StartUp Health NOW Podcast

Most healthcare AI conversations start and end with documentation. StartUp Health community member Mehmet Kazgan, CEO & Founder of cliexa, thinks that is the wrong place to focus. In this episode of StartUp Health NOW, Kazgan joins Unity Stoakes for a deep dive into clinical reasoning, the intelligence layer that connects what a patient says, what a provider decides, and what a payer will cover, all in real time. Kazgan traces the evolution of healthcare technology from EMRs to interoperability to AI scribes, and explains why none of those waves solve the core problem without a reasoning engine underneath. He shares what it took to build and validate that engine over eight years, what deploying it with Mayo Clinic Platform and Eating Recovery Center has revealed, and why the window for health systems to act is right now. Are you ready to tell YOUR story? Members of our Health Moonshot Communities are leading startups with breakthrough technology-driven solutions for the world’s biggest health challenges. Exposure in StartUp Health Media to our global audience of investors and partners – including our podcast, newsletters, journal, and YouTube channel – is a benefit of our Health Moonshot Membership. If you’re mission-driven, collaborative, and ready to contribute as much as you gain, you might be the perfect fit. » Learn more and join today. Want more content like this? Sign up for StartUp Health Insider™ to get funding insights, news, and special updates delivered to your inbox.

Victor Penev, founder of Edamam, organizes food and nutrition data to power AI-driven meal planning. Richard Bennett, CEO of Epicured, builds medically tailored meal programs tied to reimbursement. They discuss food as a durable force in healthcare. Topics include AI-powered personalized nutrition, reimbursable meal programs, culturally relevant medically tailored meals, and data-driven virtual nutrition tools.

Dr. Ian Madom, an orthopedic spine surgeon and CEO of Mocingbird, builds SaaS to cut licensing and compliance drag for clinicians. He discusses state-by-state licensing complexity, multistate telehealth growth, admin tools for scaling credentialing, and how AI can assist without replacing human judgment.

Justin Ayars, founder and CEO of EqualityMD, builds culturally competent, insurance-free virtual primary care and mental health services. He discusses shifting from direct-to-consumer to employer solutions. He explains how pre-insurance care prevents claims, reduces costs, expands prescription access, and uses AI-driven data while protecting patient trust.

StartUp Health community member Richard Hanbury of Sana Health joined Unity Stoakes for a Health Moonshot Update just prior to achieving a major regulatory milestone: an FDA De Novo grant for neuropathic pain, establishing a new class of audio-visual neuromodulation. Hanbury reflects on decades of neuromodulation research, shares why credibility in healthcare is built “one rung at a time,” and explains how Sana’s pivotal data demonstrated a significant reduction in pharmacologic dependence. The conversation also covers DoD-backed PTSD research, VA trials, international expansion in Israel, and why the future of pain and mental healthcare must move toward multimodal, scalable models of care. Are you ready to tell YOUR story? Members of our Health Moonshot Communities are leading startups with breakthrough technology-driven solutions for the world’s biggest health challenges. Exposure in StartUp Health Media to our global audience of investors and partners – including our podcast, newsletters, journal, and YouTube channel – is a benefit of our Health Moonshot Membership. If you’re mission-driven, collaborative, and ready to contribute as much as you gain, you might be the perfect fit. » Learn more and join today. Want more content like this? Sign up for StartUp Health Insider™ to get funding insights, news, and special updates delivered to your inbox.

Sami Inkinen, CEO and co-founder of Virta Health and former Trulia entrepreneur, built AI-native tools to reverse metabolic disease through nutrition and tech. He talks about making a company AI-first, using clinician-supervised AI agents on daily food-as-therapy decisions, building a huge longitudinal biomarker dataset, and scaling a B2B2C model to sustainable impact.

Recorded live at Apollo House 2026, this fireside chat captures a candid, in-the-room conversation between StartUp Health’s Unity Stoakes and entrepreneur, investor, and technologist Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures on AI’s accelerating impact on healthcare. Khosla explains why he believes AI is a platform shift larger than the internet or mobile, and how that shift could unlock access to high-quality care for billions. The conversation explores his “AI intern” model for healthcare, why copilots often underperform in complex clinical work, and why trust, supervision, and fit-for-purpose guardrails are essential. A live exchange with Esther Dyson adds perspective on empathy, communication, and the enduring human dimensions of care. As a live recording, the audio reflects the energy of the room rather than a studio setting. Do you want to participate in live conversations with industry luminaries? When you join the StartUp Health Network – a new private community for investors, buyers, and industry leaders to connect year-round with top health entrepreneurs – you are invited to a full calendar of interactive Fireside Chats with the most influential leaders shaping health innovation. Come with questions, learn what is working right now, and connect with industry icons. » Learn more and join today. Want more content like this? Sign up for StartUp Health Insider™ to get funding insights, news, and special updates delivered to your inbox.

Christopher Jue, founder and CEO of Caregivers Insight, builds mobile and AI-first tools to empower family caregivers and connect their observations to clinical teams. He discusses turning caregiver notes into clear trendlines, pilot results showing strong clinician adoption, shifting distribution through payers and Medicare Advantage, and an AI roadmap from summaries to real coaching for untrained caregivers.

Chelsea Sumner, a translational health and AI strategy leader at NVIDIA, and Rasu Shrestha, Advocate Health’s chief innovation and commercialization executive, join a live panel. They discuss agentic workflows, open models and platforms for clinical AI. They explore clean, connected data, reducing clinician burnout, and building trust, governance, and collaboration across startups, health systems, and big tech.

Indira Paharia, PsyD, clinical psychologist turned payer executive and CEO of VIBEcare, builds virtual integrated behavioral health for primary care. She talks about why behavioral health often appears first in primary care. She explores the collaborative care model, how reimbursement and virtual care remove barriers, and scalable staffing approaches to expand access.