Shows
ReBootHealthCory Janssen—AltaML| Exploring the Basics of AI/ML in Healthcare [Ep.25]In episode 25 of ReBootHealth, I speak with Cory Janssen. Cory is unique compared to previous guests with a background in finance as the founder of Investopedia and now operating AltaML. I’ve spoken to Cory on several occasions and really enjoy how he uses his business and founder experience to create a lens of AI/ML in healthcare. Today’s conversation focused on several high-level concepts including the challenges of building AI startups, regulations, Canada’s role in the future of AI/ML In healthcare, and the importance of data with maybe an overemphasis by some organizations on its value...
2023-10-241h 13ReBootHealthFrank Rudzicz—Winterlight Labs| Exploring the Basics of AI/ML in Healthcare [Ep.24]In episode 24 of ReBootHealth, I speak with Frank Rudzicz. There’s been so much ‘hype’ around the use of artificial intelligence/machine learning in life sciences that I wanted to get a solid footing for where we are and what’s possible. Now this is a big topic and one show cannot do it justice, but as they say, you have to start somewhere. Frank and I started out with his own journey, moved to some high-level definitions in LLMs, discussed Winterlight Labs, and challenges for founders, and then moved on to elements Canada might need to accelerate AI/ML in he...
2023-08-091h 16ReBootHealthMitch Jones—Chemomab Therapeutics| When Culture meets Talent in Life Sciences [Ep.23]In episode 23 of ReBootHealth, I speak with Mith Jones. Mitch was referred to me by a previous guest of the show and as a Canadian in the US life sciences ecosystem, I was curious to get a bit more on his perspective. I’ll admit this show won’t be for everyone, but during our pre-show chat, I came to quickly appreciate the depth of knowledge and skill that Mitch brings to the therapeutics arena. I couldn’t help but think if we just had a “few more Mitch(es) north of the border” we would be able to make some...
2023-05-2358 minReBootHealthZain Kassam—Finch Therapeutics Co-Founder| The DNA for building a great life science hub [Ep.22]In episode 22 of ReBootHealth, I speak with Zain Kassam. Zain was a co-founder and former CMO of Finch Therapeutics, a publicly listed, therapeutic microbiome company in Boston. I’ve known Zain for a little over a year now and he’s probably the closest I’ll ever get to a ‘Kendall Square cluster founder’. I wanted to explore Zain’s thoughts from his unique lens of building ventures and how to do it better in Canada. I certainly could have spent a lot more time with Zain but we did manage to tackle a number of topics including the need to solv...
2023-03-261h 14ReBootHealthSanjana Basu—Investor, Radical Ventures| Preparing for ‘radical’ change in AI/ML and healthcare [Ep.21]In episode 21of ReBootHealth, I speak with Sanjana Basu, Investor at Radical Ventures. In her time at Radical, Sanjana has focused on AI/ML innovation across multiple sectors including health. We all know that this is a hot area and see its eventual value in healthcare, so I wanted to get a sense of where we are in this journey, especially as the capital markets take a breather. With that as background, we talked about Canada’s continued role in AI/ML in healthcare, the foundational underpinnings of the sector, what investors in the space look for in ventures, man...
2022-10-291h 09ReBootHealthAnne Woods—Managing Director, Life Science and Healthcare Silicon Valley Bank Canada| Perspectives on Canadian Life Sciences [Ep.20]In episode 20 of ReBootHealth, I speak with Anne Woods, Managing Director of Life Sciences and Healthcare, Silicon Valley Bank Canada. Anne is also a Board member at Life Sciences Ontario and has a bird’s eye view of the life sciences ecosystem across the country as well as our neighbours down south (…think chowder). We talk about how she meandered into the industry having an open mind, the role of SVB for ventures, the four pillars of life sciences, regional variation in innovation and her three top picks for our life sciences technology. Anne proves that you don’t have t...
2022-09-161h 05ReBootHealthDr. Karen Cross—Co-Founder Mimosa Diagnostics| Moving from Clinician to Founder [Ep.19]In episode 19 of ReBootHealth, I speak with Dr. Karen Cross, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon and co-founder of Mimosa Diagnostics. I was keen to chat with Karen on several fronts and get her thoughts on transitioning between academic medicine and entrepreneurship, balancing various roles, perspectives on clinician founders, strategies for addressing diversity challenges in medicine and ventures, moving from Toronto to the east coast to continue work, and so much more. I didn’t get to know Karen while she was in Toronto (my loss) but glad I connected with her through the show. If you’re even remotely thinking of a...
2022-07-161h 08
ReBootHealthCrystal Phillips—Health Lead, Thin Air Labs| Idea to Impact [Ep.18]In episode 18 of ReBootHealth, I speak with Crystal Phillips, Health Lead of Thin Air Labs. This pod was a bit different from my normal format. Crystal kindly agreed to have a meandering chat on a few topics that I wanted to dive deeper into. She was willing to talk about her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) and how it impacted her Olympic speed skating hopes, her journey into the healthcare world, launching Branch Out Foundation for research in neurological sciences, her foray into the world of venture capital and her thoughts and future perspective on the role of data...
2022-05-3152 minReBootHealthFrank Baylis and Kris Shah—Co-Founders Baylis Medical Company| Bootstrapping Your Way to Success [Ep.17]In episode 17 of ReBootHealth, I speak with Frank Baylis and Kris Shah, co-founders of Baylis Medical Technologies. These two founders are clearly operating experts—no hype, no exaggeration--just hyper-focused on executing their way to a great business. The most interesting aspect of this show was chatting to two co-founders who started and ‘finished’ running a business successfully. We jump through several topics including pivoting medical ventures, the benefits of bootstrapping, the changing landscape for medical device ventures and thoughts on what Canada needs to work on to help ventures do better on the national and global stage. If you’re just...
2022-05-011h 04ReBootHealthDr. Pieter Cullis—Co-Founder Acuitas Therapeutics| The Personalized Medicine Revolution [Ep.16]In episode 16 of ReBootHealth, I speak with Dr. Pieter Cullis, professor at UBC and co-founder of Acuitas Therapeutics. This was a masterclass in personalized medicine. Pieter has a wealth of knowledge but I spent the entire episode reviewing his 2015 book, Personalized Medicine. We start with his impetus for writing the book and move into areas that in 2015 were nascent but are now in full view. I asked him to comment not only on our progress but also on the potential obstacles and then the two areas that remain unexplored—neuroscience and aging. This was a special treat for me to...
2022-03-081h 03ReBootHealthDrs. Sheila Singh and Jason Moffat—Century Therapeutics| Inspiration from the Two Christophers [Ep.15]In episode 15 of ReBootHealth, I speak with Drs. Singh and Moffat. They co-founded Empirica Therapeutics in 2018 to address glioblastoma and were recently acquired by Century Therapeutics in 2020 to form Century Therapeutics Canada. Sheila and Jason discuss their chance meeting to collaborate, Canadian stem cell research, the challenges they faced as an early-stage biotech venture, and where they feel Canada can do better. We also touched on the great things we’re doing in the biotech space despite all the challenges and finally, for all you aspiring graduate students, you’ll hear how to get invention out of academia and turn...
2022-02-181h 11ReBootHealthAli Tehrani—Zymeworks Co-Founder| Love to Listen to the Sound of Your Own Voice [Ep.14]In episode 14 of ReBootHealth, I speak with Ali Tehrani. Ali is the co-founder and former CEO of Zymeworks, a publicly listed, clinical-stage, biopharmaceutical company focused on developing biotherapeutics in the oncology space. It was an honour and a joy to have Ali be a guest and share his deep knowledge around building one of the pioneer biotechnology ventures in the Canadian ecosystem. We could have spent hours on this show but decided to focus on the key passions of Ali including talent in biotechnology, permission to be ambitious, entrepreneurship, and the new world of biotechnology. There’s a lot mor...
2022-01-2959 minReBootHealthDave Kuraguntla—Alio| A Founder’s Journey in Remote Patient Monitoring [Ep.13]In episode 13 of ReBootHealth, I speak with Dave Kuraguntla. Dave is the founder and CEO of Alio, a non-invasive, remote patient monitoring start-up focused on chronic conditions. Telehealth and remote patient monitoring have been hot areas in venture over the last two years and we talk about Alio’s impact in this area. Dave talks about the importance of finding a tribe for founders, focusing on solving problems rather than building technology, the role incentives play in helping (or hindering) a market and the role serendipity can play with a founder’s journey. Dave is a classical “scratch the itch” t...
2022-01-0356 minReBootHealthAli Ardakani—Novateur Ventures| Biotechnology in British Columbia [Ep.12]In episode 12 of ReBootHealth, I speak with Ali Ardakani. Ali is the founder and managing director of Novateur Ventures a global talent firm of device and drug development experts. Ali continues our exploration of the Canadian biotechnology ecosystem with a specific focus on British Columbia, a province that has recently been firing on all cylinders. Ali provides insight into what is working in BC and what is not. We chat about entrepreneurship, BC and its talent pool, and the role of capital in the ecosystem. Ali is passionate about a national vaccine strategy, and we talk about its relation t...
2021-12-1952 minReBootHealthPeter van der Velden—Lumira Ventures| Backing Great Canadian Entrepreneurs [Ep.11]In episode 11 of ReBootHealth, I speak with Peter van der Velden. Peter is the Managing General Partner of Lumira Ventures, a multi-stage life sciences investment firm focused on biotechnology, medical technologies, digital health, and consumer healthcare solutions. Peter is no ‘biotech-tourist’ and so it was great to hear a seasoned veteran’s perspective on the Canadian health ecosystem. We could have chatted for hours, but I wanted to touch on the critical aspects of the innovation ecosystem: people, places, policies, and purse strings (‘capital’) that fuel our system. We explored many topics including Canada’s health innovation status, the role for ins...
2021-11-221h 00ReBootHealthJames Somauroo—SomX| Storytelling and Communications for Healthtech Start-Ups [Ep.10]In episode 10 of ReBootHealth, I speak with James Somauroo. James is an anesthetist and intensivist in the UK who has become a healthtech start-up communication “whisperer”. He is the founder of SomX, host of the Healthtech Podcast, and editor and chief of Healthtech Pigeon. I was fascinated with James’s journey and felt a kindred spirit in helping to shine a light on all the great founders and activities in the healthtech ecosystem. I was particularly excited to invite James as my first, inaugural ‘across the pond’ guest. We touched on a number of topics including the power of storytellin...
2021-10-231h 01ReBootHealthAlexandra Greenhill—Careteam Technologies| The Benefit of Diversity and Heuristics in Digital Healthcare [Ep.9]In episode 9 of ReBootHealth, I speak with Alexandra Greenhill. Alexandra is an emergency care physician and founder of Careteam Technologies. Alexandra has an immense depth of experience as a clinician, administrator in the healthcare ecosystem, and now as a founder and CEO. I crossed paths with Alexandra on a CDL reading club and quickly appreciated her passion for the fields of technology and health. On today’s show, we talk about some of her generalizable heuristics that all founders could benefit from, diversity in the health tech ecosystem, and the role of evidence for early-stage founders. If you’re an e...
2021-10-021h 01ReBootHealthMuhammad Mamdani—Unity Health Toronto| Implementing AI in healthcare [Ep.8]In episode 8 of ReBootHealth, I speak with Muhammad Mamdani. Muhammad is Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and Vice-President of Data Science and Advanced Analytics at Unity Health Toronto. Muhammad bridges advanced analytics including machine learning with clinical and management decision-making to improve patient outcomes and hospital efficiency. I brought Muhammad on for 2 main reasons; one to shine a light on the great work being done by healthcare organizations in AI and health care and the second, to understand the more neglected parts of the exciting health innovation journey--technology evaluation and change management. Muhammad and his team...
2021-09-1654 minReBootHealthAvi Goldfarb—Rotman School of Management| Prediction Machines-AI in Healthcare [Ep.7]In the seventh episode of ReBootHealth, I speak with Avi Goldfarb. Avi is Professor of Marketing and the Rotman Chair of Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare at the University of Toronto. He is also co-author of the Book Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence. This interview with Avi was fascinating as he unpacked AI and healthcare through an economic lens. The content in this episode won’t help you build a better AI but it will do one better—help set the context for the profound impact of AI on the business and structure of healthcare. We talked abou...
2021-09-011h 00ReBootHealthRay Muzyka—Threshold Impact (Investor)| Betting on the Right Founders and Mentors [Ep.6]In the sixth episode of ReBootHealth, I speak with Ray Muzyka. Ray is a family physician turned gaming founder (BioWare) turned prolific investor (Threshold Impact). Ray co-founded BioWare in the early1990’s and continued to work with Electronic Arts after they acquired BioWare in 2008. Ray has a wealth of knowledge in so many areas, it was hard to narrow down the show to only a few topics. We eventually decided to dig into his thoughts on qualities that make great founders and the role of mentors and advisors (all 3 areas in which Ray is familiar). We end the show wit...
2021-08-181h 02ReBootHealthArash Zohoor—Inkblot Therapy (Founder)| Digital Mental Health—Perspectives from an Operator [Ep.5]In the fifth episode of ReBootHealth, I speak with Arash Zohoor, founder of Inkblot Therapy, a digital mental health platform designed to deliver convenient, affordable, and confidential mental health services. Inkblot Therapy was founded in 2015 and was acquired by Green Shield Canada in 2021. Arash is a family physician and in many ways was well ahead of the curve with digital mental health services, one of the hottest sectors in digital healthcare over the last 12-24 months. We discuss his role as clinician and founder, the need for strong vision and flexibility by entrepreneurs, how he started Inkblot Therapy, thoughts o...
2021-08-011h 02ReBootHealthJehangir Appoo--AIoT Health| Clinician to Investor: Overcoming the Imposter Syndrome [Ep.4]In the fourth episode of ReBootHealth, I speak with Jehangir Appoo, Founding Partner of AIoT Health, a physician led syndicate investment partnership. Jehangir has recently transitioned from cardiovascular surgeon to early-stage start-up investor and advisor. We talk about a broad range of topics on the show including his transition from clinician to investor, his sources of learning and his advice for early-stage founders entering healthcare. This interview was particularly fun as it brings insight from an individual who was recently able to make a major career transition in a short amount of time and do so in a graceful...
2021-07-1552 minReBootHealthSachin Aggarwal--ThinkResearch| Developing and maintaining KPIs and culture with growth [Ep. 3]In the third episode of ReBootHealth, I speak with Sachin Aggarwal, CEO of ThinkResearch. Sachin was successful in taking the company public recently and I wanted to get him on the show to talk about the journey from startup to public company. Rather than a high-level overview we focus on two central elements and how they change through a company’s growth: KPI’s and culture. This episode will dig into choosing KPIs for your startup and how to make them relevant for the healthcare market. We then attack the nature of culture…developing it and maintaining it. It was a p...
2021-07-0148 minReBootHealthNoah Crampton--Mutuo | Transitioning from Clinician to Early Founder [Ep. 2]In the second episode of ReBootHealth, I interview Noah Crampton, CEO/founder of Mutuo. We cover a fair bit of ground in this episode including how to balance life as a clinician and a founder, the impact of computers in examining rooms, natural language processing (NLP) and its role in healthcare, the mindset of clinician versus entrepreneur and thoughts on Canadian healthcare innovation. Noah provides insight on moving from a clinician to a founder and how the two roles overlap. I hope you enjoy today’s discussion with Noah Crampton.
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2021-06-1850 minReBootHealthJoshua Liu--SeamlessMD | Starting In Patient Engagement [Ep. 1]In the first episode of ReBootHealth, I interview Joshua Liu, CEO/founder of SeamlessMD. We touch on a lot of points in this podcast with Joshua including how he got started, navigating the pull of healthcare customers, early wins, and the role of peer-review evidence in supporting your venture. Joshua had a lot of great insight as an early-stage entrepreneur and hopefully, his learnings can help others thinking about moving down this path. I hope you enjoy today’s discussion with Joshua Liu.
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2021-06-0247 min
The Sage Space podcastLet's talk about rebooting your health with Sara Davenport, founder of The Breast Cancer Haven My guest today is Sara Davenport the founder of The Haven breast cancer charity and the heath website, RebootHealth.When Sara set up the Haven back in 2000 there was very little knowledge that treatments like acupuncture, reflexology or EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) could offer any real value or respite for cancer patients when practiced alongside the more traditional medical interventions. Twenty years later and the picture is very different. Thousands of women have been through the doors of The Haven. Cancer treatment centres themselves now often actively suggest and refer patients for complimentary th...
2021-05-2135 minReBootHealthThe Journey BeginsThis is the inaugural episode of RebootHealth and I'll be your host, Amol Deshpande. This episode explains why I decided to launch this podcast. It's a short piece setting out the map for our journey to explore the people and technology rebuilding the digital health care system. If you have any interest in learning from founders, researchers, clinicians, or investors and how they're trying to help build a better health care system for the future, then I encourage you to have a listen. See you inside...
2021-05-0502 min