The Healthtech Podcast

This week, James is joined by Dr David Neal, Assistant Professor at Amsterdam UMC and co-lead of the eHealth Living & Learning Lab (ELLLA), for a wide-ranging chat about what happens when technology disrupts a healing ritual that hasn't fundamentally changed since the 16th century. They explore why medicine is roughly 150 years behind in understanding the role of humans in healthcare, what...

James welcomes Declan Hadley, the healthcare lead at Cisco, who shares his extensive experience in the NHS and health informatics. The conversation explores the evolution of healthcare technology, the importance of digitisation, and the role of AI in improving patient outcomes. Declan emphasizes the need for collaboration between startups and healthcare organizations, the significance of local own...

This week, James is joined by Ian Wharton, the co-founder and CEO of Aide Health, a design-led chronic disease management platform with retention rates 20x the sector average. In this episode, Ian makes the case that design - not technology - is the missing ingredient in digital health, explaining why only 3–4% of patients stick with health apps after 30 days and what Aide does differently to hit...

This week, James is joined by Dr. Elsa Zekeng, founder of SökerData who shares the story behind building a company tackling one of healthcare’s most persistent blind spots: biased and underrepresented clinical trial data. She discusses her journey from infectious disease research and frontline outbreak response during Ebola, to advising on COVID-19 vaccine uptake, and ultimately founding SökerData...

In this episode of The Healthtech Podcast, Dr James Somauroo speaks with T.N. Giridhar, Managing Director and CEO of SSG Capital, an investment banker and venture capital investor with nearly 30 years of experience spanning public markets, Goldman Sachs-level M&A and early-stage VC. Giridhar draws on a career managing over $17 billion in transactions to argue that the quality of an investment...

This week, James is joined by Dr Saira Ghafur, respiratory consultant, health tech leader, and Co-Founder of Prova Health. She shares her journey from medical training in Scotland to NHS consultancy, policy fellowships at NHS England and in New York, and co-founding two health tech ventures. Saira discusses the realities of scaling digital health, generating credible evidence for innovation, and t...

In this episode of The Healthtech Podcast, we’re joined by Kang Hsu, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Canary Speech, to explore the emerging field of vocal biomarkers and what they could mean for earlier disease detection. Speech is more than language. It is airflow, vocal cord vibration, neuromuscular control and cognitive processing in motion. Subtle acoustic features such as pitch variation, jitter...

This week, James is joined by James Mishreki, founder of Skin + Me, who shares the story behind building one of the UK’s fastest-growing personalised healthcare brands. He discussed the challenges of scaling a regulated DTC business, and how Skin + Me is tackling the dermatology access gap with clinical-grade care delivered directly to consumers. Connect with James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jam...

This week, James is joined by Lawrie Kidd, Consultant Anaesthetist at Gloucestershire Hospitals and Clinical Product Lead at DrDoctor, who shares a candid look at the pressures facing frontline clinicians and how healthtech can help. Connect with Lawrie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lawrie-kidd/ Learn more about DrDoctor: https://www.drdoctor.co.uk/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com...

This week, James is joined by Hjalmar Nilsonne, CEO and Co-Founder of Neko Health. With Hjalmar yielding the power to shape the future of healthcare, James asks all the big questions. Can Neko pull off their ambition? What will it take? What lessons have they learned along the way? What challenges lie in their way? Learn more about Neko: https://www.nekohealth.com/gb/en Apply to be a guest: www.th...

In this episode, we're joined by Tharni Vasavan, Horizon Scanning Senior Health Technology Lead at NICE, about how emerging health technologies are identified, evaluated, and prepared for the NHS. From her journey through women’s health research and startup life at Hertility to shaping national foresight on healthtech disruption, Tharni offers an inside glimpse of how innovation meets evidence...

This week James is joined by Jacob West, Managing Director for Healthcare and Life Sciences at Microsoft UK, who shares insights on how Microsoft is leveraging AI to enhance healthcare in the UK. Connect with Jacob: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-west-a519404/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: w...

This week, James is joined on the podcast by Dr Madeleine Ballard, CEO of the Community Health Impact Coalition (CHIC). CHIC is a global movement making professional community health workers the norm worldwide by changing guidelines, funding, and policy. Connect with Madeleine: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madeleineballard/ Learn more about CHIC: https://joinchic.org/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehe...

James is joined by Rafaël Michali, co-founder and co-CEO of SAVA. SAVA is redefining the way people interact with their health by developing the most advanced biosensing technology science has to offer, capable of accessing bodily information in a painless, real-time and affordable way. Connect with Rafaël: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafa%C3%ABl-michali-656136101/ Learn more: https://www.sava.hea...

This week, James is joined on the podcast by Sam Winward, co-founder and CEO of Pastel Health. Pastel Health is an end-to-end outpatient clinic that supports Chronic pain sufferers referred from the NHS. The service aims to transform the experience for both patients and clinicians. Connect with Sam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuelwinward/ Learn more about Pastel: https://pastel-health.com/ Appl...

In the second episode of this two-part series, James is joined by Dr. Ross Harper, CEO and co-founder of Limbic. Limbic is developing clinical-grade AI tools for mental health care, designed to be deployed in clinical settings. Their goal is to enhance the capacity of trained professionals and help meet the overwhelming demand for mental health services. Listen to Part 1: https://open.spotify.com/...

In this week’s episode, James is joined by Oscar Ferguson, co-founder of Deaku. Oscar is a doctor-turned-founder and award-winning creator and content strategist on a mission to make every creator’s life better. Deaku are building a connected workspace where creators, marketers, and production teams plan, collaborate, and grow - all in one place. Connect with Oscar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-...

Hannah Madan joins us to share a rollercoaster journey of co-founding Prima Mente— an AI-driven neuroscience company building foundations models for the brain. This episode is packed with thought-provoking insights, including: — The biological hypothesis behind Prima Mente that "No one believed was true" — How Hannah made it by doing "just enough", not by being a top student — A baptism by fire— l...

This week, James is joined by Dr. Declan Kelly, founder of Eolas Medical, a platform tackling one of healthcare’s most overlooked problems: knowledge management. Eolas Medical helps clinicians access the right information instantly at the point of care. Used by NHS Trusts, clinical teams, and individual practitioners, the platform consolidates essential medical knowledge from trusted sources—guide...

In this week’s episode, James is joined by Daniel Mansson, Chief Clinical Officer and founder of Flow Neuroscience. Flow Neuroscience is Europe and UK's only medically approved brain stimulation headset and therapy app home treatment for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Connect with Daniel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielmanss/ Learn more: https://www.flowneuroscience.com/ Apply to be a guest:...

In this week’s episode, James is joined by Dan Jamieson, CEO and founder of Biorelate. Biorelate helps scientists solve the most difficult biomedical challenges of today. They achieve this by providing the most comprehensive knowledge graph in biopharma, enabling better knowledge review, target and biomarker discovery. Connect with Mark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-jamieson-8498a33a/ Learn...

In this week’s episode, James is joined by Professor Mark Kendall, biomedical engineer, inventor, scientist, entrepreneur and business-builder with more than 25 years of experience. Mark is now CEO and Founder of WearOptimo. With a vision to shift the focus of healthcare to early identification and intervention, WearOptimo’s sensors track real-time data from the body’s biomarkers to detect conditi...

In this episode, James is joined by Dr. Sonia Szamocki - former A&E doctor, BCG consultant, and now founder & CEO of 32Co - to explore how healthcare can finally unlock the full potential of its clinical workforce. Sonia shares her journey from frontline medicine to building a platform that helps generalists deliver specialist-level care, starting with dentistry and now expanding into slee...

In this week’s episode, James is joined by Tomasz George, co-founder and CEO of Freyr Health. Freyr Health believe everyone should own, control, and benefit from their medical data. Their platform unlocks the value of fragmented health records, enabling individuals and organisations to securely manage, share, and monetise health data on their own terms. By bridging the gap between global health sy...

In this week’s episode, James is joined by Steve Roest, co-founder and CEO of PocDoc. PocDocis is on a mission to transform how we detect and prevent chronic diseases—bringing diagnostics out of the lab and into the hands of the public. By combining proprietary smartphone-based blood testing with their digital health platform, PocDoc enables anyone to screen for conditions like cardiovascular dise...