Lifers with Christina Farr
Christina Farr
Veteran journalist, investor, and Second Opinion Media founder Chrissy Farr talks with the CEOs and founders who've been in the trenches long enough to know that healthcare doesn't move at startup speed. These aren't the entrepreneurs chasing quick exits—they're the "lifers" who understand that building in healthcare requires endless pivots, regulatory navigation, and decade-long timelines.No hype, just honest conversations about what it really takes.Each episode explores healthcare innovation, startup strategy, medical technology and AI, health system transformation, and investment insights from operators who've navigated regulatory challenges, clinical trials, reimbursement complexities, and the unique dynamics of the healthcare industry.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Apr 3, 2026 • 14min
Anyone can build a clinic now. Should they? | Josh Tauber and Keaton Bedell
Keaton Bedell, CEO of Bridge, builds insurance enablement for virtual care. Josh Tauber, serial health-tech operator, builds integrated virtual clinics. They unpack how turnkey infrastructure and AI let virtual clinics launch fast. They debate legality and risks of cash-pay GLP-1 ventures. They contrast short-term copycats with durable businesses built on trust and retention.
10 snips
Mar 30, 2026 • 34min
How revenue cycle is evolving from "battle of the bots" to the smash hit application for AI with Terri Meier
Terri Meier, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Revenue Cycle at UAMS with 40+ years in healthcare revenue operations. She talks about AI’s role in claims automation and the imbalance between payer and provider bots. Short takes on shifting teams to AI orchestration, creating in-house innovation squads, and practical vendor models tied to measurable ROI.
20 snips
Mar 24, 2026 • 36min
Is healthcare safe from the SaaS bloodbath? with Omada CEO Sean Duffy and Stephanie Davis
Stephanie Davis, healthcare industry analyst who tracks health tech markets and valuations, and Sean Duffy, CEO of Omada Health who builds regulated digital care for chronic disease, debate whether healthcare software is a safe haven in the SaaS downturn. They compare provider-led care to pure SaaS, unpack M&A moves like UHS buying Talkspace, and explore how AI shifts models while keeping humans central to care.
9 snips
Mar 17, 2026 • 40min
Why Graham Walker is ‘sounding the alarm’ for physicians
Graham Walker, an emergency physician, entrepreneur, and clinical informaticist who founded MDCalc and Offcall, sounds the alarm on medicine’s moral injury and loss of clinician authority. They discuss administrative blockades, opaque pricing and patient anger, why ER doctors turn to startups, absurdities like Big Fax, and what system redesign might look like.
Mar 10, 2026 • 58min
President of Microsoft Science saw ChatGPT coming (and now he predicts how it will change healthcare) | Peter Lee
Peter Lee, President of Microsoft Research and AI leader with DARPA and Carnegie Mellon roots, reflects on AI’s rise from neural nets to GPT-4. He recalls Microsoft’s strategic bet with OpenAI. Short takes cover transformer breakthroughs, how AI reshapes software roles into full-stack generalists, and bold visions for removing coordination layers to speed up healthcare delivery.
Mar 3, 2026 • 46min
Othman Laraki, Color CEO, on surviving three major pivots
Othman Laraki, co-founder and CEO of Color and former product lead at Google and Twitter, talks about building a generational healthcare company. He recounts three major pivots from cancer genetics to national COVID infrastructure to a virtual cancer clinic. Conversation covers differences between tech and healthcare, shifting venture risk, and why clinical depth and market structure matter for long-term impact.
Feb 24, 2026 • 39min
Dr. Ari Hoffman on escaping the era of pagers and eFaxes
Dr. Ari Hoffman, a physician and product-focused clinical leader at Collective Health, brings clinical insight and health-tech strategy. He talks about why legacy tools like pagers and faxes persist. He explores interoperability gaps, HIPAA-versus-mobile tradeoffs, the role of TPAs, and where APIs and better data could change healthcare's plumbing.
16 snips
Feb 18, 2026 • 44min
Why longevity author Dr. Zeke Emanuel thinks you can eat the ice cream
Zeke Emanuel, oncologist, bioethicist, and author of Eat Your Ice Cream, offers a refreshingly practical take on longevity. He favors sustainable, enjoyable habits over perfection. They talk social meals, realistic fasting, the rise of GLP-1 drugs, the limits of supplements, and why healthcare and policy must support everyday wellness.
22 snips
Feb 10, 2026 • 42min
Dr. Robert Wachter on why healthcare is finally ready for its "giant leap" because of AI
Dr. Robert Wachter, chair of medicine at UCSF and author focused on digital health, discusses why AI finally merits optimism in medicine. He covers autonomous AI risks and rewards. He explores primary care strain, incumbency of big EHR vendors, liability and safety tradeoffs, and how AI might be woven into clinical workflows and records.
4 snips
Feb 3, 2026 • 46min
Niyum Gandhi, CFO of Mass General Brigham & Mike Desjadon, CEO of Anomaly: Why hospitals are increasingly falling into the red
Niyum Gandhi, CFO of Mass General Brigham — healthcare finance leader steering strategy for a major system. Mike Desjadon, CEO of Anomaly — longtime operator who helps health systems adopt innovation. They dig into why hospitals are running in the red, rising expenses vs. revenue, how AI and productivity might help, and what health systems look for when evaluating startups.
