Podcast
Shot of Digital Health Therapy
Hosted by Eugene Borukhovich and Jim Joyce · EN
A Shot of Digital Health Therapy is a meticulously unproduced podcast hosted by health tech founders Eugene Borukhovich and Jim Joyce. Born in the pandemic, therapeutic by design—oh, and comedy is still included. We dive into unscripted conversations with the people shaping employer benefits, digital health moonshots, and the broader healthcare system. From real talk to ridiculous tangents, we spotlight the builders, thinkers, and occasional troublemakers moving the industry forward. We'd love to have you join us.
11episodes
Episodes
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Bart De Witte: Why 'Android for Medical AI' is the Only Way to Fix Clinical Innovation
Apr 1700:50:10Tap to summarizeIn this episode of The Shot of Digital Health Therapy, Jim Joyce and I sit down with Bart De Witte. Bart is a former dentist turned corporate heavyweight (SAP and IBM before becoming a radical advocate for open-source AI. He’s the founder of a non-profit (Hippo AI Foundation) dedicated to freeing medical data and is now building Isaree, a platform aimed at becoming the "Android for Medical Intelligence". -In 1989, a high school Bart wrote that AI would turn doctors into "Super Doctors." -Base Jumping vs. BigCo: Why jumping off a bridge with a parachute is actually the perfect training for navigating the "insane" user interfaces and corporate structures of legacy -Regulatory Capture: How European bureaucracy is accidentally (or intentionally) creating monopolies for West Coast tech giants while stifling local startups. -The Death of the Token: Why the future of healthcare isn't a centralized LLM, but 30 billion parameter models running locally on your phone for "zero tokens" and total privacy. Fun mentions as always: Matthew Holt Indu Subaiya, MD, MBA, MFA Martin Kelly Sean Hogan 00:00:00 - Intro: The Shot of Digital Health Therapy 00:03:00 - Why the Stock Market and French Fries are Actually Belgian 00:05:30 - The 1989 Prophecy: How AI Creates "Super Doctors" 00:08:00 - Base Jumping: The Ultimate Training for High-Stakes Entrepreneurship 00:10:00 - Roasting the SAP "Certified User" Paywall 00:13:00 - From Dentistry to Global Software Innovation 00:17:00 - Vodka Diplomacy: Building Trust and Breaking Spies in Eastern Europe 00:19:00 - Autopsy of a Failure: Why IBM Watson Health Never Stood a Chance 00:22:00 - 240 Flights a Year: The Loneliness of the "Black Card" 00:26:00 - The Open Source Rebellion: Betting Everything on Copyleft 00:32:00 - EU Regulatory Insanity: How the AI Act Stifles Local Innovation 00:37:00 - Digital Feudalism: Why We Need to Fight for Our Language and Thought 00:41:00 - Proximity AI: Running 30B Parameter Models Directly on Your Phone 00:43:00 - The "Last Mile": Why 98% of AI Research Never Helps a Patient 00:48:00 - Advice to a Young Dentist: Neurodivergence is Your Greatest Edge
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Yang Su & Xing Su: Why the "Tesla Roadster" Strategy is the Only Way to Fix Senior Care
Mar 1900:50:03Tap to summarizeIn this episode of #TheShot of #DigitalHealth Therapy, Jim Joyce and I sit down with Yang Su and Xing Su, co-founders of Seen Health. This is the first time EVER we had twin founders on the show so was fun to find out who actually came out first and what it takes to run a business together. The two brothers were "tech & consultancy royalty", who had never touched a medical record until their own family needed help. Now, they are proving that the biggest innovation in healthcare isn't a new algorithm (though their platform is a key ingredient to scale); it's a "one-stop-shop" center where a doctor, a physical therapist, and a hot meal are all down the same hallway and a community are all a big part of being "seen". The 4 Pillars of the Seen Health Thesis: -The "Roadster" Framework: Why you must start with the $100k-per-year, high-frailty "Roadster" model to build the infrastructure that will eventually drive costs down to $1k-per-month for everyone. -The Operator’s Edge: Why having "outsider" eyes allowed them to see that 70% of senior care is actually logistics, transportation, and nutrition - not just medicine. -The Focus Trap: Why they turned down "easy" revenue from selling their software to stay "unapologetically" focused on the elderly patient in front of them. -Hospitality as Medicine: Borrowing the "Ritz Carlton" philosophy to ensure seniors feel "seen" rather than processed by an institution. Fun mentions as always: Erik Milster, Elon Musk, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C., Tesla, Uber, Salesforce, Google, Coursera, Andrew Ng [00:02:40] The 3-Minute Birth Gap: Why being the "older" twin created a lifelong competitive rub. [00:09:00] The "Silicon Valley Dream" vs. Reality: Leaving Google and Stanford's Andrew Ng to find "scars" in the real world. [00:16:10] The Magical Twin Synchronicity: How Uber and Quip were both acquired on the exact same day, charting a course back to each other. [00:18:20] Discovering PACE: Why a 50-year-old model from San Francisco’s Chinatown is still the gold standard. [00:25:20] The San Gabriel Valley Bet: Why they chose hyper-focus over "general" scaling. [00:32:40] The Tesla Roadster Analogy: How to scale high-touch care by driving the "blueprint" cost down from $100k. [00:43:00] The EHR From Scratch: Why they built their own tech stack instead of buying "off the shelf". [00:47:30] The Refusal to Commercialize: Turning down tech revenue to protect the patient experience. [00:51:50] The Closer: "Unapologetically yourself"—advice to their younger twin selves.
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Carl Byers on the 4 AI Agents of your health & the lessons from taking Athenahealth to IPO
Mar 1200:58:41Tap to summarizeIn this episode of #TheShot of #DigitalHealth Therapy, Jim Joyce and I sit down with Carl Bradford Byers 🚑 . Carl is a Partner at F-Prime who was previously CFO of athenahealth and helped scale the company from a basement startup to an IPO. He’s one of the few venture capitalists who actually knows how to build the pipes, not just pitch the vision. What we get into: -The 4 AI Agents of Your Health: How Carl sees the future of agentic AI in health care -The Investment Thesis: Why "smart money" is actually about finding the partner who will sleep in your office to vet the code -The IPO Scars: The reality of scaling to a publicly traded company and the growth mindset (aka survival instinct) required to stay alive. Links to watch / listen below in comments 👇 Fun mentions as always: Daniel Kendall, Marina Borukhovich, Jonathan Bush, Todd Park, Ed Park, Paul Markovich, Chris Dixon, Owen McCarthy, Eric Paley, Brian Roberts, Glen Tullman, John Hallock, Matthew Holt, Indu Subaiya, MD, MBA, MFA [00:02:45] The "Log Cabin" Intro: Carl’s roots and meeting the Athena founding team at Wesleyan. [00:05:30] The War Room: Driving Bill Clinton's van and the intensity of political "advance" work. [00:12:30] The Athena Basement: Why Carl chose a "basement startup" over a prestigious Chicago MBA. [00:16:45] The 4 Pillar Thesis: Breaking down the Clinical, Technical, Financial, and Operational requirements for health-tech. [00:18:45] The Investment Thesis: How Brian Roberts and Venrock vetted the early tech by sleeping in the office. [00:21:00] The President on the Phone: Securing an early $50k from George H.W. Bush. [00:24:00] Scars of the IPO: The transition from a "silly toy" to competing with giants like GE and McKesson. [00:57:00] The Madrid Ad: Why the "Who" is the only thing that survives a 20-year career.
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The Relational Revolution: Why Health & Wellbeing Coaching is the Missing Link in Medicine | Margaret Moore
Mar 500:54:58Tap to summarizeIn this episode of #TheShot of Digital Health Therapy, my regular co-host Jim Joyce passed the bouton to Daniel Kendall who was kind enough to step in. Dan and I sat down with Margaret Moore aka Coach Meg. As the founder of Wellcoaches and the co-founder of the Institute of Coaching as well as National Board for Health & Wellness Coaching, she pioneered the professional standards for health & wellbeing coaching. As we always say.... to be a Key Opinion Leader (KOL) you need to have opinions AND backed by data! Meg brings it all to our discussion: -Why telling people what to do is the least effective way to change them. -The Science of Coaching: How Margaret shepherded coaching from a "soft skill" to a science-backed discipline. -Using "Parts Work" to navigate the voices in our heads that resist change. -Human-Centered AI: Why healthcare needs a "coaching chip" inside the machine. -Will Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) adopt coaching as part of the chronic disease management framework? If you’re trying to move the needle on patient outcomes, Margaret explains why the relationship is the medicine. Links in comments. Fun mentions as always: Ruth Q. Wolever, PhD, NBC-HWC Gary Sforzo Marina Borukhovich Dr Mehmet Oz, RFK Jr. 04:30 – The Business vs. The Creative: How Margaret transitioned from Biotech C-Suite to "Coach Meg." 17:00 – Professionalizing Coaching: Building the Institute of Coaching and the NBHWC standards. 23:15 – The CMS Update: Framing coaching for Medicare coverage and the "dose response" of behavior change. 34:10 – The Paradigm Shift: Why the Annual Wellness Visit needs to start with "What are your health goals?" 45:30 – Mapping the Mind: Using biology to create a unified framework for the human psyche. 51:20 – The 15-Year-Old Self: A personal revelation on reclaiming flow and leadership.
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Escaping the "Interesting" Trap in HealthTech (Bruce Hellman) | Shot of Digital Health Therapy
Feb 700:51:10Tap to summarizeStop building "interesting" digital health apps that nobody buys. Bruce Hellman (uMotif) joins Jim and Eugene to reveal why "interesting" is the kiss of death for scaling in healthcare. We dive into the pivot from "crushing" civil service bureaucracy to finding "must-have" budgets in Global Pharma and Clinical Trial research. Explore the Mortar Theory of patient data and how to build for the "Citizen Scientist". Always Fun Mentions: Instagram Muscles: Eugene’s quest for a 15-second handstand. Dubai Roots: Bruce as the first male born in Sharjah. Essex County: Britain’s "finest" county. The Ski-Rep Era: 100+ days of career-building on the slopes. Chapters: 00:00 - Handstands & February Vibes 04:20 - Born in Sharjah 10:45 - The Bureaucracy Burn 17:15 - Meeting a Co-Founder at a Nursery Party 24:00 - Bricks & Mortar: The Data Theory 36:30 - The Pharma Pivot 49:15 - Follow the Money As always - we are meticulously unproduced.
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Daniel Kivatinos - Why This Founder Ignored Everyone and Built DrChrono Anyway
Jan 2300:53:52Tap to summarizeWhat does it actually take to build a healthcare company from scratch? In this episode of #TheShot, Eugene Borukhovich and Jim Joyce sit down with Daniel Kivatinos, co-founder of DrChrono, to unpack a real founder journey — from growing up in Queens with blue-collar parents to bootstrapping a healthcare startup through the 2008 crash, betting early on the iPad, and building DrChrono over 13+ years before selling in 2021. This is not a “how to get rich quick” story. It’s about persistence, timing, relentless shipping, and ignoring most advice. We talked about: 🧱 Start painfully small - One doctor who loves your product beats 1,000 lukewarm users 🔁 Release fast, fix faster - Daily shipping built trust doctors didn’t get from incumbents 🕰️ Timing is earned, not predicted - Years of grinding made the iPad moment possible 💸 Bootstrapping builds discipline - Scarcity forced focus 🚫 Ignore most advice - Especially from people who aren’t where you want to be 🏃♂️ Just do it - Overthinking kills more startups than bad ideas If you’re building in healthcare, fintech, or any regulated industry — this one’s for you. 👍 Like 📩 Subscribe 💬 Drop a comment — what resonated most? 00:00 – Intro & JP Morgan recap01:30 – Why Eugene can’t do the show without Jim02:10 – Meeting Daniel at Health 2.0 in NYC03:10 – Growing up in Queens05:00 – Blue-collar parents & elevator mechanic stories07:00 – Stony Brook, choosing computer science, brutal CS class09:30 – Art, music, and coding11:00 – Early startups that failed12:30 – The 2007–2008 reality check14:00 – Why Daniel didn’t chase “safe” jobs16:00 – Watching friends raise money & choosing a harder path18:30 – Saving $50k and deciding to start a company20:00 – Why healthcare21:00 – Founding DrChrono22:00 – What DrChrono originally solved (scheduling)23:30 – Printing flyers & knocking on doctor doors25:30 – One doctor who truly loved the product27:30 – “10 users who love you beats 1,000 who don’t”28:30 – Expanding into EHR, billing, and practice management29:30 – Hearing about the iPad30:30 – Building the first iPad-based EHR31:45 – Overnight growth after the App Store launch33:00 – Releasing faster than Epic and Cerner35:00 – Why speed mattered more than strategy36:00 – Cold-emailing Y Combinator37:00 – Alexis Ohanian visits NYC38:30 – Startup School & mindset shift39:30 – The YC interview experience40:30 – Getting the first real check41:30 – Life inside Y Combinator43:30 – Growing DrChrono over 13+ years44:30 – Selling to EverCommerce in 202145:30 – Why the buyer mattered more than the price46:30 – What Daniel is building now (JustPaid)48:00 – Why starting SMB beats selling enterprise first49:30 – Final question: advice to younger self52:00 – “Just do it. Don’t stop.”
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Max Marchione, Founder of Superpower: 10x doctors, and why action beats perfection
Jan 900:34:27Tap to summarize#TheShot of #DigitalHealth 2026 episode almost didn’t happen - Jim Joyce was in the air, I was back in cold New Jersey, and Max was somewhere warm and productive (naturally). But missing it would’ve been a mistake. Max Marchione, founder of Superpower, joined me for a wide-ranging conversation on why modern healthcare is fundamentally broken - and why diagnostics, AI, data, and first-principles thinking might finally fix it. We talked about: - Growing up with chronic health issues no doctor could explain - Why “10x doctors” exist - and why most medicine can’t scale them - How AI will soon outperform humans at clinical reasoning - And what it actually takes to scale a healthcare startup without losing your soul This wasn’t a polished healthcare panel. It was a real conversation about truth, tradeoffs, and taking massive action - even when you know you’ll mess some of it up. If you’re building in health, longevity, AI, or just trying to feel better in your own body… this one’s worth your time.
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Neil Dunwoody, COO of SPRYT : From Stand-Up Comedy to HealthTech & Fixing Healthcare Access using AI
Dec 1801:00:43Tap to summarizeWhat happens when a class clown from Monaghan builds one of the most quietly impactful healthtech companies in Europe - and then takes on the U.S. healthcare system? In this year-end episode of The Shot of Digital Health Therapy, we sat down with Neill Dunwoody 🇺🇦 (aka “Funwoody”), co-founder of SPRYT, to talk about resilience, rejection, healthcare absurdities, and why meeting patients where they already are matters more than building yet another app. From standing in a bin at school ➝ scaling talent at UnitedHealth Group ➝ pivoting a sports app into an AI-driven healthcare orchestration platform, Neil’s story is as honest as it is instructive. We cover no-shows, NHS, U.S. healthcare economics, founder health, Ukraine, and why humor might be one of the most underrated leadership traits. 🎧 Worth your time if you’re building, scaling, or questioning the system you’re trying to fix. Fun mentions as always: Rachel Francine, Shaun Dodimead,Optum, NHS, MediDrive, LLC 00:00 Holiday banter, community singing & year-end reflections 02:00 Meet Neil Dunwoody (“Funwoody”) 03:30 Growing up in Monaghan, sport & stand-up comedy 06:30 Humor, resilience, and rejection 08:00 Recruitment, HR, and learning to read people 15:00 Scaling talent at UnitedHealth / Optum 22:00 Blitzscaling, culture breaks & hiring mistakes 31:30 The birth of SPRYT: sports → healthcare pivot 36:00 NHS pilots, WhatsApp, and no-show economics 43:00 U.S. expansion & healthcare fragmentation 48:00 Orchestrating care beyond appointments 53:30 Ukraine, Tech Link Ukraine & purpose 56:00 Founder health, weight loss & personal reset 58:00 Closing advice to younger self
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Amy Cosler, SVP at Carrum: From Carrying the Bag to Transforming Employer Healthcare
Dec 1100:55:42Tap to summarizeOn this episode of #TheShot of #DigitalHealth therapy, Jim Joyce and I finally sat down with Amy Cosler, a dynamic healthcare leader who rose from old-school hospital sales to driving transformation across Livongo -> Teladoc Health, Lyra Health, and now Carrum Health. Amy shares stories from her early days "carrying a bag" (if you know, you know), navigating to hospital basements with paper maps, transforming a 65-year-old public company, being part of Livongo’s IPO, and leading sales in the exploding employer benefits space. She opens up about resilience, family, leadership, and why kindness and grit are not mutually exclusive. This conversation delivers deep insights for founders, sales leaders, employer-benefit innovators, and anyone navigating the rapidly evolving healthcare economy. 📉 Employers demand real savings ⏱️ Buying cycles are compressing 💸 Utilization pricing opens doors 🤝 Culture drives adoption 🏥 Value-based care delivers impact Fun mentions as always: Jim Pursley, Glen Tullman, Sean McBride, David Ebersman and many more... 00:00 – Opening banter; year-end episodes; creative side projects 03:00 – Introducing guest Amy Cosler 04:00 – Early life: oldest of four, Illinois upbringing, healthcare family roots 05:30 – First job: carrying the bag for Medaflex; 4:00 AM training rides; selling skin-prep products 09:00 – Early sales journey; winning President’s Club; joining Baxter 11:00 – Intrapreneurial experience: building a startup inside Allegiance 13:00 – Cardinal Health acquisition; leadership influences 15:00 – Transformation at Landauer; building radiation monitoring + medical physics business 20:00 – Culture shock moving from startups to legacy healthcare 23:00 – Deep dive into early clinical sales environment (maps, suits, coffee, meetings) 27:00 – Divestiture, financial success, personal reset 28:00 – Meeting her husband; triathlons; writing the first version of her book 30:00 – Enter Livongo: shifting from hospitals to employer benefits 33:00 – Livongo culture, mission focus, member empathy 35:00 – Teladoc acquisition; overnight customer communications 38:00 – Pivot to Lyra; leading sales in mental health 39:30 – Joining Carrum; value-based care for surgery, cancer, SUD 41:00 – Employer trend challenges; cost inflation; need for bold solutions 45:00 – The misconception that kindness isn’t compatible with toughness 46:00 – Lessons for entrepreneurs selling to employers 49:00 – PEPM vs utilization-based pricing 51:00 – Looking ahead; entrepreneurial future; completing her book 52:00 – Jim’s narrative future-casting question 54:00 – Amy’s emotional answer: focus on family 55:00 – Closing and thank you
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Brian Lin of Cellsor: The Future Smells Different - Building the First Living E-Nose
Nov 2600:51:16Tap to summarizeThis week on #TheShot of #digitalHealth Therapy, Jim Joyce and I sat down with someone who might just change how we all understand… well, everything. Because when you think “future of health tech,” your brain probably doesn’t jump to noses in petri dishes. But maybe it should. We hosted Brian Lin, a Tufts researcher and a co-founder of Cellsor, who is literally growing living smell tissue to build the world’s first biological smell "camera". Yes - a "camera" for scent. Think RGB for odors… except instead of 3 channels, humans have 400, dogs have 700, elephants have 2,000, and Jim has… well, that’s still in peer review. 😅 Some highlights: 🧠 Humans have 400 smell receptors - meaning we “smell in 400 dimensions,” far beyond what we can verbally describe. 👃 Most people begin losing smell sensitivity in their 50s–70s without realizing it. 🛡️ The same tech could detect explosives, chemical threats, or hazardous compounds at checkpoint distance. 🔬 Brian’s company uses living tissue, not electronic sensors - truly an actual biological nose. 📡 The system aims to create the world’s first universal smell-recording “camera.” 💡 Future applications span diagnostics, food science, perfumery, defense, and everyday consumer tech. The science is wild, the implications are massive, and the conversation? Pure fun. 🎧 Give it a listen - and trust me, this one will stay with you in ways you can’t quite describe… because we don’t yet have the right vocabulary for smell. Fun mentions as always: Laura Hamilton Daniel Couchman Kendall #healthcare #digitalhealth #biotech #innovation #futureofwork #AI #sensorytech 00:00 – 02:10 Thanksgiving Banter & Show Opening Eugene and Jim share Thanksgiving plans, travel updates, and open the episode. 02:10 – 03:20 Scoop of Thanks Story A heartwarming story about cancer survivors bringing ice cream to oncology staff. 03:20 – 04:25 Introducing Brian Lin Jim recounts meeting Brian at Boston Startup Week over beer and ham sandwiches. 04:25 – 06:15 How Brian Meets People (The Whiskey Method) Brian explains his tradition of bringing whiskey to conferences to meet people. 06:15 – 07:45 Brian’s Background Growing up in Reading, Massachusetts; parents immigrating from China. 07:45 – 10:20 Childhood Pyro Stories Thermite experiments, accidental bed fires, and early science curiosity. 10:20 – 12:20 Education Path Undergrad at RPI, moving to Tufts for a PhD, meeting his wife. 12:20 – 15:00 From Cancer Lab to Smell Research Why cancer signaling wasn’t a fit and how he discovered the olfaction lab. 15:00 – 17:00 The Beer That Improves Dissections A lab story about shaky hands, a Corona with lime, and perfect dissections. 17:00 – 21:00 Understanding Smell Biology Why smell matters, how neurons regenerate, and why people lose smell with age. 21:00 – 24:00 COVID and Smell Loss How COVID reprograms smell neurons, parosmia, and Brian losing smell in Scotland. 24:00 – 28:00 Smell, Culture, Memory, and Diagnosis How smell connects to emotion, depression models, and historical healing. 28:00 – 32:00 Dogs Detect Cancer; Human Nose Complexity Why electronic noses fail and how humans actually smell in 400 dimensions. 32:00 – 35:00 Growing a Living Nose in a Dish Founding CellSaur and using real biological tissue instead of sensors. 35:00 – 38:20 Applications and the Smell Camera Concept Recording smells like RGB/hex codes and connecting to perception models. 38:20 – 41:10 Business Strategy for Smell Tech Three-step pathway: R&D tools, security/defense, and medical diagnostics. 41:10 – 45:00 Market Imagination Future possibilities like airport screening, drones, and household smell libraries. 45:00 – 47:00 Fundraising as a First-Time Founder Brian shares what it’s like shifting from academia into startup fundraising. 47:00 – 50:00 Final Question and Advice Jim gives a future scenario; Brian answers with “hold your conviction.”
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