A conversation with Katie Keith We need to make healthcare more resilient. Here to guide us through the policy issues affecting modern healthcare is Katie Keith, J.D., M.P.H., director of the Health Policy and the Law Initiative at Georgetown’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law and Principal at Keith Policy Solutions. With an impressive resume that includes a stint at the White House under the Biden administration, Katy is an expert on federal and state healthcare pri...

Obesity is a chronic disease. So why are we still not treating it as such? Enter Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, Associate Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Stanford is a global voice on obesity - redefining it as a chronic disease, not a personal failure. In taking us through the science behind it, Dr. Stanford guides us to the heart of several patient stories, highlighting the need for treating patients with dignity, improving a...

A conversation with Brent Dial To Brent Dial, the pursuit of health is about three things: agency, education, and collaboration. And that’s exactly what Beek Health, the start-up he co-founded earlier this year, are all about. Beek are on a mission to revolutionize the bloated patient data process: reducing wasted time, resources and patient stress. Gone are repeated scans, poor communication and unnecessary surgeries. By putting the power into the patient's hands, their innovative combinatio...

A conversation with Dr. Katherine Gergen-Barnett and Cheryl Harding Healthcare is a matter of trust. Pouring their efforts into rebuilding the critical tenet of medical trust are family physician and prominent voice on health equity Dr. Katherine Gergen-Barnett and community champion and strategic advisor Ms. Cheryl Harding. Our two guests forged a bond when Dr. Gergen-Barnett assured an unwell Cheryl experiencing the worst of our healthcare system, “I’ll be your quarterback.” This message of...

Our primary care system needs an Overhaul. Leading the discussion is Dr. Marla McLaughlin, a national leader in care delivery innovation and CEO of apree Health. As a family medicine physician with decades of frontline experience, Dr. McLaughlin knows the value of primary care firsthand. As she says, its value lies in the strength and depth of the relationship between patient and physician. With a growing shortage of primary care physicians, weeks-long wait times for appointments, and worse o...

True health is only possible through prevention. Our guest this week is renowned physiotherapist, educator, and founder of the AMT System - Tom Swales. Tom has over 20 years of experience in orthopedic care, injury rehabilitation, and human performance - working with a huge range of people, from world-class athletes to the elderly. Yet in 2023, Tom suffered with a near-fatal Streptococcus A infection - with doctors crediting his optimal physical health as the key driver for survival. Having b...

A conversation with Dr. Munir Ghesani Cancer care is due an update. Leading the field with cutting-edge treatment options and an ethos rooted in equity, are United Theranostics - represented today by Chief Medical Officer Dr. Munir Ghesani. As a leading voice in nuclear medicine, Dr. Ghesani expertly guides us through the current problems in cancer care, before outlining the promise of theranostic treatment. With an unwavering focus on patient experience and creating equitable access, Dr. Ghe...

A conversation with RJ Kedziora “In the near future, it’s going to be irresponsible to not use AI.” As co-founder of Estenda Solutions, RJ Kedziora is an expert in leveraging data for healthcare organizations, with over 25 years of experience improving patient outcomes. He is a passionate advocate for the AI-clinician partnership: lightening administrative workloads, deepening patient connections, and spotting data patterns to highlight the bigger health stories that lay beneath. As he says, ...

A conversation with Ariana Thacker We’re living through the 1918 flu pandemic all over again. But this time, it's silent. Here to shed light on the staggering scale of mold related illness is Ariana Thacker - venture capitalist, former chemical engineer and Founder/CEO of MoldCo. After battling mold toxicity, Ariana realised just how little modern American healthcare knew about mold - it’s barely even taught in our medical schools. Her journey into healthcare wasn’t by choice, but it’s ...

A conversation with Sahil Diwan The future of healthcare is proactive. And that can start from the smallest of treatments - as simple as getting your ears cleaned. Enter Sahil Diwan, Co-Founder and CEO of SafKan Health, the medtech company behind OtoSet, the first FDA-cleared automated ear-cleaning headphones. Sahil and his brother have designed a product with mass appeal - it’s regularly going viral on social media with millions of views. With people queuing up to try it out, Sahil tak...

This episode is a collaboration with Doctors for America. “ It's our turn to step up and speak out.” In another special episode of the Pursuit of Health podcast, Dr. Eric Fethke collaborates with Doctors for America to reflect on the impact of the 4th July tax bill, and the extent of its threat to our healthcare system. Calling on former guests to contribute, and through resharing pertinent snippets from previous episodes of the show, Dr. Fethke presents the stark reality of the impact ...

A conversation with Neal Shah The healthcare insurance system is on the cusp of collapsing. Enter former Wall Street hedge fund manager Neal Shah, who channelled personal experiences of managing care for family members into a mission for transforming our entire system. As CEO of social enterprise and health tech platform CareYaya and Chairman of Counterforce Health, Neal is dedicated to spearheading a revolution: bringing direct relationships to the forefront and bypassing huge corporations. ...

A conversation with Ryan Johnson Healthcare is a game of moving targets. No one knows this quite like Ryan Johnson, an ER nurse turned CEO and co-founder of health-tech innovators Float. Float are in the business of helping hospitals free-up needed capacity, empowering patients through home treatments, paying nurses fairly for their work, and easing staffing pressures. The result? Reduced costs, better patient outcomes, and a mission that reconnects healthcare with its human purpose. This is ...

A conversation with Dr. Yousuf Zafar Each patient has a 'sphere of life'. And according to Dr. Yousuf Zafar, it’s critical we do everything we can to understand it. As a gastrointestinal medical oncologist, Adjunct Professor at Duke University, and Chief Medical Officer at cancer data innovators AccessHope, he knows exactly what it takes to strive for the best patient outcomes. Through data, personalized case reviews, subspecialist recommendations, and collaboration, AccessHope connects local...

A conversation with Rob Andrews “A rising tide lifts all boats.” - President Kennedy Channelling the heart of this message in his words, actions, and distinguished career, is former Congressman and CEO of the Health Transformation Alliance (HTA), Rob Andrews. As one of the original authors of the Affordable Care Act, Rob has set his sights on driving value-based healthcare reform through data, analytics, and employer-led innovation. To Rob, our healthcare system isn’t poor - it just sits upon...

A conversation with Dr. Megan Morris How do we define quality of life? And how do we provide quality healthcare? These are key questions in the work of Dr. Megan Morris, a health services researcher, speech-language pathologist, and Associate Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at NYU Langone Health. Dr. Morris is focused on addressing structural and interpersonal ableism in the American healthcare system - today she reveals just how far behind we are in the journey toward ...

A conversation with Dr. Yoona Kim Medication mismanagement is a massive issue in American healthcare. Setting her sights on solving this problem is health economist, pharmacist, and CEO/co-founder of Arine - Dr. Yoona Kim. Dr. Kim realized that identifying problematic medication plans can move the needle on clinical and economic outcomes, and her AI-enabled company is proof - cutting costs and saving time for providers across the country. For patients, their work is saving lives - reducing ho...

A conversation with Vinay Patel There are too many barriers in the pursuit of health: financial, infrastructural, systematic… American healthcare is set up to fail the patients it needs to prioritize. Welcome Vinay Patel, a forward thinking pharmacist and healthcare entrepreneur who founded MakoRx, a company focused on disrupting traditional drug pricing models and improving pharmacy access. He saw a system that failed patients - charging exorbitant prices for cheaply-made drugs - until he de...

A conversation with Charles Gaba “We need to find a way to make improvements to the system without hurting people in the process.” In our second collaborative episode with Doctors For America, Dr. Fethke is joined by healthcare policy and data analyst Charles Gaba. His work highlighting the numbers surrounding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been influential, with citations by major publications like The Washington Post, Forbes and The New York Times and by policymakers in Congress. H...

A conversation with Wendell Potter “We need to get Wall Street out of control of our healthcare system.” This is the opinion of Wendell Potter, a former health insurance exec for Humana and Cigna turned whistleblower - exposing the practices of his former industry and choosing to seek change. Wendell knows first-hand how these insurers operate, how they incentivize profit, how they use their financial power to influence Congress, and ultimately - what it will take to rip up the status quo and...