having already led the development of several platforms supporting orthopaedic, spinal and brain surgeries.
Together with Quantum Surgical, which he co-founded alongside Bertin Nahum, Fernand Badano and Sophie Roca, they are addressing liver cancer through a new robotic platform supporting ablation procedures.
Under the name of “Epione” (the goddess of care in the Greek mythology), it represents a breakthrough in this field, not only supporting surgeons in the execution of the ablation procedure, but also in the planning phase up to the...
2022-02-2851 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Lucien Blondel on surgical robotics and maximizing their potential in a clinical settingTo discover the whole episode type "#2 - Treating liver cancer with surgical robotics - Lucien Blondel - Quantum Surgical" on your streaming platform.
2022-02-2602 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersMeasuring your arterial age to prevent heart diseases - Ted Baldwin - ImageensCardiovascular diseases represent the leading cause of deaths worldwide. Despite the permanent progress in the treatment of such conditions, targeted prevention approaches remain a key solution to address this issue.
This is the challenge that Imageens, a Paris-based startup led by Ted Baldwin, is tackling through the application of artificial intelligence to medical imaging, with the aim to quantify your arterial age. This specific biomarker unvails unique opportunities to anticipate heart conditions for people at moderate risk, with the promise to inform better clinical care decisions.
We exchanged with Ted on the burden that cardiovascular...
2022-02-0248 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[SNIPPET] - Ted Baldwin on the importance of prognostic cardiac biomarkers and preventionTo discover the whole episode type "#1 - Measuring your arterial age to prevent heart diseases - Ted Baldwin - Imageens" on your streaming platform.
2022-02-0103 min
Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers[TRAILER] - Impulse - Meeting Healthcare PioneersWelcome to Impulse, the podcast where you will meet the people shaping the current medical advancements, through in-depth conversations about their field of expertise, and the journey that took them where they are now. Its aim is to democratize ongoing advances in medical technology, and introduce listeners to some of its key actors.
2022-01-3102 min