Vital Signs with Jacob Effron and Nikhil Krishnan
Episodes
Ep 66: Pete Shalek On The Future of Front Office Automation
07 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Pete Shalek, founder of Valerie Health, is a multi-time healthcare entrepreneur who previously founded Joyable in 2013 (one of the earliest digital me...
Ep 65: CMMI Leaders on ACCESS Model Launch, Drug Pricing Strategy, and the Future of Technology Enabled Care
08 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode announces the launch of CMS's ACCESS (Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions) model - a groundbreaking payment innovat...
Ep 64: Sutter Health CEO & President Warner Thomas on Digital Transformation and the Future of Health Systems
07 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The episode explores how Warner Thomas is transforming Sutter Health into a digitally-enabled, ambulatory-focused health system that can navigate majo...
Ep 63: Narayana Health Vice Chairman on Scaling Quality Care in India and Tech’s Role
01 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode features Viren Shetty, Vice Chairman of Narayana Health, discussing how his father founded a cardiac surgery hospital in India 25 years a...
Ep 62: Merck KGaA Chief Data and AI Officer on Scaling AI in Pharma and The Future of Enterprise Software
29 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode captures Walid Mehanna's perspective on how Merck KGaA has approached enterprise AI adoption through a federated strategy that prioritize...
Ep 61: Co-Founder of Chai Discovery Joshua Meier on 99% Faster Drug Discovery, BioTech’s AlphaGo Moment, Building Photoshop for Molecules
22 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Jacob sits down with Joshua Meier, co-founder of Chai Discovery and former Chief AI Officer at Absci, to explore the breakthrough mom...
Ep 60: General Medicine's Elliot Cohen on Lessons from PillPack and Amazon and The Future of AI x Healthcare
31 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Elliot Cohen—PillPack co-founder and now co-founder of General Medicine—joins Jacob Effron and Nikhil (Out-of-Pocket) to unpack what “best care”...
Flashback: Hinge Health CEO Daniel Perez on Effective Employer Sales, Patient Engagement and His Top Advice to Founders
23 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Flashback episode in honor of Hinge Health's IPO this week. In the episode, Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Daniel Perez, the Co-Founder and CEO of Hin...
Ep 59: Photon Health CEO Otto Sipe on the Future of Pharmacies, PBMs and GLP-1s
01 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Otto Sipe. Otto is the CEO and Co-Founder of Photon Health, which enables patients to select their own pharmacies with ...
Ep 58: Iora Health Former CEO Rushika Fernandopulle on Current State of Value Based Care Across Payer Types and AI’s Role in Primary Care
10 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Dr. Rushika Fernandopulle. Rushika is the former CEO and Co-Founder of Iora Health, a primary care provider centered ar...
Ep 57: Taro Health CEO Frank Wu on Direct Primary Care, The History of InsurTech and AI for Payers
14 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Frank Wu, the Co-Founder and CEO of Taro Health. Taro Health is a health insurance plan currently live in Maine and Okl...
Ep 56: Providence CEO Erik Wexler on Evaluating Partnerships, Policy and Leadership
25 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob sits down with Erik Wexler, the President and CEO of Providence. Providence is a non-profit, faith-based health system with 51 hospitals and 1,0...
Ep 55: Hinge Health CEO Daniel Perez on Effective Employer Sales, Patient Engagement and His Top Advice to Founders
11 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Daniel Perez, the Co-Founder and CEO of Hinge Health. Hinge Health is a digital clinic for patients with joint and musc...
Ep 54: General Catalyst CEO Hemant Taneja on Buying a Health System, $100B Healthcare Companies and The Future of AI and Venture
28 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob sits down with Hemant Taneja, the CEO & Managing Director of General Catalyst. GC is one of the world’s largest venture capital firms, most re...
Ep 53: Cradle CEO Stef van Grieken on the State of AI x Bio and Selling SaaS to Pharma
03 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob sits down with Stef van Grieken, Co-Founder & CEO of Cradle. Cradle has raised over $100M from investors like IVP and Index Ventures to build an...
Ep 52: knownwell CMO Dr. Angela Fitch on The Future of GLP-1s and New Approaches to Obesity Medicine
14 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob sits down with Dr. Angela Fitch, the Founder and CMO of knownwell. knownwell has raised $25 million from investors like a16z and Flare Capital P...
Ep 51: Privia CEO Parth Mehrotra on The Future of Physician Enablement and How To Manage Risk Successfully
22 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Parth Mehrotra, CEO of Privia Health. Privia is a physician enablement platform partnering with 4500+ providers towards...
Ep 50: Carelon Health President Bryony Winn on How Payers Think About Provider Strategy, Startups and Value-Based Care
10 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Bryony Winn, President at Carelon Health. Carelon is the diversified services business within Elevance Health (formerly...
Ep 49: Equip CEO Kristina Saffran on Effective Eating Disorder Treatments and Scaling New Care Models
11 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob sits down with Kristina Saffran, the Co-Founder and CEO of Equip. Equip delivers at-home, virtual eating disorder treatment for both adolescents...
Ep 48: Savvy CEO Suril Kantaria on First Time Founder Lessons and ICHRA
25 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Savvy CEO Suril Kantaria to discuss the future of the ICHRA market and what he would do differently if he was starting ...
Ep 47: Former One Medical/Stanford CEO Amir Dan Rubin on Payviders, One Medical Reflections and Gen AI
10 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob sits down with Amir Dan Rubin, the CEO and Founding Managing Partner at Healthier Capital. Amir previously served as the CEO of One Medical and ...
Ep 46: Humana Primary Care CMO Dr. Vivek Garg on Next Gen Primary Care Lessons and Effective Payer Partnerships
17 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Dr. Vivek Garg, the Chief Medical Officer & SVP, Primary Care at Humana; Chief Medical Officer at both CenterWell and C...
Ep 45: Sword Health CEO Virgílio (“V”) Bento on Sword's New AI Solution and the Decisions That Shaped the Company
05 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Virgílio (“V”) Bento, Founder and CEO of Sword Health, the $3 billion company focused on improving pain management...
Ep 44: Dr. Atul Butte on Healthcare AI Opportunities and Challenges
07 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Dr. Atul Butte, a professor at UCSF, Chief Data Scientist of the UC Health System, and a co-founder of numerous healthc...
Ep 43: Former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. David Shulkin on Transforming the VA & Getting Public-Private Partnerships Right
23 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Dr. David Shulkin, the former Secretary of Veterans Affairs who has also held roles as CMO of the University of Pennsyl...
Ep 42: Alan CEO Jean-Charles Samuelian-Werve on Building a Healthcare Superapp & the Future of Healthcare in Europe
09 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Jean-Charles Samuelian-Werve, Co-Founder and CEO of Alan. Alan is a multi-billion dollar French health insurance compan...
Ep 41: Benchling Head of Strategy Malay Gandhi on the Future of Life Sciences Software and The Evolution of Digital Health
26 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Malay Gandhi, Head of Strategy & Corporate Development at Benchling. Malay previously served as CEO of Rock Health and ...
Ep 40: Strive Health Co-Founder Will Stokes on The Key Parts of Risk-Based Contracts and Value Based Care In Specialties
12 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Will Stokes, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer of Strive Health, a pioneer in value-based care that partners with pay...
Ep 39: Dr. Amy Abernethy on the Future of Real-World Evidence and Regulating Generative AI
27 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob sits down with Dr. Amy Abernethy, whose health tech career spans from clinician and researcher to CMO at Flatiron Health to Principal Deputy Com...
Ep 38: Oscar Co-Founder Mario Schlosser on Lessons from Implementing LLMs and How AI Will Impact Healthcare
13 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Oscar Health is a $4B public healthcare company, providing healthcare insurance to nearly 1 million members. Oscar is at the forefront of AI adoption,...
Ep 37: Centene Corporation CEO Sarah London on Centene’s Strategy and Innovating in Medicaid
30 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Sarah London, CEO of Centene Corporation, the largest managed Medicaid organization in the country, serving 15 million ...
Ep 36: Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel on Why Healthcare Reform is so Hard and the Future of Hospitals
12 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob sits down with Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel again to discuss the future of health policy and care delivery, hyped innovations in healthcare, market trend...
Ep 35: Cityblock CEO Dr. Toyin Ajayi on the Current and Future State of Medicaid Innovation
28 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Toyin Ajayi, Co-Founder and CEO of Cityblock Health, an SDoH-focused provider of primary care, behavioral health, and c...
Ep 34: Pomelo Care CEO Marta Bralic Kerns on Improving Maternity Care & How to Sell to Payers
14 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Marta Bralic Kerns, Founder and CEO of Pomelo Care, a multispecialty virtual medical practice that cares for mothers an...
Ep 33: Aledade CEO Farzad Mostashari on Managing $20B in Healthcare Spending and Lessons on Succeeding in Value-Based Care
02 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil speak with Farzad Mostashari, Founder and CEO of Aledade, which supports independent primary care practices to succeed in value-based...
Ep 32: Heather Fernandez (Solv CEO) on Reinventing Last-Minute Care
17 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil speak with Heather Fernandez, CEO and Co-Founder of Solv, a company that focuses on getting people access to high-quality, last-minut...
Ep 31: Mark Cuban on Disrupting PBMs, Staying Curious & Using AI to Avoid NBA Fines
04 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Mark Cuban to discuss his pharmaceutical startup, The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. They discuss why Mark entered ...
Ep 30: Marley Medical CEO Chris Hogg on Which Health Tech GTM Models Are Best and Using AI in Care
21 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob sits down with Marley Medical CEO Chris Hogg to discuss how he and his team select markets, think about go-to-market and utilize AI. Chris also ...
Ep 29: Omada Health CEO Sean Duffy on Evolving Employer Pricing, Incorporating GLP-1s and Using LLMs
15 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Sean Duffy, the CEO of health tech unicorn Omada Health, to discuss how Omada is using Large Language Models and incorp...
Ep 27: PathAI CEO Dr. Andy Beck on the Future of AI in Medical Diagnosis
25 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob sits down with PathAI Ceo Dr. Andy Beck to discuss the state of AI adoption in diagnosis, why Path acquired their own lab, pathologists' jobs in...
Ep 26: Dr. Austin Chiang on Using Social Media to Educate His >500K Followers and GLP-1s
11 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Dr. Austin Chiang, an interventional GI doc and Chief Medical Officer of Medtronic’s GI business who also has 500K Ti...
Ep 25: Dotmatics CEO Thomas Swalla on The State of R&D Software
27 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Dotmatics CEO Thomas Swalla to discuss R&D software, differences in software requirements across biotechs, growing thro...
Ep 24: Insitro CEO Daphne Koller on Using ML to Change Drug Discovery
13 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob sits down with Insitro CEO Daphne Koller to discuss founding Coursera, where and how ML can drive the most impact in drug development, and if fo...
Ep 23: Stanford Professor James Zou on the Economics, Regulation and Applications of AI in Healthcare
26 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
00:00 intro01:08 James’ background04:39 regulation of AI medical devices14:43 impact of foundation models on healthcare19:41 the future of cancer de...
Ep 22: Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel on Our Relationship with Death and Bad Incentives in Research
09 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel and discuss his reflections on his “Why I want to Die at 75” piece, how publishing/financial in...
Ep 21: Andy Coravos and Ashoka Rajendra on Hyperspecialization in Pharma R&D and Digital Biomarkers
25 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob sits down with HumanFirst CEO Andy Coravos and Orchestra CEO Ashoka Rajendra to discuss at home data collection in trials, Andy being an EIR at ...
Ep 20: Andy Slavitt on Optum’s Evolution and Lessons from Obamacare and COVID
11 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Andy Slavitt, former Optum EVP, head of CMS, COVID advisor and healthcare.gov saver joins Nikhil and Jacob to discuss public/private sector collaborat...
Ep 19: Mike Kopko on ACO Reach and The Future of Health Exchanges
28 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Mike Kopko, CEO and co-founder of Pearl Health to discuss Pearl’s care model and what it’s been like building the c...
Ep 18: Dr. Jeffrey Kang on CVS/Walgreens' Role in Healthcare and The Future of Risk Adjustment and Senior Care
16 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Dr. Jeffrey Kang, CEO of WellBe Senior Medical, and former President of ChenMed, SVP Health and Wellness Solutions at W...
Ep 17: Naomi Allen on How to Sell to Employers and the Future of Mental Healthcare
01 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Naomi Allen, CEO and founder of Brightline (child and teen focused mental health company that’s raised $100M) and Cas...
Ep 16: Dr. Jaewon Ryu on Geisinger's Fresh Food and DNA Sequencing Programs and the Future of Clinician Training
14 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob sits down with Geisinger CEO Dr. Jaewon Ryu to discuss how he and Geisinger think about their Fresh Food Farmacy, population-wide DNA sequencing...
Ep 15: Dr. Jenny Schneider on What Livongo Got Right and Improving Rural Healthcare
02 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob sits down with Homeward Health CEO and former Castlight and Livongo CMO Dr. Jenny Schneider to discuss solving provider shortages in rural marke...
Ep 14: Vijay Kedar on Oscar Reflections and What's Required to Make At Home Care Work
19 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Tomorrow Health CEO and former Oscar Texas GM Vijay Kedar to discuss lessons he learned at Oscar, reflections on the AC...
Ep. 13: Annual Predictions and Robin Shah and Dr. Bobby Green on Designing New Cancer Care Models and The Future of Oncology
05 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil discuss annual health-tech predictions and are then joined by Thyme Care co-founders Robin Shah and Dr. Bobby Green to discuss the nu...
Ep 12: Chris Gibson on Building a Platform Biotech and The Future of R&D
14 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob sits down with Chris Gibson, the co-founder and CEO of Recursion, to discuss how Recursion predicted drugs that would be effective for COVID, hi...
Ep 11: Dr. Arif Nathoo on the Evolution and Future of Healthcare Data and Building a Vertical SaaS Platform
29 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob sits down with Dr. Arif Nathoo, the CEO of Komodo Health (most recently valued at $3.3B) to discuss Komodo’s journey from a single app to a pl...
Ep 10: Dr. Bob Kocher on the Future of Health Systems and Increasing Healthcare Productivity
16 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sat down with Dr. Bob Kocher, the Venrock partner who helped write the Affordable Care Act while in the Obama administration to discu...
Ep 9: Eren Bali on Using Tech to Lower Healthcare Costs and Carbon Health's Strategy
27 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Carbon Health CEO and founder Eren Bali to discuss Carbon Health's evolution, how he thinks about Carbon Health's tech,...
Ep 8: Dr. Sachin Jain on Incubating Businesses and Why Health Systems Will Drive Value-Based Care
11 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Dr. Sachin Jain to discuss operating as a non-profit, competing in Medicare Advantage and when PE/VC backing doesn’t ...
Ep 7: Seema Verma on Running CMS During COVID and Drug Pricing
27 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob sits down with Seema Verma to talk about rapid policymaking during COVID, recent drug pricing legislation, her reflections on her time at CMS an...
Ep 6: Nikhil Krishnan on Doctor Influencers and Healthcare Hot Takes
13 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob sits down with Nikhil Krishnan, founder of Out of Pocket, to discuss his path to becoming a healthcare meme king and the community he's building...
Ep 5: Lucia Huang on Psychedelic Medicine and the Future of Mental Healthcare
31 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob sits down with Lucia Huang, co-founder and CEO of Osmind, to discuss new psychedelic and neuromodulation mental health treatments, how Osmind is...
Ep 4: Brad Smith on Improving Policy and Rural Healthcare
16 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob sits down with Brad Smith, founder of CareBridge, Main Street Health and Aspire and former head of CMMI, to discuss the novel ways he’s bringi...
Ep 3: Dr. Tom Lee on Amazon/One Medical, Galileo and Healthcare's Future
03 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob sits down with Dr. Tom Lee founder of One Medical, Galileo and Epocrates. They discuss Amazon’s $3.9B acquisition of One Medical, what Tom’s...
Ep 2: Dr. Mandy Cohen on Medicaid Innovation and Succeeding Under Risk
19 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob sits down with Dr. Mandy Cohen - former Secretary of North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services, COO of the Center for Medicare ...
Ep 1: Adam Boehler on the Value Based Care Market and What's Next
05 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob sits down with Adam Boehler - former CEO of Landmark Health, Head of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation and current CEO of Rubicon ...