First in Human

Jaksot

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  Welcome to First in Human: Stories Transforming the Future of Medicine 24.09.2025 4min

  #001 Ever wonder how people actually break into health tech? Not the buzzwords or corporate decks - but the real stories. The moments of spark, uncertainty, and bold action. Here’s the thing: you don’t have to be a CEO or have an MBA to build something meaningful in health care. In this first episode, I’ll share why I started First in Human, what this show is really about, and how it’s designed to help people like you - doctors, designers, engineers, founders - get inspired, get smarter, and get started. You’ll hear my own story, from operating room to innovation lab, and the patterns I’ve noticed after years of working with health tech builders across the country. Whether you're health-tech curious or already building, you’ll walk away with a clearer sense of what’s possible - and what’s next. Subscribe, share, and follow along at firstinhumanpodcast.com, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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  Using AI in the ER to Catch Heart Attacks Faster 29.09.2025 47min

  In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Maya Yiadom and Dr. Gabrielle Bunney to unpack how real AI gets built, tested, and safely deployed in health care. We go inside the emergency department to tackle one of the most time-critical problems in medicine: early heart attack (MI) detection and door-to-ECG performance. Drs. Yiadom and Bunney share the origin story of SmartCare AI, why small delays lead to higher mortality and heart failure, and how “upskilling” front-door staff with an augmenting intelligence can improve equity and outcomes. We cover:- When to stay in academia vs when to spin out your startup- What “good” clinical workflow integration actually looks like in the ED- The silent pilot method to prove safety and impact before go-live- The challenges of protecting IP for AI systems - Human vs AI performance, and why human+AI winsWhether you’re a clinician, founder, engineer, or health-tech curious, you’ll hear a practical blueprint for AI in healthcare that moves past hype into measurable patient safety and clinical impact. Dr. Yiadom on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maame-yaa-maya-a-b-yiadom-36725b13b/Dr. Yiadom's lab: https://yiadom-hsrdcc.com/ Dr. Bunney on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielle-bunney-md-mba-ms-831a46249/Subscribe and follow at firstinhumanpodcast.com or wherever you listen.
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  How One Text Message Turned This Doctor into Medtronic's CMO 30.09.2025 39min

  What happens when a text from a stranger changes your career?In this episode of First in Human, I sit down with Dr. Austin Chiang, Chief Medical Officer at Medtronic and one of the most influential physician voices on social media. We unpack his remarkable journey—from practicing gastroenterologist to becoming the first CMO of Medtronic’s endoscopy business, a role created specifically for him.Austin shares:- How he built credibility on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok long before most doctors embraced digital platforms.- The rise of misinformation in healthcare and why physicians need to lead online.- What he’s learned inside one of the world’s largest medical device companies about innovation, commercialization, and the people behind medtech.- The challenge of balancing ethics, transparency, and influence while shaping the future of healthcare.- Why AI, digital health, and hybrid careers are redefining medicine for the next generation of doctors.If you’ve ever wondered how clinicians break out of the traditional path, bridge the gap between medicine and technology, or use social media to impact public health, Austin’s story is both inspiring and practical. Austin's Twitter: https://x.com/AustinChiangMDAustin's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/austinchiangmd/ Austin's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/austinchiangmd/ Follow along at firstinhumanpodcast.com or subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen.
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  From Cath Lab to Creativity: How a Cardiologist Became an Innovator 07.10.2025 39min

  What does it take for a physician to cross the bridge from medicine into health tech innovation? In this episode of First in Human, I sit down with Dr. Farzad Azimpour - cardiologist, Stanford Biodesign alum, and global health innovator - whose career has spanned device development, design thinking at IDEO, and now Head of Innovation in Structural Heart at Edwards Lifesciences.Farzad shares his journey from a young cardiology fellow scribbling ideas on index cards to working at the front lines of medical device innovation. We explore the lessons he’s learned about creativity, collaboration, and unlearning some of medicine’s ingrained habits in order to thrive in interdisciplinary teams. Along the way, we talk Biodesign, intellectual property, structural heart therapies, and what it means to balance falling in love with an idea with knowing when to let it go.If you’ve ever wondered how doctors, designers, and engineers can come together to change patient care, this conversation offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at the medtech world. Whether you’re a physician with a creative spark, a founder navigating early-stage health innovation, or just curious about how ideas move from the clinic to real-world impact, you’ll walk away inspired.Subscribe, share, and follow along at firstinhumanpodcast.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
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  An App Store for Surgery? This Founder is Making AI Surgery Robots 14.10.2025 34min

  What happens when you bring Silicon Valley thinking into the operating room? In this episode of First in Human, host Dr. David Hindin sits down with Nick Damiano, co-founder and CEO of Andromeda Surgical, to explore how his team is building the world’s first autonomous surgical robot—a platform designed to make surgery safer, faster, and more precise.Nick shares his journey from pre-med at Stanford to med-tech founder, how the Stanford Biodesign process shaped his path, and why he believes the next revolution in health tech will come from AI-powered surgical systems. Together, they dive into what it really takes to turn a clinical insight into a startup, how to avoid confirmation bias when validating needs, and the practical realities of fundraising in med tech.You’ll hear how Andromeda is tackling complex procedures like HoLEP (holmium laser enucleation of the prostate), what “human-in-the-loop autonomy” means for surgeons, and why AI in healthcare isn’t about replacing clinicians—it’s about multiplying their impact.Whether you’re a founder, surgeon, engineer, or anyone just curious about the frontier of robotic surgery, this conversation offers a rare look at how cutting-edge technology, design thinking, and clinical insight come together to redefine what’s possible in the OR.
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  Turning Noise Into Opportunity: The Treble Health Story 21.10.2025 34min

  What happens when you combine clinical credibility, a patient problem that’s flown under the radar, and a founder mindset? In this episode of First in Human, I sit down with Ben Thompson (Au.D.), founder of health-tech enabled telehealth startup Treble Health - and a YouTube creator whose tinnitus-focused videos have been viewed over 10 million times. Ben shares how he noticed an accessibility gap for tinnitus care, leveraged content creation and community building, and made the leap from 100 % clinical practice into startup mode without an MBA or device-manufacturing background. We go deep into how he uses technology, telehealth, personalized treatment, and patient-first design to deliver high-value care. Along the way, we'll touch on the clinical insights that have driven his YouTube growth - and the insights from his YouTube content that have fed directly into his company. If you’re a doctor, designer, engineer, or founder looking to get started in health-tech or build something meaningful in healthcare, this is your episode. You’ll walk away with actionable lessons on spotting unmet needs, building credibility through content, bootstrapping a practice, deciding when to scale, and what really happens when you shift from clinician to health-tech builder.
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  Office Hours: How to Share Your Big Idea - Without Losing It 28.10.2025 45min

  Ever wondered how to talk about your invention without your idea being stolen? In this episode of First in Human, we sit down with Jessica Hudak - mechanical engineer turned patent attorney and now VP of Corporate Counsel at Edwards Lifesciences = to unpack how innovators can safely move from idea to impact.You’ll hear Jessica’s journey from Stanford Biodesign to the Federal Circuit, and learn practical, plain-English answers to the biggest questions in health tech and medical devices: when to file a provisional patent, how “first to file” really works, what counts as public disclosure, and what to know about AI inventorship.Whether you’re a clinician, engineer, or founder building your first product, you’ll walk away knowing exactly how to protect what you’re creating—and why it matters.
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  The Hidden Condition That Inspired a Startup 04.11.2025 37min

  What happens when two innovators take on a condition no one talks about - but that quietly shapes how people connect? In this episode of First in Human, I sit down with Véronique Peiffer, PhD engineer, former McKinsey consultant, Stanford Biodesign fellowship alum, and co-founder of Palm. Together with her co-founder, she set out to solve excessive hand sweating, or hyperhidrosis - a condition that can make everyday moments of connection feel heavy with self-consciousness. Véronique shares how late-night brainstorms turned into a real prototype, how they built a glove-based therapy that worked, and what it took to navigate the realities of funding, regulation, and knowing when to pause.We also talk about her next chapter: distilling those lessons into The Scrappy Entrepreneur, a book for early-stage founders learning to build with heart and grit. If you’ve ever wondered what innovation really looks like behind the scenes - the human problems many of us face, and the courage it takes to solve them - this conversation will stay with you.
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  How One Med Student’s Frustration Launched a Global Company 11.11.2025 53min

  What if medical education felt less like memorization, and more like discovery?In this episode of First in Human, we sit down with Shiv Gaglani, the founder of Osmosis, to unpack the story behind how a frustrated med student turned an idea into one of the most influential learning platforms in healthcare.Shiv shares the spark that started it all—the moment he realized medicine was being taught the way it had been for a century: dense lectures, endless flashcards, and little room for real understanding. That frustration became fuel for building Osmosis, a platform designed to make learning medicine feel intuitive, visual, and human.Along the way, he opens up about the messy middle—the setbacks, the near-misses, and the lessons learned in building a company that was eventually acquired by Elsevier. We explore what it means to return to med school a decade later in the age of AI, what humans still do best, and why Shiv's newest venture is taking him from Osmosis to ... wait for it .... reverse osmosis - helping people make their homes as healthy as their habits.This is a story about curiosity, resilience, and what happens when learning itself becomes the experiment. Connect with Shiv: https://bit.ly/441n0W4 
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  Why a Serial Medtech Founder Is Betting on Bathrooms 18.11.2025 44min

  What happens when a serial medtech founder takes on one of the most overlooked problems in public health: the simple act of finding a clean, safe place to go to the bathroom? In this episode, I sit down with Fletcher Wilson, founder and CEO of Throne Labs. His company is reimagining public bathrooms with the same precision and empathy you would expect from a medical device team. Fletcher shares how a personal struggle with GI issues, a series of raw conversations with mobile workers and city leaders, and a belief in human dignity pushed him toward an unexpected frontier. His goal is simple. Create a bathroom that feels like a hotel lobby but can sit in a Home Depot parking lot. We talk through the stories that shaped Throne. An Uber driver who carried a necktie so he could pretend to be a hotel guest. The tech stack behind their solar powered units. The design choices that have quietly saved multiple lives. Fletcher also opens up about culture, kindness, and why curiosity matters more than a perfect resume. If you have ever wondered how a basic human need becomes a systems problem, and how thoughtful design can reshape an entire city, this conversation will change the way you see public space, technology, and dignity itself. Subscribe to First in Human: - Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/first-in-human/id1842644737 - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3C1xG5SxPei8m2lI63WSkd Connect with Fletcher Fletcher on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fletcher-wilson-a216a16/ Visit Throne labs: https://thronelabs.co/ 
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  They Chose the Problem Every Medtech Company Ran From. It Paid Off. 25.11.2025 43min

  Some problems in medicine see so many failed attempts that they start to feel untouchable. Teams learn to move on, investors grow wary, and the problem becomes its own warning label. Kate Garrett and Dr. Dan Azagury chose a different path. Kate and Dan, cofounders of Ciel (later acquired by Vyaire Medical), found themelves confronted with one of those notoriously unsolved, high-stakes problems - the kind that had stopped other companies cold. What happened next changed everything for them, their patients, and for medtech. In this episode, Kate and Dan share how confronting that kind of problem shaped their partnership, what the journey taught them about trust and perseverance, and why some of the most meaningful breakthroughs begin with the problems everyone else have learned to avoid. Subscribe to First in Human: - Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/first-in-human/id1842644737 - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3C1xG5SxPei8m2lI63WSkd Connect with Kate and Dr. Azagury: Kate Garrett's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-garrett-464920/ Dr. Dan Azagury's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-azagury-ba70733a/ 
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  Premature Babies Were Being Protected With Literal Tape. This CEO Saw a Better Way. 02.12.2025 41min

  An innovator’s first step into the clinical environment - in this case, an ICU built for the world’s tiniest babies - can change everything. In this episode of First in Human, I sit down with Eric Chehab, a Stanford-trained biomechanical engineer and founder of Novonate. We explore how a deadly but unaddressed risk in premature newborns became the focus of his life’s work. Eric shares the moment he realized that fragile infants were being protected with tape, improvisation, and sheer nursing ingenuity, and how that small, almost ordinary detail revealed a problem no one had truly solved. We follow his unusual path from a class assignment to years of crude prototypes, a slow spinout from Stanford, and the lonely stretch of building a pediatric device company in a market most investors dismiss. Eric opens up about the doubts, the early believers, and the winding strategic conversations that eventually led to Novonate’s acquisition by Laborie. If you’re curious how real needs are found, or how a simple idea can become life-changing for the smallest patients on earth, this conversation offers a rare look at the patient and determined work behind meaningful innovation. Subscribe to First in Human: - Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/first-in-human/id1842644737 - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3C1xG5SxPei8m2lI63WSkd Connect with Eric: - Eric's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/echehab/ - Laborie webpage: https://www.laborie.com/product/lifebubble/ 
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  She Replaced an $80,000 Machine With a High-Tech Sticker 09.12.2025 51min

  How do you fight a disease that hides until it’s almost too late? In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Maria Artunduaga, founder of Samay, whose work began with a moment she still remembers clearly: a conversation about air trapping, a flashback to high-school physics, and the realization that sound might reveal early changes inside the lungs before symptoms appear at all. That spark - in a problem inspired by the loss of her grandmother to a COPD exacerbation - sent her down a path to rethink how we detect danger in one of the world’s deadliest respiratory diseases.Maria shares the unlikely early days: late-night experiments in her living room, patients welcoming her into their homes, and the first hints that a simple wearable patch could capture some of the insights that previously required an $80,000, phone booth-sized machine. We explore why respiratory diseases have been neglected by med tech, what makes COPD so deadly, and how a founder from Colombia is building technology designed for the people most often left behind. This conversation is about invention, persistence, and what becomes possible when a eureka moment meets a problem the world can no longer ignore. Subscribe to First in Human: - Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/first-in-human/id1842644737 - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3C1xG5SxPei8m2lI63WSkd Connect with Maria: - Maria's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drartunduaga/ - Samay webpage: https://www.samayhealth.com/home 
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  Doctors Laughed at His Prototype. Now Millions Use It. 16.12.2025 42min

  What does it take to reinvent one of the most iconic tools in medicine? In this episode of First in Human, I sit down with Connor Landgraf, co-founder and CEO of Eko Health, to trace the unlikely journey from childhood tinkerer to building a digital-enabled stethoscope that’s quietly reshaping how clinicians listen, learn, and diagnose. Connor shares how a gradual realization in a Berkeley classroom led him to challenge a centuries-old design paradigm. Why do we still rely on a hollow tube and human hearing alone to evaluate heart and lung disease? From building early prototypes (which doctors promptly rejected), to the long, patient work of developing data, algorithms, and trust, this is a story about respecting medicine’s traditions while carefully pushing it forward. If you’ve ever wondered how real medical innovation gets started, or how technology can augment human judgment without erasing it, this conversation offers a rare, thoughtful look at what it really takes to change medicine from the inside out. Subscribe to First in Human: - Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/first-in-human/id1842644737 - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3C1xG5SxPei8m2lI63WSkd Connect with Connor: - Connor's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connorlandgraf/ - Eko Health webpage: http://ekohealth.com/ 
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  $150M Raised. A Blood Test Reshaping Sepsis Care. 30.12.2025 46min

  Sepsis is one of medicine’s most dangerous guessing games. Patients arrive with vague symptoms. Clinicians rely on instinct. And too often, the ones who look “okay” are the ones who crash. In this episode of First in Human, I sit down with Dr. Tim Sweeney, physician-scientist and founder of Inflammatix, to trace the unlikely path from a tense moment at a medical conference to a breakthrough FDA-cleared diagnostic now shaping real clinical decisions. Tim shares why leaving residency was the hardest choice he’s ever made, how years of rejected grants pushed him toward entrepreneurship, and what it took to raise more than $150M to build a diagnostic tool medicine didn’t yet have. We go inside Trivarity, a blood test that reads the immune system itself to help doctors decide whether a patient has a bacterial infection, a viral infection, or something else entirely and how sick they’re about to become. Along the way, we talk about the limits of clinical intuition, why sepsis isn’t  one disease, and how better decisions, made earlier, can change outcomes. This is a conversation about conviction, risk, and what becomes possible when we stop guessing and start listening to the biology.Subscribe to First in Human: - Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/first-in-human/id1842644737 - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3C1xG5SxPei8m2lI63WSkd Learn more about Inflammatix: https://inflammatix.com/Tim on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-sweeney-a6589594/ 
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  Nothing in the OR Was Built For His Patient. 06.01.2026 43min

  It’s one thing to talk about innovation. It’s another to realize, mid-surgery, that nothing in the room was designed for your patient.In this episode of First in Human, I sit down with Dr. James Wall, pediatric surgeon, serial health tech founder, and VP of Product Management and Associate Medical Officer at Intuitive, to trace his journey. It's a career that's been shaped by building where the market is small and the stakes are high. From completing advanced training in minimally invasive surgery in France to launching multiple startups, to leading pediatric innovation at Stanford, and now - most recently - helping guide the future of surgical robotics, James has spent decades navigating the tension between impact and scale. The conversation spans pediatric devices, biodesign, venture economics, and the future of surgery. But at its core, it’s about learning how to build things that matter when scale isn’t guaranteed—and why the hardest markets can produce the clearest thinking about what patients truly need. Subscribe to First in Human: - Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/first-in-human/id1842644737 - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3C1xG5SxPei8m2lI63WSkd Connect with James: - James on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameswallmd/
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  3 Startups, 1 Rule: Building Companies from the ICU's Clues 13.01.2026 48min

  What does it really take to decide what’s worth building in healthcare? In this episode of First in Human, I sit down with Dr. Ryan Van Wert, ICU physician and serial health tech founder, to unpack how he’s built multiple companies by starting with the most vulnerable moments in medicine. From rethinking sedation for patients on ventilators, to ensuring people’s end-of-life wishes are honored, to helping adult children care for aging parents, Ryan shares how clinical pain points become startup decisions and how needs-first thinking guides what he builds. We talk about Stanford Biodesign, the discipline of needs-first innovation, and what years in the ICU teach you about human cost, timing, and focus. Ryan walks through how specific problems rose to the top during rigorous needs-finding, how his thinking has evolved across Awair, Vynca, and now Kin, and what he looks for before committing to build. If you’re a clinician, founder, or builder wondering how to choose the right problem to work on and how to build with both rigor and empathy, this conversation offers a rare, grounded look at how real healthcare companies actually get started and why that decision matters more than anything that comes next.Subscribe to First in Human: - Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/first-in-human/id1842644737 - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3C1xG5SxPei8m2lI63WSkd Visit Kin Concierge online: https://www.kinconcierge.com/ 
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  Why This CEO Is Building an EKG for the Gut - Literally 20.01.2026 43min

  You might be surprised to learn that a particle physicist — someone who knows how to work with massive particle accelerators slamming atoms together — is building a company focused on a sticker that sits on your abdomen. But once you dig a bit deeper, it makes perfect sense. In this episode of First in Human, I talk with Steve Axelrod, a longtime physicist turned CEO, whose entire career has been built on pulling meaningful signal out of noise. It's a skill set that's taken him from nuclear sensors at Yale all the way to Silicon Valley, ultimately as a medtech CEO working on a deeply personal problem. And along the way, what Steve discovered was unsettling: when it comes to gut-related illness, doctors often can’t measure what patients are feeling. Tests look normal. Symptoms come and go. And care is often based on educated guesswork. So Steve did what physicists do: he started measuring. We talk about why he’s now building a wearable “EKG for the gut,” how listening to electrical rhythms over days - not minutes - changes what we see, and why this approach could reshape how doctors understand chronic symptoms, recovery after surgery, and what’s really happening inside the body. This is a story about physics, family, and what happens when someone trained to study the universe turns their attention inward - and finally starts listening. Subscribe to First in Human: - Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/first-in-human/id1842644737 - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3C1xG5SxPei8m2lI63WSkd Check out G-Tech's website: https://www.gtechmedical.com/  Connect with Steve on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steveaxelrodphd/
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  Doctors Said "Just Live With It." Her Team Built a $1B Startup Instead 27.01.2026 53min

  Menopause isn’t gentle. For many women, it’s a physiological shockwave — flipping sleep, mood, metabolism, cognition, sexual health, and long-term disease risk all at once. And all too often, the healthcare system’s response has essentially been: “live with it.” In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Mindy Goldman, a UCSF gynecologist and nationally recognized leader in menopause and cancer survivorship care, whose career took an unexpected turn from academic medicine into the heart of a fast-scaling women’s health startup. What began as deeply personal loss and years of clinical frustration evolved into something much larger: helping shape Midi, a menopause startup now delivering insurance-covered care to women across all 50 states.Dr. Goldman shares the formative moments that changed her trajectory, from losing her closest friend to breast cancer, to realizing how many women are dismissed, misdiagnosed, or told to simply “push through” midlife symptoms. We unpack the care gap hiding in plain sight, why menopause became a systemic blind spot in modern medicine, and how Midi is using telehealth, clinical rigor, and scale to rebuild women’s healthcare from the inside out.This is a conversation about listening to hard experiences, translating clinical insight into infrastructure, and what happens when medicine meets venture-scale ambition. If you care about health innovation that makes a massive impact, this episode shows what it takes — and why it matters now more than ever. Subscribe to First in Human: - Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/first-in-human/id1842644737 - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3C1xG5SxPei8m2lI63WSkd Check out Midi's website: https://www.joinmidi.com/
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  The CEO Whose Company is Eliminating the Need for Skin Biopsies 03.02.2026 51min

  What if diagnosing skin lesions didn’t require a scalpel — or even a biopsy at all? In this episode of First in Human, I sit down with Gabriel Sanchez, MIT-trained engineer, Stanford PhD, and founder and CEO of Enspectra Health. Early in his engineering career at Stanford, Gabriel began to see the limits of powerful imaging technologies that never made it beyond the lab. Instead of letting that work remain siloed, he set out to bring it into real clinical care. Gabriel tells the story of shrinking a room-sized microscope into a deployable medical device, and why he believes skin pathology is overdue for the same non-invasive transformation that reshaped radiology decades ago. We talk about the 150-year-old biopsy workflow that still defines dermatology, the massive bottlenecks it creates, and why so many attempts to change it have fallen short. Along the way, Gabriel shares what it really takes to introduce a brand-new imaging modality to the FDA, why studying past failures matters more than chasing hype, and how timing, patience, and persistence shape long innovation arcs. If you’ve ever wondered how scientific insight becomes real-world impact — or how medicine’s most entrenched habits actually change — this conversation offers a rare look inside the journey. Subscribe to First in Human: - Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/first-in-human/id1842644737 - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3C1xG5SxPei8m2lI63WSkd Check out Enspectra Health's Webpage: https://www.enspectrahealth.com/ Connect with Gabriel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriel-sanchez-a6719837/