INTERVIEWS

Sean Gilligan, Chief Operating Officer at AVS, an early-stage medical device company focused on safely and effectively treating severely calcified arterial disease discusses his years of experience in the medical device field and how it has evolved and talks about hospitals evaluating their tech investments in a tight economy.

Curtis Barnett, President and CEO of Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, discusses his belief in the importance of addressing behavioral healthcare needs at the community level – through collaboration with local organizations that have demonstrated success in increasing access, improving outcomes, and reducing stigma. He talks about why he feels it’s so vital to invest in mental healthcare, reexamine our behavioral health service model, seek to provide intervention from early childhood through adolescence and into adulthood, and the power of leveraging community resources and partnerships to reach those who are experiencing behavioral health challenges.

Joe Ferra, Interim CEO and CFO of Elevation Oncology discusses the company’s development of an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) that targets Claudin18.2, a therapeutic target in the oncology field. The company’s Chinese partner released data on the company’s lead asset at ASCO 2023, which demonstrated safety and early signs of efficacy in patients with resistant/refractory solid tumors. He also talks about Elevation’s other therapeutic candidates.

Gloria Caulfield, Vice President of Strategic Alliances for Tavistock and Executive Director of the Lake Nona Institute discusses the Lake Nona community which is a hub for life sciences innovation with companies, academic programs, and research organizations, including the UCF Lake Nona, Nemours Children’s and Orlando VA hospitals, as well as the leAD Lake Nona Sports and Health Tech Accelerator and is also designed for optimizing health, human potential, and overall well being, inspiring healthy living while embracing technology and emphasizing sustainability.

Steve Kent, Chief Product Officer at Know Labs, Inc., an emerging developer of non-invasive medical diagnostic technology, discusses the completion of its Generation 1 Device. Gen 1 is the next stage in the development of Know Labs’ proprietary Bio-RFID™ technology. It incorporates Know Labs’ radio frequency (RF) sensor – which has been proven as technically feasible and stable in delivering repeatable results in measuring blood glucose when used in a lab environment – in a portable device.

Dr. Andrea Furlan, MD, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto and a Staff Physician and Senior Scientist at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute discusses her new book “8 Steps to Conquer Chronic Pain: A Doctor’s Guide to Lifelong Relief.” She shares insights from the latest scientific research on pain, advice on attainable lifestyle and mindset changes that have proven successful in her practice for conquering pain, and how to understand the different types of pain and how these are diagnosed. She talks about rewiring the brain to control emotions and therefore control the pain and how to recharge the body.

Ellen Goldsmith, MSOM, LAc, Chinese herbalist and author of the book, “Nutritional Healing with Chinese Medicine: +175 Recipes for Optimal Health” discusses allergies and their causes, recommended foods and foods to reduce or avoid, and cooking methods to avoid.

Dr. Shereen Lim, an Australia-based dentist discusses her book “Breathe, Sleep, Thrive: Discover how airway health can unlock your child’s greater health, learning, and potential.” For more information visit www.drshereenlim.com.au

Dr. Susana Banerjee, Consultant Medical Oncologist and Research Lead for the Gynecology unit at Royal Marsden NHS and lead investigator discusses results from the registration-directed RAMP 201 trial for Verastem Oncology’s lead compound oral avutometinib (VS-6766) in combination with FAK inhibitor defactinib in low-grade serous ovarian cancer (LGSOC) that was presented at the ASCO 2023 annual meeting.

Matthew D’Onofrio, co-founder, President and COO of Evoke Pharma, a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases discusses GIMOTI ®, the first and only FDA-approved nasal formulation of metoclopramide that is commercially available and specifically designed to deliver a non-oral dose of metoclopramide for the relief of symptoms in adults with acute and recurrent diabetic gastroparesis (DGP).