Episodes

  • In this episode of our Advancing Health Equity series, you’ll hear from Dr. Joseph Wright, Chief Health Equity Officer at the American Academy of Pediatrics. A nationally recognized expert in pediatric emergency medicine, Dr. Wright has dedicated his career to advancing child health through advocacy, equity and injury prevention, with over 120 publications and numerous awards to his name. Interviewed by Dr. Jacqueline Douge, a pediatrician and leading voice in health equity, this conversation delves into the systemic challenges impacting children’s health and explores actionable solutions to close equity gaps. Don’t miss this insightful and inspiring discussion!


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  • In this episode of Advancing Health Equity, Dr. Maia Hightower, CEO of Equality AI and former Chief Digital Transformation Officer at the University of Chicago Medicine, joins Steven Collens, CEO of MATTER, to explore the transformative role of AI in advancing health equity. With over 20 years of experience in medicine and healthcare leadership, Dr. Hightower shares her expert insights on how artificial intelligence can address disparities and improve patient outcomes. From her time practicing medicine to shaping digital health strategies, she provides a compelling perspective on leveraging technology to create a more equitable healthcare system. Don’t miss this thought-provoking discussion on innovation and inclusion.

    About Advancing Health Equity
    MATTER’s Advancing Health Equity podcast series focuses on unpacking the complexities of health inequities impacting the healthcare system and the health and well-being of individuals and their communities. These 20-30 minute interview-style sessions are meant to take quick dives into critical areas of health equity and answer questions like:

    What does health equity mean today?Where do current gaps exist in the various areas of healthcare?Where do we see intersections in care?How can technology and innovation be leveraged strategically to positively make a change?


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  • In the fourth episode of season two of Healthcare Horizons, MATTER CEO Steven Collens welcomes Hafeezah Muhammed, founder and CEO of Backpack Healthcare, to discuss how her company is redefining youth mental health support through innovative, AI-driven solutions. Backpack Healthcare is on a mission to provide inclusive and accessible mental health resources that empower young people and their families. Hafeezah shares her inspiration behind creating Backpack, the company's unique approach to trust and safety in AI and their recent $14 million funding milestone. Discover how this trailblazing company is using technology to lighten the emotional burdens we all carry and reshape the future of mental health care.

    Take a listen to their full conversation!


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  • Welcome to the third episode of Healthcare Horizons: AI and Mental Health. MATTER CEO Steven Collens dives into the story behind Joystik Life, a stress management app that uses autogenics to guide users through a series of phrases in short, time-efficient sessions designed to reduce stress, enhance performance and boost mental well-being.

    Hear from Sarah Pierce, chief clinical officer and co-founder of Joystik, as she explains the science behind autogenics, its impact on the nervous system and how Joystik is making stress management accessible for everyone.

    Take a listen to their full conversation!


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  • According to Mental Health America, approximately 20.78 percent of adults experienced a mental illness in 2019-2020, and more than half (54.7 percent) of adults with a mental illness did not receive treatment, with financial barriers being a significant reason.1 Recent research highlights how artificial intelligence (AI) is significantly enhancing the accessibility of mental healthcare, including diagnosis, therapy and treatment, while also reducing biases for individuals with autism and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

    In a conversation with MATTER CEO Steven Collens, Omer Golan, founder and CEO of MyWhatIf, discussed how AI fits into the mental healthcare landscape, how MyWhatIf’s two programs — one for veterans suffering with PTSD and another for cancer patients and their families with PTSD — provide AI-based tools to support mental health and more.

    Take a listen to their full conversation.


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  • A 2023 study revealed that patients of therapists who overestimated their effectiveness often fared worse than those whose therapists had an accurate or even underestimated sense of their effectiveness. This is where measurement-informed care and care pathways become crucial. Blueprint, a MATTER startup member, provides essential resources to clients, clinicians and organizations, ensuring that mental healthcare is delivered as effectively as possible.

    MATTER CEO Steven Collens sat down with Danny Freed, founder and CEO of Blueprint, to explore current trends in the mental health tech landscape, the transformative role of AI in treatment and how Blueprint equips behavioral health organizations with the tools needed to deliver the most effective care.

    Their discussion offers a unique startup perspective on the evolution of mental healthcare through AI-driven solutions. Listen to learn more about the role of startups in mental health innovation.


    For more information, visit matter.health and follow us on social:

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  • As the inevitable need for vision care accelerates, so too does the demand from patients for improved technology, interactions and experiences with the healthcare system. To combat this rising issue, MATTER and VSP Vision™ launched the VSP Vision Innovation Challenge a global competition to source and support solutions enhancing the eye care patient experience.

    Join us for a conversation with three startups that are transforming the eye care experience, whether it’s making it more accessible, equitable or health-focused. Moderator, Will Flanigan, head of programs and partnerships of VSP’s Global Innovation Center, is joined by Dr. Ali Khoshnevis, co-founder and chief strategy officer of EyeCheq, Kimberly Wilson, founder and CEO of HUED, and Ehsan Vaghefi, founder and CEO of Toku Eyes.

    Listen in to learn more about the work of these three companies, gain new insights into eye health and vision care and be inspired by the opportunities for innovation in the vision care space.

    About Partner Insights
    MATTER’s Partner Insights podcast series is a collaborative conversation with our partners to address healthcare’s biggest challenges while highlighting innovative solutions to overcome them.

    Learn more about the VSP Innovation Challenge.


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  • The Peterson Health Technology Institute (PHTI) recently released a report on digital diabetes management solutions that concluded the solutions are generally adding costs to the healthcare system, rather than reducing expenditures. It is fair to say the report has been controversial.

    Join us for a conversation with PHTI Executive Director Caroline Pearson about the report, their methodology, the feedback they have received since publication and their plans for assessing two additional areas — digital hypertension management and mental/behavioral health.

    The conversation was moderated by MATTER CEO Steven Collens.


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  • Join us for a conversation about how innovation is bridging the gap between oral and overall health. This podcast will feature a panel discussion that will tap industry-leading experts who will make the case for connecting chronic care with oral health and discuss how we can reduce health disparities through oral health.

    Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan CEO of CareQuest Institute for Oral Health, will introduce the SMILE Health program. Then, Katie D’Amico, vice president of growth and innovation at CareQuest Innovation Partners, will lead two panels of industry experts that’ll discuss connecting chronic care with oral health and reducing disparities through oral health. The panelists include:

    Panel discussion: Connecting chronic care with oral health

    Dr. Cary Sun, chief dental officer of Cigna HealthcareDavid Kochman, JD, chief corporate affairs officer of Henry Schein Inc.

    Panel discussion: Reducing disparities through oral health

    Kamila Chytil, chief operating officer of DentaQuest, a Sun Life CompanyDr. Maria Ryan, chief clinical officer of Colgate-Palmolive Company


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  • Philip Burton, founder of InHuevation, moderates a panel discussion featuring James Lott, founder and CEO of Scripted, and Luis Suarez, founder and CEO of Sanarai. Hear topics such as addressing disparities in outcomes, funding and access to care.


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  • In recognition of Earth Day, we are taking a look back on last year's Loyola Chicago Health Equity Quest: Climate Change and Healthcare Delivery Summit. To kick off the program, Dr. Jalonne White-Newsome, Federal Chief Environmental Justice Officer at the White House Council on Environmental Quality delivered a keynote address. Take a listen to her presentation, Bridging the Gap: Climate Justice and Health Equity. She also sat down with Steven Collens, CEO of MATTER, to dive deeper into the effects of climate change and health equity.

    Dr. Jalonne L. White-Newsome joined the Biden-Harris Administration in June 2022 as the senior director for environmental justice at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Under her leadership, the environmental justice team is working to deliver on President Biden’s ambitious environmental justice agenda, including implementing the recently signed Environmental Justice Executive Order, releasing the first-ever Environmental Justice Scorecard, advancing the Justice40 Initiative and launching the White House Campaign for Environmental Justice. Dr. White-Newsome became the first-ever federal chief environmental justice officer in 2023.

    For more information on Dr. White-Newsome's work, visit: https://bit.ly/4b8HhKr


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  • The conversation around maternal mortality does not stop here. By encouraging discussions about maternal health, we can foster collaboration and innovation, driving forward initiatives that improve outcomes for mothers, children and families, especially those in historically marginalized communities.

    Join us for the third and final episode of Healthcare Horizons, season one. In this episode, Steven Collens, CEO of MATTER, is joined by Colby Holtshouse, global med tech commercial organization head at Organon. Colby brings deep experience in commercializing groundbreaking medical technologies, with over a decade focused on women’s health. She’ll share insights from her work in medical innovation and learnings from her journey as a female entrepreneur in the women+'s health space, shedding light on the challenges and triumphs of navigating this critical sector.

    About Healthcare Horizons
    MATTER’s Healthcare Horizons podcast series highlights some of the most industrious healthcare leaders who are challenging the status quo by developing novel solutions to address some of the industry’s greatest challenges. These conversations shine a light on key voices in healthcare and answer questions like:

    How can healthcare innovators leverage technology — like generative AI and synthetic biology — to its fullest potential?What healthcare models can (and should) be reimagined?How can interdisciplinary collaboration drive transformative breakthroughs in healthcare?


    Learn more about Organon.
    Learn more about The Jada System.


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  • Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the number of women who died from pregnancy or a pregnancy-related cause in the United States in 2021 increased by 40 percent from 2020. The maternal mortality rate in the U.S. is now the highest since 1965, and the U.S. fares worse than any other industrialized nation. Throughout the inaugural season of Healthcare Horizons, we explore the leading causes behind this inequity and investigate innovative solutions to address maternal mortality.

    Join us as we welcome Dr. Sarosh Rana, head of maternal-fetal medicine and chief obstetrical transformation officer at UChicago Medicine. Dr. Rana discusses her efforts to address maternal mortality disparities for her patients and community, as well as UChicago Medicine’s recent “citation of merit” for its exceptional healthcare leadership.


    About Healthcare Horizons
    MATTER’s Healthcare Horizons podcast series highlights some of the most industrious healthcare leaders who are challenging the status quo by developing novel solutions to address some of the industry’s greatest challenges. These conversations shine a light on key voices in healthcare and answer questions like:

    How can healthcare innovators leverage technology — like generative AI and synthetic biology — to its fullest potential?What healthcare models can (and should) be reimagined?How can interdisciplinary collaboration drive transformative breakthroughs in healthcare?

    Learn more about UChicago Medicine.


    For more information, visit matter.health and follow us on social:

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  • Maternal mortality rates continue to present a pressing health crisis in the United States, with Black women facing a disproportionately high risk — three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes compared to their white counterparts. In the series premiere of Healthcare Horizons, we delve into the leading causes behind this disparity and explore innovative solutions to address maternal mortality.

    Join us as we welcome Dr. Elizabeth Garner, chief scientific officer of Ferring Pharmaceuticals, U.S. and president of the American Medical Women’s Association. Dr. Garner offers her insights on maternal mortality in the U.S., drawing from her extensive experience as both an executive and a leader in the field.


    About Healthcare Horizons
    MATTER’s Healthcare Horizons podcast series highlights some of the most industrious healthcare leaders who are challenging the status quo by developing novel solutions to address some of the industry’s greatest challenges. These conversations shine a light on key voices in healthcare and answer questions like:

    How can healthcare innovators leverage technology — like generative AI and synthetic biology — to its fullest potential?What healthcare models can (and should) be reimagined?How can interdisciplinary collaboration drive transformative breakthroughs in healthcare?

    Learn more about Ferring Pharmaceuticals.

    Learn more about the American Medical Women’s Association.



    For more information, visit matter.health and follow us on social:

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  • On March 19, five dynamic startups innovating at the forefront of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia pitched their solutions to a panel of judges at MATTER during the Second Annual Alzheimer’s Association Pitch Competition.

    Prior to the pitches, Carl V. Hill, chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer of the Alzheimer’s Association, gave a keynote address on the power of partnership in the pursuit of health equity in Alzheimer's and all other dementia. Hear more about his perspective and insight in this podcast.


    For more information, visit matter.health and follow us on social:

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  • The healthcare industry is full of data - today, approximately 30 percent of the world's data volume is being generated by the healthcare industry. And, sharing of this data can help to improve patient care. When different organizations share data, they can work together to better understand diseases and develop more effective treatments for patients. In a study run by Accenture, 84 percent of patients who share their health data have had a positive experience sharing it, and only two percent of respondents have had a negative experience. But, most patients who do not believe they share their data today say it is because no one has asked them to share it.

    Join panelists Alex Simmonds, drug development innovation lead at Bristol Myers Squibb, Colleen D’Abbene, director of U.S. diagnostics at Alexion, Colin Gibbons, sales leader with diagnostic cardiology solutions at Philips, and McCay Barnes, senior digital health product leader at Optum for a discussion moderated by Ben Ferrara, director of growth and corporate strategy in health and life sciences at Accenture, for a deep dive into how patients feel about sharing data, what are the barriers to sharing data and potential areas ripe for innovation.


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  • Generative AI - artificial intelligence capable of generating text, images, video, synthetic data and more - exploded onto the scene the day ChatGPT was released to the public in November, 2022. The technology’s sheer growth, in both usage and valuation, has also generated a tremendous amount of hype.

    In healthcare, the technology is already beginning to demonstrate how it can reimagine the industry in new and exciting ways. Beyond easing administrative burdens and scaling tailored patient communication, generative AI is also accelerating drug discovery and clinical trials.

    Generative AI is truly at the forefront of healthcare transformation, with its impact reverberating across healthcare systems, providers, payers and more.

    Join VSP Global Innovation Center’s Head of Emerging Technology Jay Anderson, Insight Partners Managing Director Hilary Gosher and CB Insights Lead Analyst in Healthcare IT Alex Lennox-Miller for a discussion on the future of generative AI in healthcare, moderated by MATTER CEO Steven Collens.


    For more information, visit matter.health and follow us on social:

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  • Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a report showing that the number of women who died from pregnancy or a pregnancy-related cause in the U.S. in 2021 increased by 40 percent from 2020. This rate of maternal mortality in the U.S. is now the highest since 1965, and the U.S. fares worse than any other industrialized nation.

    While all ages and races saw an increase in maternal mortality in 2021, Black mothers remain the most affected. Black women are 2.6 times more likely to die from pregnancy or pregnancy-related causes than white women in the U.S.

    In response, MATTER and 51 Labs partners Health Care Service Corporation, Laerdal Million Lives Fund, BayCare, Parkview Health, University of Chicago Medicine, Organon and Stryker launched the next iteration of 51 Labs to call on global innovators to submit applications with innovative healthcare solutions that prevent maternal mortality in the U.S. before, during and after birth.

    Join MATTER for a panel discussion on this topic with panelists Colby Holtshouse, head of global MedTech commercial organization and the former US maternal health lead at Organon, and Dr. Ira Sites, OBGYN at BayCare.


    For more information, visit matter.health and follow us on social:

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  • The number of Americans living with Alzheimer’s is growing — and growing fast. More than six million Americans of all ages have Alzheimer’s. As the size of the U.S. population age 65 and older continues to grow, so too will the number and proportion of Americans with Alzheimer’s or other dementias. By 2050, the number of people aged 65 and older with Alzheimer’s may grow to a projected 12.7 million, barring the development of medical breakthroughs to prevent or cure Alzheimer’s disease. Yet, people often face barriers to accessing quality care because of factors such as geography, language, insurance coverage and high costs of care and lack of transportation, to name a few.

    Toward this goal, the Alzheimer’s Association and MATTER are calling on innovators to submit their solutions to the second annual Alzheimer’s Association Pitch Competition. These solutions should address the need for increasing access to quality, person-centered care for people living with Alzheimer’s disease in all communities, especially historically underserved communities.

    Join MATTER and the Alzheimer’s Association for a panel discussion on this topic with panelists Katie Evans, chief mission engagement officer of the Alzheimer's Association, Jay Bhatt, practicing physician and managing director of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions and the Deloitte Health Equity Institute, and Ashley Alexander, president and CEO of the Kelsey Research Foundation. The panel was moderated by Morgan Daven, vice president of health systems of the Alzheimer’s Association.


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  • Join MATTER and AVIA for the fourth and final event in the Health System Innovations series, focusing on stories of successful startup and health system collaborations.

    In this session, you’ll hear insights from startups and health systems that have collaborated on implementing a solution and the journey from first contact to execution and what makes a good implementation. Both parties will discuss their perspectives on what made the relationship successful, how success was measured, anticipated outcomes versus reality and tips for healthcare startups on their journey to partner with health systems.

    Dr. Chris Fore, chief quality officer of Concord Hospital, and Craig Limoli, CEO and founder of Wellsheet, discussed the implementation of Wellsheet’s predictive clinical workflow platform to support clinicians during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, Crystal Broj, MUSC enterprise chief digital transformation officer at Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC Health), and Neal Vachhani, head of client services at Notable, talked about the implementation Notable’s platform to create a “digital front door” to improve the patient journey at MUSC Health. The event was moderated by Zain Ismail, senior director, digital health and transformation at AVIA.


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