The Scalpels & Spreadsheets Podcast

What if one of the most important measures of long-term health could come from a blood test instead of a performance lab? Brooks Leitner (Founder & CEO, VO Health ) joins Aman for a conversation about building the next generation of biomarker testing around functional measures of health. Drawing on his experiences in medicine, scientific research, and venture capital, Brooks explains how VO He...

Population health has always depended on data. The challenge now is determining where AI creates the most value and where human judgment still matters. Rich Hofbauer (CEO, Alopex ), Stephen Kelly (Growth & Business Development, Cityblock Health ), Joe Honcz (Principal, C4i), and Dave Bliss (Sales, Alopex ) discuss how AI is being applied across population health, care delivery, and payer organ...

Great science rarely becomes a great company on its own. The challenge is turning research into something customers, investors, and partners believe in. Aykut Aksit (Co-Founder & CEO, Haystack Medical ), Demetri Maxim (Co-Founder & CEO, Nephrogen ), and Jonathan Scheiman (Co-Founder & CEO, FitBiomics ) join moderator Scott Alpizar (Managing Partner, Emerging Innovations Consulting ) to...

Patients are no longer walking into the clinic with just symptoms. They're arriving with wearable data, lab results, GLP-1 prescriptions, peptide protocols, and AI-generated health advice already shaping how they think about their care. What does that mean for the clinicians meeting them on the other side of the exam room? David Kessler, MD, MSc (Vice Chair of Innovation and Professor of Pedi...

Patients are no longer starting their healthcare journey inside the health system. Increasingly, it begins with a wearable, a direct-to-consumer service, or an AI-powered tool long before a clinician is involved. Dr. Devin Mann (Director of the Section of Digitally Enabled Care, NYU Langone Health ), Daniel Marchalik, MD, MBA (Medical Director of Business Innovation & Executive Director, MedSt...

The ECG has been a cornerstone of cardiology for more than a century. AI is revealing that it may contain far more information than clinicians ever realized. Moin Hussaini (Head of Product, AccurKardia ) joins Ambreen Mohamed, MD (Cardiologist, Heartbeat Health ) to explore how AI is reshaping one of medicine's most familiar diagnostic tools from both the technology and clinical perspectives....

Finding product-market fit in healthcare is a balancing act between customer needs, pricing, distribution, ROI, and countless other variables. Those tradeoffs look different depending on the market you're serving and the stage of the company you're building. Kanika Agarwal (Founder, MindPeers ) and Osama Usmani (Founder & CEO, Salubrum ) join Aman for a conversation on what it really...

How do healthcare investors evaluate companies at different stages of growth? In this panel, Daniella Cohen (Principal at 2048 Ventures ), Ruth Segall (Associate at Windham Capital Partners ), and Sean Day (Venture Principal at Rock Health Capital ) join Stephanie Mouchbahani-Constance (Principal at Kli Capital ) to pull back the curtain on what actually happens throughout the venture fundraising...

Building a healthcare startup is one challenge. Building the systems that allow it to scale is another. Melody Yao (Strategy & Operations, Ambience Healthcare ) and Amanda Kichline (Founder & CEO, Tavia Health ) join France Ovalle (NY Events, Scalpels & Spreadsheets ) for She Speaks Health Vol. 2 to discuss what it takes to turn early traction into lasting growth. Drawing from their ex...

AI is reshaping every stage of the pharmaceutical value chain, from discovering new medicines to delivering better outcomes for patients. The companies that lead won't simply adopt better models. They'll rethink how they operate. Gabriele Ricci (Chief Data & Technology Officer, Takeda ) joins Aman Desai to discuss how one of the world's largest biopharmaceutical companies is sca...

The doctor's office is no longer the default entry point into healthcare. So what comes next? Royan Kamyar, MD (Founder & CEO, Owaves ), Dr. Sohaib Imtiaz, MD, MPH (Chief Medical Officer, People Inc. ), Dr. Erin Nance, MD (Founder & CEO, TakeAway MD and FeelBetr Health ), Dr. Hillary Lin, MD (Co-Founder & CEO, CareCore ), and Alina Zolotareva, RDN (Co-Founder & Chief Marketing...

Most healthcare AI conversations focus on what was built. This one focused on what it actually takes to get it into the hands of people who need it. Kerry Weinberg (Founder & CEO of PhenoML ), Vitalay Fomin (Co-Founder & CEO of Numenos AI ), Timothy Martens (Co-Founder of Vaark Ventures ; Chief Medical Officer of uCTRL), and Nyamitse-Calvin Mahinda (Founder & CEO of Vital Audio ) join...

What does it take to move healthcare AI from theory to operation? Martin Seneviratne, Co-CEO of R37 at R1 , joins Brittany Sigler, Founder of Bright Signal Consulting, for a fireside conversation exploring what it takes to deploy AI inside one of healthcare's most complex operational environments. After leaving DeepMind to co-found an AI-native healthcare startup, Martin now helps bring cutti...

Building one of Canada's leading AI-driven genetic medicines platform companies didn't happen without hard decisions, failed bets, and the willingness to pivot. Tom Masterson, Chief Operating Officer at Deep Genomics , joins Aman Desai to share the company's journey from early machine learning models to becoming a leader in AI-powered drug discovery. He reflects on the pivotal decis...

Bettina Xue Griffen, a Commercial Lawyer at Fasken, joins for a fireside chat on the legal and commercial realities of selling into healthcare. Drawing from her experience helping startups and scaleups navigate enterprise contracts, Bettina shares practical strategies for structuring pilot agreements, negotiating with healthcare organizations, pricing pilots, and avoiding the "pilot purgatory...

AI has become the biggest conversation in healthcare, but what does it mean if you already have a product in the market? Do you pivot to compete with AI native companies or stay steady? On the other side, will the speed and adaptability of AI-first startups remain an advantage as the technology matures? Bruno Ferrari (Head of Innovation at Light-it ), Otto Sipe (Co-Founder & CEO of Photon Heal...

CEO of HealthAI, Dr. Ricardo Baptista Leite joins the S&S Podcast at Web Summit for a Special Edition to discuss the transformative role of AI in healthcare. Medical Doctor and former lawmaker, Dr. Ricardo Leite is the Founder and President of UNITE Parliamentarians Network for Global Health and Chair of NOVA Center for Global Health.  In this podcast with Vijesh Vijayan, Ricardo discusses dru...

Nadav Shimoni, a physician turned investor is the Managing Partner at A-Squared Ventures, an early-stage digital health fund spanning Tel Aviv & NYC. He joins Moran Snir, a serial genomics entrepreneur and currently the co-founder & CEO of Nest Genomics, on stage for a fireside where both share their perspectives of a journey between a founder and investor of a growing healthcare company. ...

Miriam Paramore, Founder & CEO of RxUtility sits down with us to chat about why drug prices should be more affordable and why she is building in this space. In this conversation, Miriam covers the evolution of healthcare technology and its impact on prescription affordability, including what drives out-of-pocket drug costs. Miriam also discusses the launch of Mimi, the RxUtility AI companion,...

Kathleen Eva, Investor at StandUp Ventures, is joined by Stephanie Mouchbahani-Constance, Principal at KLI Capital, for a live conversation on what founders need to know about fundraising in 2026. Together, they unpack shifting investor expectations, AI-driven startup economics, changing growth benchmarks, defensibility, and the mistakes founders still make when raising capital. This episode offer...

Anmol Nagpal is the founder and CEO of Nospharma , a pre-clinical therapeutics company developing innovative treatments for rare genetic neurodevelopmental disorders.  Prior to this, Anmol was a founder in residence at District 3 where he coached several early-stage founders and worked with them on their venture’s strategy plans.  In this episode, Anmol shares how he spun out research from McGill...

Shafiq Vallani (Head of Canada at Redesign Health) is a seasoned venture capital investor, now supporting the next generation of healthcare ventures in Canada. He has built a reputation for identifying high-potential startups and driving them towards operational excellence and market leadership with his work at Redesign Health, a venture studio. In this episode, Shafiq shares a candid look at what...

Tim Clarke (CEO of tc Health Consulting) is a former Chief Innovation Officer at Aon Hewitt for Health & Benefits. He now draws from 20 years of experience to support local and international healthcare ventures looking to grow revenue streams in private healthcare. In this episode, Tim shares key lessons for early-stage healthtech founders on identifying the right customers, engaging payers, p...

Kristen Valdes, Founder & CEO of b.well Connected Health shares her extensive journey in healthcare, highlighting her experiences from being a healthcare executive to founding b.well and more. She shares pivotal moments in healthcare innovation, particularly the impact of interoperability rules and the role of AI in transforming healthcare delivery. Hosted by Vijesh Vijayan.

As part of the Montreal Healthtech Social held on November 27, we were joined by Naomi Goldapple, the Senior Vice President of Data and Intelligence at AlayaCare, where she leads AI and data strategy to transform home healthcare.  With a non-linear career spanning IBM, multiple startups, and even a community cafe, she’s known for making bold moves that drive real impact in health tech. She talks a...