The Health Technology Podcast

Healthcare is a team effort, but we don’t always see the full team. Behind every physician visit, every hospital discharge, and every community clinic, there’s a vast, often invisible network of professionals keeping the system running. In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Sunita Mutha , Director of the Healthforce Center and Professor of Medicine at UCSF , to talk about these hidden threads hold...

What does it mean to provide care when medicine can no longer cure? In this episode, UCSF palliative care physician Dr. Brieze Bell shares her journey from professional dancer to integrative medicine leader, and how those seemingly unrelated paths came together in a life devoted to service, presence, and healing at the edge of life. Dr. Bell reflects on the principle of non-abandonment, the emotio...

What if we could cure genetic disease before a baby is even born? In this episode, pediatric and fetal surgeon Tippi MacKenzie shares how in utero gene therapy and stem cell transplants could stop devastating diseases before life begins. Dr. MacKenzie is a pioneer in fetal genome surgery and in utero stem cell therapy, with a mission to give every child a healthy start. As Director of the UCSF Bro...

Troy Tazbaz , currently Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy & Operations at Oracle and formerly Director of Digital Health at the FDA, has a powerful vision: making healthcare human again digitally. Driven by a profound personal experience supporting his wife through complex medical decisions during her battle with cancer, Troy recognized the deep inefficiencies and overwhelming demand...

What every healthcare leader should know is at the heart of this episode featuring Dr. Todd Brinton , Chief Scientific Officer at Edwards Lifesciences and a leading figure in medtech innovation. Dr. Brinton’s journey began in a sixth-grade classroom, where a fascination with the heart sparked a lifelong passion for both medicine and technology. That early curiosity led him to pursue engineering, m...

Covered California is leading the way in making healthcare more accessible and equitable. Under the leadership of Executive Director Jessica Altman , the state’s health insurance marketplace has reached nearly 2 million enrollees, setting new records for affordable health coverage in California. In this episode, Jessica dives into how Covered California’s innovative outreach, tailored language sup...

Cardiac arrest remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide, striking without warning and demanding urgent emergency response. In this episode of The Health Technology Podcast, we spotlight cardiac arrest prevention, portable defibrillator innovation, and next-generation AED technology featuring Sameer Jafri , CEO and co-founder of Avive Solutions . From his early days volunteering at card...

What happens when a heart surgeon sees too many patients discharged too soon, with no clear way to monitor their recovery? For Dr. James Mault , MD, it sparked a 25-year journey to reshape the future of healthcare. From operating rooms in Denver to boardrooms at Microsoft and Qualcomm, James’s mission has remained the same: bridge the gap between hospital care and home through continuous, remote p...

Picture a hospital room late at night, the soft hum of machines in the background. A family gathers quietly around their loved one, unsure how to navigate the complexities of end-of-life care. It’s a scene playing out every day across the country, highlighting a crucial yet often neglected part of healthcare—the way we care for people as their lives near an end. Joining me today is Ira Byock , a r...

Think of a mother living in a remote village in Alaska. It’s a cold morning, temperatures well below freezing, and she needs urgent medical care for her child—but there’s no road connecting her village to any hospital. Her only hope is a plane or a boat, neither of which might arrive in time. Across America, thousands of Native Americans face similar hurdles every day—lack of access to basic healt...

It’s late at night. You’re in a hospital room, holding the hand of a loved one just diagnosed with a serious illness. The doctor has explained the treatment options. However, the weight of the diagnosis still feels overwhelming. You ask yourself: How do we make the most of the time we have? How do we ensure they’re comfortable, supported, and able to live well—despite what lies ahead? This is wher...

Managing medications shouldn’t be this hard. For millions of people, it’s a daily struggle—juggling prescriptions from multiple doctors, refilling at different pharmacies, and trying to keep track of what to take and when. Copays are confusing, refill schedules don’t align, and the stress of managing it all often falls on caregivers. This isn’t just an inconvenience—it’s a crisis. Missed doses, me...

Imagine this: a patient arrives in the ER, their life hanging in the balance. The clock is ticking, and the pressure is overwhelming. But here’s the thing—it’s not just about having the right knowledge or tools. It’s about how a team, often strangers to each other, can come together in seconds to deliver the right care at the right moment. This “last mile” problem—getting critical care to the pati...

Every day, in many communities without enough resources, millions suffer from blindness that could be prevented. A lack of proper eye care, old training methods, and few modern tools leave many in the dark. In places where a simple cataract surgery could bring back both sight and hope, big challenges and a shortage of new ideas block the way. Inspired by these problems, an amazing journey spans co...

When patients leave the hospital, they often face a dangerous gap in care—a system where outdated methods and heavy paperwork leave them at risk for complications, repeat visits, and needless stress. Every day, many worry about returning home without the clear, compassionate support they need, and the burden falls on both patients and overworked care teams. In this episode, we highlight a leader w...

Meeting Jason McKeown was like watching someone quietly change the future of healthcare. I first met him through the Rosenman Innovators program—where his company, Neurovalens , was honored in 2022—and it quickly became clear that his vision goes beyond ordinary medicine. A UK-trained doctor with a PhD in non-invasive neurostimulation, Jason is not only a doctor or a researcher; he’s a forward-thi...

Note: This episode was recorded on December 17, 2024, and reflects the policy landscape and political context of that time. When Krista Drobac arrived in Washington, D.C., fresh out of college, she had no car, no connections, and no clear path—just a determination to make a difference in politics. What began as a leap of faith quickly turned into a lifelong mission to transform healthcare policy....

When I first spoke with Dr. BJ Miller , I felt the weight of his experiences transform into something unexpectedly hopeful. BJ is a palliative care physician and he’s also a storyteller of life’s hardest truths, a triple amputee who turned personal tragedy into a mission to redefine how we approach suffering, dignity, and mortality. Years ago, I watched BJ Miller’s TED Talk on What Really Matters...

The obesity epidemic demands solutions that go beyond temporary fixes or single-medication approaches. While drugs like GLP-1 agonists dominate headlines, lasting change requires reimagining care delivery, addressing systemic inefficiencies, and tackling root causes. Enter  Sloan Saunders , a former investment banker turned healthcare innovator, whose company  FlyteHealth  is pioneering a holistic...

Joanna Strober , Founder & CEO of MIDI Health , is a trailblazer in women’s health innovation. With a career marked by resilience and vision, Joanna has consistently driven meaningful change across industries. From her early days in venture capital to founding Kurbo Health—a digital therapeutic for childhood obesity that served tens of thousands of adolescents worldwide before being acquired b...

Dr. Matthew Lungren ’s journey is a testament to the transformative power of empathy, curiosity, and innovation. Starting as an English major, his career took a pivotal turn while volunteering at a Kosovo refugee camp, where he discovered the profound impact of combining knowledge, data, and compassion to address healthcare challenges—particularly in underserved communities. Dr. Lungren earned his...

Dr. Sanjeev Arora ’s quiet determination and profound sense of purpose shine through in everything he does. A renowned liver disease specialist and visionary social entrepreneur, Dr. Arora has spent over 30 years creating innovative solutions to address some of the most critical gaps in healthcare. As the Founder and Executive Director of Project ECHO , he has transformed healthcare equity with a...

Imagine a healthcare experience where doctors spend less time on hold with insurance companies and more time connecting with their patients. In “How AI is Freeing Up Your Doctor,” we sit down with Ankit Jain —founder of Infinitus —to explore how advanced AI automation is streamlining the communication channels that underpin our healthcare system. Ankit’s story reflects a career defined by innovati...

What does it take to transform an entire industry? Dr. Vin Gupta , a distinguished leader in public health and healthtech, shares his remarkable journey from medical training at Columbia and Harvard to his impactful service in the United States Air Force Medical Reserve Corps. As the Chief Medical Officer of Amazon Pharmacy , Dr. Gupta spearheads clinical strategy and innovation, leveraging techno...

Our guest today is Dr. Diana Thiara , the medical director of the UCSF Weight Management Program . She also serves as an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCSF, and the Program Director of the UCSF Obesity Medicine Fellowship. Dr. Thiara specializes in internal medicine, focusing on obesity and weight management. Her work integrates innovative patient programming, culinary medicine, and...