PULSE

Welcome to Pulse Summer 2026, where Louise and George revisit the Pulse Pod archives to bring you a curated set of interviews which will challenge and inspire. Back in late 2024, we were joined in the studio by Dr Karen DeSalvo — Chief Health Officer at Google, former US National Coordinator for Health IT, public health leader, clinician, and one of the most thoughtful voices globally on how techn...

Welcome to Pulse Summer 2026, where Louise and George revisit the Pulse Pod archives to bring you a curated set of interviews which will challenge and inspire. Louise & George talk with Liz Salmi, Communications & Patient Initiatives Director for OpenNotes at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in the US about her research and patient advocacy work, and what happens when patients get bad...

Welcome to Pulse: Year in Review, where Louise and George unpack the big stories from Pulse+IT’s 2025 Year in Review series. Segment 3: AI and the rise of Virtual Care Resources : Pulse+IT 2025 Year in Review: Australian digital health Link Pulse+IT 2025 Year in Review: New Zealand digital health Link Pulse+IT 2025 Year in Review: Allied health breaking new ground Link Pulse+IT 2025 Year in Review...

Welcome to Pulse: Year in Review, where Louise and George unpack the big stories from Pulse+IT’s 2025 Year in Review series. Segment 1: Aged Care’s Digital Reckoning Segment 2: Allied Health’s Breakthrough Year Resources : Pulse+IT 2025 Year in Review: Allied health breaking new ground Link Pulse+IT 2025 Year in Review: Community and Aged Care Link Visit Pulse+IT.news to subscribe to breaking digi...

Welcome to Pulse: Year in Review, where Louise and George unpack the big stories from Pulse+IT’s 2025 Year in Review series. Segment 1: AI goes mainstream Segment 2: Modernisation, Standards, and the Path to Integration Segment 3: Risk, Governance & its Relationship to Innovation Resources : Pulse+IT 2025 Year in Review: Australian digital health Link Pulse+IT 2025 Year in Review: New Zealand...

Welcome to Pulse: Hot Topics, where Louise and George unpack the big shifts shaping healthcare right now - from billion-dollar hype to human-level trust. Are AI Scribes The Billion-Dollar Burnout Band-Aid? Doctors adore them, investors can’t stop funding them - We dig into the paradox of technology that makes clinicians happy but might not be improving productivity—and why transparency is becoming...

Welcome to Pulse: Amplify, where we sit down with the leaders and changemakers shaping the future of health.  What happens when AI becomes a valued third party in the clinical consultation between a clinician and the patient? George and Louise sit down with author and postdoctoral research fellow Dr David Fraile Navarro to discuss the British Medical Journal special on generative AI in the clinica...

Welcome to Pulse: Hot Topics, where Louise and George unpack the big shifts shaping healthcare right now.  From Elon Musk’s claim that Tesla’s Optimus robot will soon have superhuman surgical skills, to scientists who are quietly making real breakthroughs with microscopic nanorobots, we separate spectacle from science.  We look at the rise of at-home blood testing, unpack OpenAI’s accelerating pus...

Welcome to Pulse: Amplify, where we sit down with the leaders and changemakers shaping the future of health.  What happens when a paediatric surgeon who grew up programming on green-screen computers decides to create an AI version of himself? In this fascinating episode, George and Louise sit down with Associate Professor Bhavesh Patel, a senior paediatric surgeon in Brisbane who isn't waiting for...

Welcome to Pulse: Hot Topics, where Louise and George unpack the big shifts shaping healthcare right now.  Australian MedTech Innovator Wins PM’s Prize A Perth-based researcher-engineer-pathologist wins the Prime Minister’s Prize for New Innovators with two real-world solutions — one that makes finding veins as easy as using a stud finder, and another putting “heart health in a box.” Proof that Au...

Welcome to Pulse: Amplify, where we sit down with the leaders and changemakers shaping the future of health.  In today’s show George and Louise chat with Professor Peter Brooks (clinician academic, health systems & workforce policy), Dr Claire Smith (retired GP; social & environmental determinants advocate), and Dr Frank Nicklason (geriatrician, Tasmanian Health Service) on how social pres...

Welcome to Pulse: Hot Topics, where Louise and George unpack the big shifts shaping healthcare right now.  Digital Health Maturity: Measuring What Matters Is your health system truly digitally mature — or just good at buying software? We dig into the global frameworks that could finally separate progress from PR. Verily Me: Google’s Bid for Your Health Life A free app that knows your medical histo...

Welcome to Pulse: Amplify, where we sit down with the leaders and changemakers shaping the future of health.  Today we have a frank and fun conversation with UK author Professor Joe McDonald who has just released a book – FHIR and Loathing in Las Vegas: Collected Essays on the Sociology, Anthropology, and Psychopathology of Big IT .  Joe’s anthology of essays, written over a 13 year timespan track...

Welcome to Pulse: Hot Topics, where Louise and George unpack the big shifts shaping healthcare right now.  AI Physio: No Humans Required? An AI physiotherapist just earned regulatory approval to diagnose and treat patients entirely on its own. Europe says it’s safe — but would you trust an algorithm with your rehab? Remote Surgery Goes Real. A Canadian team has completed the world’s first fully re...

Welcome to Pulse: Amplify, where we sit down with the leaders and changemakers shaping the future of health.  Today we’re thrilled to be joined by Rohan Mead, chief author of the Business Council of Australia’s Health and Care Blueprint, Chair of the BCA Health and Care Services Committee and Australian Unity chief executive. Across 140 recommendations in 6 reform pillars, the Business Council of...

Pulse has a brand-new format — Hot Topics only! Louise and George dive straight into the biggest stories shaping digital health right now. The cost of lies: From the US President’s paracetamol claim to Tina Purnat’s new Lancet paper, we explore why misinformation isn’t just a trust issue but a global operational and financial burden. Wearables grow up: A fresh NEJM survey shows wearables are movin...

In this episode of Pulse , we launch our new alternating format with a deep-dive interview. Louise and George are joined by Dr Charlotte Blease, Associate Professor in Health Informatics at Uppsala University and researcher in Digital Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, to discuss her newly released book Dr Bot: Why Doctors Can Fail Us and How AI Could Save Lives . Charlotte argues that our very...

Interview: Dr Eric Topol (Part 2) In the second half of our conversation, Dr Eric Topol discusses AI’s promise in reducing clinician burnout, forecasting disease, and reshaping prevention. He also reflects on 13 years since The Creative Destruction of Medicine , shares his favourite transformative tools, and offers advice for clinicians seeking creative careers Australian CDC – the data angle Aust...

Interview: Dr Eric Topol (Part 1) We’re joined by Dr Eric Topol—cardiologist, scientist, author, and global digital health leader. In part one, Eric shares his journey from clinician to digital health pioneer, his vision for “SuperAgers,” and why genomics and personalised medicine could redefine how long—and how well—we live Chatbots for Patients We discuss the Wall Street Journal’s bold claim tha...

Telecare Acquisition by Teladoc: US telehealth giant Teladoc Health acquires Australian virtual care clinic Telecare in a rare successful exit for the local digital health startup scene. The hosts discuss implications for Australia's startup ecosystem and the significance of this $2.57 billion company's investment in local innovation.   Boots At-Home Test Kits:  UK pharmacy chain Boots launches 13...

GenAI as Therapist A New York Times op-ed explores how people are using ChatGPT for therapeutic conversations and emotional processing, raising questions about whether AI companions represent innovative digital self-care or a concerning workaround for unmet mental health needs. USA's "Make HealthTech Great Again" Pledge The White House hosted a summit with 60+ tech companies to sign a HealthTech E...

George and Louise chat with Dr Danny Sands - Pioneer of participatory medicine discusses the origins of the e-patient movement and participatory medicine, from early email communication with patients and exploring how to maintain human connection while embracing technological advancement Connect with Danny on LinkedIn Amazon launches Pathology - Amazon enters the healthcare diagnostics space with...

George and Louise break down the hot topics of the day, including: AI Scribes now regulated as medical devices in the UK - all pilots must cease until MHRA approval  UK Government announces £10 billion digital health investment and AI Early Warning System  NHS 10-Year "Fit to the Future" Plan - three major shifts including analogue to digital transformation  Cybersecurity failures at WA's PathWest...

Special episode : Today on Pulse, we’re doing something a little different. We’re joined by one of Australia’s most respected voices in digital health — Dr Amandeep Hansra. Amandeep is a GP, a health tech leader, an investor, and a long-time advocate for innovation in healthcare. She is the founder of Australian Medical Angels investment syndicate and Creative Careers in Medicine – a community for...

On today’s show, George and Louise delve into: Has China really built the world’s first an AI-Agent Hospital? Royal Melbourne Hospital in Melbourne has built a machine learning model to predict likely wait times in the emergency department, complete with a public-facing dashboard – how cool is that! Whoops, the US FDA’s AI, Elsa, has problems coming out of the starting gate Australian regulator th...