INTERVIEWS

Terry Hush, healthcare futurist, co-founder, and CEO of Roji Health Intelligence, a company that provides customized technology and data solutions to help healthcare providers succeed in value-based care, discusses how consumer-focused initiatives will greatly expand in 2022. As payers such as Medicare, health plans, and pharmaceutical companies expand efforts to align patients with primary or specialty providers with incentives for providing affordable health care, health systems will need to bridge the gap of consumer trust and data sharing to ensure their engagement in health system efforts, or face patient and financial losses under value-based reimbursements. 

Liz Homans, CEO of Lyell Immunopharma, discusses how the company is tackling one of the hottest topics in cancer treatment: how to deploy cell therapy techniques to improve outcomes for patients with solid tumor cancers. She talks about how the technologies Lyell has developed are enabling it to advance multiple types of cell therapies, the importance of manufacturing for advancing cell therapy, and the role advanced data and analytics capabilities and digital manufacturing processes may play in improving access to care. 

Dr. Melissa Barnett, an optometrist and internationally recognized key opinion leader, discusses the recent availability of  VUITY™ (pilocarpine HCI ophthalmic solution) 1.25%, the first and only FDA-approved prescription eye drop to treat presbyopia or age-related blurry near vision in adults.

Theresa Bak-Thomsen, PhD, Director, Discovery Biologics at Novo Nordisk research center Seattle discusses her path to becoming a woman in leadership/STEM. She talks about how her multifaceted team is exploring new modes of action to discover potential new therapies and provides insight into what it takes to discover and develop new antibodies for medical conditions. She also discusses the broader scientific focus of the Novo Nordisk research center Seattle – the foundation of the company’s U.S. research development efforts for diabetes, obesity, liver disease, and other therapeutic areas.

Returning guest, Dr. Brian Koffman, Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia) Society, and a CLL patient discusses the FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization of AstraZeneca’s COVID long-acting antibody (LAAB) combination named Evusheld (AZD7442) developed to provide at least six months of protection against COVID-19 after a single dose.   The news is of particular importance to  people who are immunocompromised or  may remain vulnerable to COVID-19 because of an inadequate response to a COVID-19 vaccine –  such as people  with blood cancers or other cancers being treated with chemotherapy.  Dr. Koffman is one of these people, as he was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), and is therefore more vulnerable to COVID-19. He is here to discuss the FDA’s decision to bring Evusheld to patients under emergency use, and what it means to people like him.  Dr. Koffman also took part in the PROVENT Phase III trial evaluating Evusheld for prophylaxis. 

Sheetal Parmar, board-certified genetic counselor and Vice President of Medical Affairs at Natera discusses non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) that The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists now recommend being offered to all pregnant women regardless of age or risk factors. NIPT helps identify if a baby is at risk for genetic conditions, such as chromosomal abnormalities, as early as nine weeks into pregnancy. Unlike traditional diagnostic methods for prenatal testing like amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling (CVS), which are highly invasive and pose a small risk of miscarriage, NIPT poses no risk to mother or baby. It is performed with a simple maternal blood draw. Once the blood is drawn, it’s sent to a specific lab whose technicians will analyze the results. She also talks about what questions to ask the healthcare provider. 

Sue Washer, President and CEO of AGTC, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing genetic therapies for people with rare and debilitating ophthalmic, otologic, and central nervous system diseases discusses the gene therapy field​, how it works and what she sees as the challenge facing the gene therapy industry and ophthalmology both now and in the near future. She also talks about AGTC’s progress in clinical trials for X-linked Retinitis Pigmentosa (XLRP), an inherited condition that causes progressive vision loss in boys and young men. 

A recent study shows that although eating disorders are traditionally considered to affect mainly women, men represent a growing proportion of individuals suffering from anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, two of the most common eating disorders. A June 2020 New York Times article notes, “the pandemic has created new hurdles for those managing difficult relationships with foods.”…making it even more challenging to maintain healthy eating patterns. In addition, many are working from home for the first time, spending the day, in some cases alone, near a stocked kitchen. Returning guest, Dr. Melissa Spann, Chief Clinical Officer at Monte Nido, where state-of-the-art treatment services for eating disorders are provided shares tips on solutions to this growing problem and offers help to navigate triggers.

Dr. Jeffrey Gelblum, MD, board member at First Choice Neurology and expert consultant to the State of Florida discusses the future of virtual and digital mental health tools and his experience using eClinicalWorks, a leader in healthcare IT solutions, offering Electronic Health Records, Practice Management tools, and solutions for Patient Engagement, Population Health, and Revenue Cycle Management.

Returning guest, James Sapirstein, President and CEO of First Wave BioPharma (formerly AzurRX), a developer of targeted therapies for gastrointestinal (GI) diseases discusses their Phase 2 RESERVOIR study looking into treating COVID-GI symptoms with the belief that the COVID virus can live in the bowels well beyond when the viral symptoms leave the patients. This could result in unexpected long-term side effects or breakthrough cases of COVID. He shares his thoughts on what’s currently going on in the COVID treatment space.