Episode #163. From Stroke Care to AI: How Technology Can Reach Everyone, with Junaid Kalia, Founder & CEO of SaveLife.AI

Summary

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Episode Summary:

Risk Never Sleeps Podcast

Episode #163: From Stroke Care to AI: How Technology Can Reach Everyone
Guest: Dr. Junaid Kalia, Founder & CEO of SaveLife.AI
Host: Ed Gaudet
Date: December 15, 2025

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Overview

This episode, recorded live at the AI Med25 conference in San Diego, features a dynamic conversation with Dr. Junaid Kalia, neurologist and founder/CEO of SaveLife.AI, a company delivering AI-powered, edge-deployed radiology solutions designed to make advanced stroke care and other imaging technologies accessible—even in low-resource and rural settings. Host Ed Gaudet (joined briefly by Saul, another panelist) explores the challenges, opportunities, and realities of using next-generation technology to protect patient safety at the point of care.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Mission Behind SaveLife.AI

• Company Purpose:
  • SaveLife.AI’s name is inspired by the idea: "if you save a life, it is as if you save the life of all mankind." Their technology makes AI radiology accessible and affordable, especially in low-resource environments (00:56).
  • AI solutions are deployed at the point of imaging (e.g., at portable X-ray or mammography machines), enhancing privacy, reducing resource needs, and enabling instant diagnostics even where specialists are scarce (00:56–01:49).

    "What I'm saying is that the idea behind the company was to make AI accessible, affordable and therefore saving lives." — Junaid Kalia (01:36)

2. Solving Global Stroke Care and Diagnostic Inequity

• Inspiration from Personal Experience:
  • Dr. Kalia's origins in Pakistan and India shaped his focus on solutions for settings with limited radiology capabilities.
• Relevance of Generic Stroke Treatments:
  • The clot-busting drug tPA is now much cheaper since going off-patent, but timely access to diagnosis (via CT scans/imaging) is still a barrier globally (01:53–03:50).
  • Portable imaging is improving, but there's a severe global shortage of radiologists, e.g., “500 radiologists in Dallas; less than 500 in all of Africa” (03:55–04:38).

    "Imaging is going insane because the cost of imaging devices is going down significantly... there are 500 radiologists in the city of Dallas. In the whole North African... continent of Africa, there's less than 500 radiologists." — Junaid Kalia (04:13–04:38)

3. Key Takeaways from AI Med25

• Three Pillars of the Conference:

  1. Building impactful networks (not just for financial gain, but real clinical and operational partnerships) (04:57–06:02).
  2. Gaining insights into real-world clinical and non-clinical pain points faced by healthcare systems and identifying new verticals for business (04:57–06:09).
  3. Meeting high-quality partners who can help startups handle regulatory, security, and workflow burdens (FDA, HITRUST, etc.) (05:00–06:09).

  "You also find really good partners... that can take off the load of your startup." — Junaid Kalia (05:54)

• Trust & 'Sandboxing' AI:

  • Hospitals want ways to test, validate, and build trust in new AI tools using their own data, not just published studies (06:23–07:11).

4. US Market Progress

• SaveLife.AI is already piloted in several imaging centers and a hospital in Dallas, Texas, with plans for more installations (07:17–07:30).

5. Lessons for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

• Startup Training:
  • Dr. Kalia worked as VP of Clinical Strategy at another startup—critical training before founding his own (07:33–08:16).
  • Founders need to play many roles, then strategically build a team (“octopus” analogy) (07:57–08:19).

6. Panel Participation and Community Learning

• The episode highlights the mutually beneficial learning among panelists and peers at the conference (08:24–08:58).

7. Lightning Round: Personal and Professional Reflections

• Riskiest Thing Ever Done:

  "Marrying." — Junaid Kalia (09:06) "You select an individual for the rest of your life, right?" — Junaid Kalia (09:13)

  • Both guest and host reflect on the importance of life partners in entrepreneurial journeys (09:13–09:40).

• Advice to 20-year-old Self: (10:17–11:06)

  • Patience is critical (“for the patient, doctor, and founder”)

  • Stay humble: Transitioning from clinical leadership to startup felt like starting “as nobody”—a complete relearning.

  • Be generous with advisors/consultants, who provide ‘soft ROI’ and value that isn’t always immediately measurable.

    "Be generous to your advisors, consultants... they may not bring direct value in terms of ROIs, but they bring what we call soft ROI." — Junaid Kalia (10:57)

8. The Future of Stroke Care & AI

• EpiPen for Stroke?:
  • Universal, at-home stroke treatment remains elusive—IV prep and brain imaging are prerequisites due to the necessity to distinguish between bleeding and blockage before administering tPA (03:33–03:37, 12:13–12:40).

    "12% of the time is because of a bleeding in the brain... 88%... due to blockage... symptoms are similar." — Junaid Kalia (12:21–12:36)

  • Host and guests reflect on personal losses due to stroke and the urgent need for faster, accessible diagnosis and intervention (12:59–13:08).

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Memorable Quotes

• "If you save a life, it is as if you save a life of all mankind." — Junaid Kalia (00:56)
• "Imaging is going insane because of the cost... going down significantly." — Junaid Kalia (04:13)
• "As a founder, you're basically an octopus ... you actually cut off these arms and then build literally your whole team." — Junaid Kalia (07:57)

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Notable Timestamps

• 00:56–01:46 — Dr. Kalia describes his company's mission, edge AI deployment, and global accessibility.
• 03:55–04:38 — The global shortage of radiologists and the need for AI solutions.
• 04:57–06:09 — Key takeaways from AI Med25: networking, pain points, new business verticals, and quality partnerships.
• 07:17–07:30 — Early US adoption and next steps for SaveLife.AI.
• 09:06 — Riskiest life decision: marriage.
• 10:17–11:06 — Three pieces of wisdom for younger self (patience, humility, generosity).
• 12:13–12:40 — Challenges and hope for stroke care akin to an EpiPen.

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Tone & Style

The episode is candid and collegial, blending humor, humility, and deep professional knowledge. Dr. Kalia’s insights are both global and practical, while the hosts keep the energy supportive and focused on learning.

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Conclusion

This episode offers an in-depth look at how edge AI, clinical empathy, and collaborative risk management can revolutionize stroke care and diagnostic access worldwide—especially in underserved settings. Through Dr. Kalia’s journey and SaveLife.AI’s innovations, listeners gain both technical insights and timeless entrepreneurial wisdom.

Transcript

[A]

Foreign. Welcome to Risk Never Sleeps where we meet and get to know the people delivering patient care and protecting patient safety. I'm your host, Ed Gaudet.

[B]

Hello everybody. Welcome back to the Aimed Insight series recorded here in San Diego at the AI Med25 conference. I'm excited to be hosting an amazing guest today with my co host, Ed Gaudette. Ed, welcome.

[A]

Hey Saul, Good morning.

[B]

Good morning. Good to be here with you.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

We're going to introduce Junaid Kalia. He is the CEO and founder of Save Life AI. Junaid, thanks for joining us.

[C]

Absolutely thrilled meeting you guys all and AD and it has been an amazing experience here at Aimed and thank you for inviting me.

[A]

Yeah, you bet. Tell us about Save Lives AI, the.

[C]

Company is basically named after. Essentially if you save a life, it is as if you save a life of all mankind. And the niche that we work in is basically creating AI radiology solutions that are deployed on edge. And the benefit of that is that it is low resource and therefore it can be deployed exactly next to the computer that sits on the portable CHESS X ray, portable mammography machines and therefore a it takes away a lot of problems in data privacy, phi management, et cetera. And more importantly, it can be deployed in low resource situations. For example, Pakistan, India, Ethiopia, Nigeria, all of that. Of course we have a big US market too. But what I'm saying is that the idea behind the company was to make AI accessible, affordable and therefore saving lives.

[B]

At the point of care.

[C]

At the point of care, not a different point of imaging.

[B]

At the point of imaging.

[A]

How did you come up with the idea?

[C]

I come from a very humble beginning, personally. I'm originally from Pakistan and India, Gujarat, et cetera. And when I came to US I felt amazingly blessed, especially being in Texas as well, not to mention. But we wanted to get the solutions ready for the big other markets. And the reason was that you always get diagnosis when there is a management. So tpa, which is the clot busting medication used for stroke, got off patent and therefore became extremely cheap, especially coming from China market. And what we realized that now we can actually deliver beautiful management that can decrease disability and death due to stroke. Reminder, every 1/2 32,000 neurons die. So therefore in a clot busting medication, when you give decrease the latency of care, you increase significantly patient outcomes. And therefore we tried to get other companies which are doing the same great work as well. What we wanted to make sure is that make a solution that work in a low resource situation. And then I didn't realize that it is a fantastic US market, but the US has a significant ruler footprint that this is going to be a market.

[A]

So what does that mean? It came off patent. I know what it means to come off patent. But do you think people will have it in their homes?

[C]

No, no, no. So medications are basically, there's two components, basically generic medications and branded medications. For 18 years or so, pharma companies are given exclusive rights on that particular molecule and they're the only ones who can develop it and push it. Once that patent gets off, then other people can use the same molecule.

[A]

I understand, but will it be an opportunity to create an EpiPen for stroke?

[C]

I wish. No, it requires an IV access. This actually particular one requires an IV push and an infusion. But still the overall cost when you look at globally has decreased by 80%.

[B]

It's just more accessible now.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And so if they find it, they could treat it without with less questions, I guess.

[C]

Okay. And the reminder is that people are getting access to CT scans globally much faster. I was at Arab Health last year and even portable CT scanners are becoming so cheap and available. So that's another one benefit. And then the number, number two benefit that we are looking at is that I'm going to say it a little ironically, but mothers are not pushing enough radiology childs and the reason is that imaging is going insane because of the cost of imaging devices is going down significantly. And then unfortunately, just to give you a comparison, there are 500 radiologists in the city of Dallas. In the whole North African, in the whole continent of Africa, there's less than 500 radiologists.

[A]

Wow.

[C]

I'm not even talking about neurologists. So the idea is we need these technologies to make sure that we make this care accessible.

[A]

Yeah, no, that's great. What have you learned here the last couple days that have helped you think about your opportunity, your business, Any takeaways for you from this event?

[C]

So aimed of course is always three different silos that I feel like number one is a high net worth, high networking event. What that means is that network doesn't mean by just dollar amount. It is the connections. Like Ostner is here, Advent Health is here and I have liter and a spur of amazing opportunities that can go from, grow from here including. And then the second biggest side, the pillar I would say is understanding the problem within the pain points. So it's not just about networking but also understanding what new verticals of business I can develop because they are so open here, sharing their pain points both in terms of clinical and Non clinical, which is also very important as an AI business solution provider. And then the last one is of course, people meeting people like you. And if I knew more about this company, which is amazing and I looked at it sense in it, I would have probably hired you guys more when I was doing my FDA approval and high trust and everything. And then more formally. So you also find really good partners. Partners means that it can take off the load of your startup.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

For example, and outcome rockets. But what does happen is that this vendor to vendor relationship turning into partnerships.

[A]

Yeah. Now, well said. Yeah. In your second pillar, any ideas that have come to you that you're willing to share on the show?

[C]

No, I'm not going to sign NDA first. I'm just messing.

[A]

Spoken like a true entrepreneur.

[C]

One of the main points that I realized that the buyer class, what that means is that hospitals, hospital systems, even with the FDA approval and this government shutdown and somebody said very appropriately, do you really think there's someone at the FDA now?

[A]

So there are people.

[C]

I'm just messing with you. But the concern was that is basically what you guys also bring at Senseinet is trust. And they are trying to figure out how do they create what we call a sandbox in which even any AI solution comes in. They plug and play it, confirm their findings, their findings on their own data to the chief medical officer rather than just published data or studies. Because again, published data science can change. So this is a significant pain point that I realized in this particular conference.

[A]

I love it. Any. Any custom locally that you can share or any customers in the US that you can share.

[C]

We of course have a couple of imaging centers and we have a hospital in Dallas, Texas.

[A]

Oh, nice. Congrats.

[C]

On track to acquire three more, but the installations and integrations will be next year.

[A]

That's great. Congratulations.

[C]

Thank you so much.

[A]

Is this your first company or.

[C]

This is. Yeah. I mean I was VP of Clinical strategy Jeff, at another startup, which is again very important for future entrepreneurs to realize that you are doing another fellowship or residency. And that is very important to work at another startup also. I mean get mba, but the point is also get an mba, but the point is always work. And that was where my understanding of a startup is.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And as a founder, you're basically an octopus, right? You're the chief medical officer, you are the chief operating officer, you are the chief financial officer, you are the chief innovation officer. You are. And then you actually cut off these arms and then build literally your whole team. So to answer your question, yes, you need to learn from another star.

[A]

I liked everything except the cutting of the arms off.

[B]

Yeah, that was the only painful.

[A]

Yeah, it was like a little violent. No, good analogy.

[C]

I actually need that.

[B]

So aren't you guys doing a panel? You guys are on a panel?

[A]

Yeah, we're on.

[B]

For the listeners.

[A]

Which one are we on? The cyber security one.

[C]

Absolutely. Yeah. So Wednesday, tomorrow morning, we're going to be on a panel together. I'm excited to learn from Ed here. Again, being on a panel was more of a learning experience, believe it or not. And looking at Ed, he's going to run the show beautifully. So I don't know about Greg.

[B]

I learned from Ed all the time. I think Greg's running. He's one of my business mentors.

[A]

Greg, no worries. You're okay, man.

[B]

That's great.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Lightning round. Yeah.

[A]

That's one question. Maybe two questions. What's the riskiest thing you've ever done other than starting a company? Because that's always risky.

[C]

Marrying.

[A]

Yeah, I love it. Yeah.

[C]

Because. Yeah, it is.

[A]

You select an individual for the rest of your life, right?

[C]

Yes. And I'm so glad. I'm for my beautiful wife that brought two beautiful daughters.

[A]

Congrats. I'm a girl, dad. Three daughters. Yeah.

[C]

Beautiful. But yes, that one of the founders that always asks like why there's such a high risk of divorce or divorce rate. And she has really helped me.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

Amen. And we have the. On the same mind. So that is you need a partner.

[A]

To be an entrepreneur. There's no question.

[B]

Yeah, absolutely.

[A]

No, because if you don't, there's no way you're gonna have a family. Just not possible.

[C]

Right? 100.

[A]

How old are your girls?

[C]

7 and 10.

[A]

Oh, great ages. Those are such great ages.

[B]

Yeah, it is.

[C]

I love it.

[A]

We just became a grandparent this year. So my middle daughter had a grand a child and yeah, I had a son. So we got the boy indirectly.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

That's beautiful.

[A]

Yeah. What other are we?

[C]

How are we doing?

[B]

Yeah, we're good. We can do another one. So let's. Let's do the. If you were 20 years old, what would you ask you? What would you tell yourself? I butchered that.

[A]

Yeah, you did. If you go back in time and see your 20 year old self, would.

[C]

You tell them three things? Number one, their patience is very important and it's not for just for the patient. It is also for the doctor and the founder. Yeah, that's number one. Number two is more humility and humbleness. When I became the director of NEURO icu. I thought I would be killing it on the freaking startup, which I realized I am nobody. It's a completely different learning process. It's a completely different processes. And then lastly, number three, be generous to your advisors, consultants and everything because they may not bring direct value in terms of ROIs, but they bring what we call soft ROI and value on investment as compared to just ROI. So those are the three things that I would teach myself.

[A]

Would your 20 year old self know what ROI is exactly? Probably not. But that's good that you're telling them.

[C]

I think so. Because that is something financial education clinicians lack in general. And then startup education is of course very.

[A]

Oh, it's just. Yeah, yeah. It's like being in a cage. Like a cage match. Right. For ideas.

[B]

Yeah. I love the advice. I think if your 20 year old self received that, imagine where you would be.

[A]

I think he's in pretty good shape. Yeah, he seems pretty good.

[B]

He seems pretty cool.

[A]

He's got patience. He's Zen. Like, I mean he definitely is zen.

[C]

He bring.

[A]

He spoke his truth. Like this guy's got it all. I love this guy. Yeah.

[C]

So much.

[A]

You've been a great guest. Yeah.

[C]

Appreciate it.

[A]

I'm looking forward to being on a panel with you. I think I'm going to learn from you.

[C]

We'll learn every day.

[A]

I just learned already and this has been terrific. What's the riskiest thing you've ever done? Did I already ask you that?

[C]

Yeah, I did.

[B]

Marriage.

[A]

Oh, marriage. Yeah. Where's that TMA or whatever that shot is? I think I'm stroking out here.

[C]

Good news is that a neurologist is here. We'll do.

[A]

I like the EpiPen for stroke though. That's a good idea.

[C]

One day. Right?

[A]

Right. What's the worst thing that can happen if you gave yourself a shot of that stuff?

[C]

Correct. Unfortunately, you need to figure out the stroke. 12% of the time is because of a bleeding in the brain.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Aneurysm rupture, high blood pressure rupture. And 88% of the time is due to blockage. The symptoms are similar. You still get the facial droop, the paralysis. Oh, I see everything.

[A]

So if you give your shot yourself, a shot with one or the other, it's not good.

[C]

So we need that first thing, remove the CAT scan and then interestingly, what we have realized that giving the cloud busting medication is much safer even as compared to the clinical trials that were.

[A]

So maybe someday.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

With the advancements that we're seeing here at AI Med.

[A]

It's possible my dad would still be alive if they had that because he.

[B]

Died of a stroke.

[A]

Yeah. Brutal.

[B]

My grandma died of a script.

[A]

Really? It's a brutal way to go.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. Even if you live through it.

[C]

I mean, it's insane.

[A]

Yeah. My grandfather had a stroke and he was in a wheelchair after that wasn't good. But take care of yourselves, folks.

[C]

Right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And not to bring you down.

[B]

Yeah. But you know, that's what Junaid is working on, Right? Like you're working with options for things.

[A]

That make a difference, that saves. Save lives.

[C]

AI Save lives.

[A]

Right.

[B]

That's awesome.

[C]

Thank you.

[B]

Well, Junaid, thanks for being with us. Leave all the contact information on ways to get in touch with you.

[A]

We're going a follow up sense that Risk Never Sleeps podcast with you at a future date. Yeah, I'd love to have you on. We'll geek out. We'll spend a little more time together. Awesome. Yeah.

[C]

Really? Pleasure. I'm grateful for Saul and Ed to have me here and thank you so much.

[A]

Thanks. Good luck. Thank you, sir. Thanks for listening to Risk Never Sleeps. For the show, notes, resources and more information and how to transform the protection of patient safety. Visit [e-mail] that's C E N S I N E T Com. I'm your host, Ed Gaudette. And until next time, stay vigilant because Risk Never Sleeps.