Health Tech Podcast

Podcast

Biotech boom: How life sciences emerged from ‘the doldrums’ in Seattle and Washington state

by Charlotte Schubert on October 19, 2021October 20, 2021 at 10:32 am

Leslie Alexandre has seen a lot from her perch surveying Washington state’s life sciences landscape. She is set to retire at the end of this year after five years as… Read More

Podcast

This is Amazon’s at-home COVID-19 test kit: We tried it and talked to a testing expert about it

by Charlotte Schubert on August 4, 2021August 12, 2021 at 11:20 am

Amazon launched an at-home COVID-19 test kit for U.S. consumers last month, broadening the options for people to get tested for the disease. The self-administered test builds on Amazon’s in-house… Read More

Podcast

Testing Amazon Pharmacy: Tech giant’s clever system collides with realities of modern healthcare

by Todd Bishop on June 24, 2021June 24, 2021 at 1:15 pm

Amazon’s move into healthcare is multifaceted, including COVID-19 testing, its Halo health band and service, cloud services for healthcare and life sciences, and even primary care for its employees. A… Read More

Podcast

How this tech engineer is using his son’s rare disease as inspiration to disrupt drug development

by Lisa Stiffler on May 12, 2021May 12, 2021 at 12:09 pm

Before their son was born, Sanath Kumar Ramesh and his wife Ramya had normal first-time-parent jitters. Ramesh, who works for Amazon as a software engineering manager, was so excited to… Read More

Podcast

Microsoft gives $5M to UW Medicine to use AI to accelerate response to next pandemic

by Todd Bishop on March 31, 2021April 2, 2021 at 3:15 pm

The speed of the creation of vaccines for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 was a modern marvel. You might already have already gotten yours, a little more than a… Read More

Podcast

‘The Code Breaker’ author Walter Isaacson on the genetic revolution, regional hubs and ethical lines

by Todd Bishop on March 9, 2021March 13, 2021 at 6:59 am

Walter Isaacson has studied and written extensively about the physics and technology revolutions as the biographer of such figures as Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs. But after writing his latest… Read More

Podcast

This scientist is searching for secrets of life in close brushes with death

by Lisa Stiffler on March 4, 2021March 6, 2021 at 8:52 am

To help people live, Mark Roth scrutinizes those who’ve come frighteningly close to dying. People who have been lost in the frozen wilderness in a Mount Rainier whiteout or stowed… Read More

Podcast

Testing a new COVID-19 test: How T-cells beat antibodies in helping to detect past infections

by Todd Bishop on February 26, 2021February 27, 2021 at 9:56 am

On a cold, clear weekday morning last month, my quest to figure out whether I had COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic took me to my back porch,… Read More

Podcast

14 U.S. health systems form new Seattle startup, plan to pool data in search for breakthroughs

by Todd Bishop on February 11, 2021February 11, 2021 at 6:42 am

A group of 14 U.S. health systems, representing tens of millions of patients across 40 states, will pool their data using software developed by Seattle startup Truveta, leveraging artificial intelligence… Read More

Podcast

Amazon’s Halo tests the limits of personal privacy, and offers a glimpse of the future of health

by Todd Bishop on January 21, 2021January 23, 2021 at 9:58 am

A few weeks ago, I started wearing a new health band. I gave it permission to eavesdrop on my side of conversations — and it has lots of opinions about… Read More

Podcast

A view from the front lines: COVID-19’s lasting impact on the technology and science of healthcare

by Todd Bishop on December 29, 2020January 2, 2021 at 11:36 am

To say that Dr. Brad Younggren has a unique perspective on COVID-19 would be an understatement — because he actually has multiple perspectives. Dr. Younggren is the chief medical officer… Read More

Podcast

Wait, was that COVID?! Revisiting the early days of the pandemic to investigate a viral mystery

by Todd Bishop on December 10, 2020December 12, 2020 at 8:40 am

One of our favorite things at GeekWire is to try something new on our beats and write about it. We call these GeekWire Adventures, and the best are the ones… Read More

Podcast

Beyond the pill bottle: Why this health tech startup sees a big future in remote patient monitoring

by Meredith Hogan on June 15, 2020June 22, 2020 at 3:33 pm

The last time we caught up with Pillsy co-founders Jeff LeBrun and Chuks Onwuneme, three years ago, they were focused on their flagship product, a smart pill bottle that sounds… Read More

Podcast

Inside the quest for a new COVID-19 test: Microsoft, Adaptive Biotech and the hidden power of immunity

by Todd Bishop on May 15, 2020May 16, 2020 at 9:41 am

In the realm of diagnostic tests for COVID-19, there are two main approaches: PCR tests, which detect the presence of the live virus; and serology tests, which detect antibodies that… Read More

Podcast

COVID-19 mental health crunch puts impetus on psychedelic drug innovation, doctor says

by Anastasia Ustinova on April 30, 2020May 4, 2020 at 4:01 pm

As the deadly coronavirus pandemic continues to grow, the looming mental health crisis creates an urgent need for innovation, putting a spotlight on psychedelic-assisted treatments, says the co-founder of Advanced… Read More

Podcast

Oregon psychedelic startup tests nasal spray for PTSD, depression as legislative momentum builds

by Anastasia Ustinova on April 30, 2020May 4, 2020 at 4:21 pm

If you want to know just how quickly public sentiment around psychedelics is changing, consider this: Gwyneth Paltrow sent her staffers to psilocybin-assisted therapy in the first episode of the… Read More

Podcast

Eye on autism: Inside the quest to develop an objective test for a disorder that impacts millions

by Meredith Hogan on April 15, 2020April 15, 2020 at 12:33 pm

SPOKANE, Wash. — If you showed up at an emergency room with a heart attack, you’d expect to receive some diagnostic tests like pulse, blood pressure and an EKG. You’d… Read More

Podcast

How the COVID-19 pandemic has already changed health care technology, and what’s next

by Todd Bishop on April 7, 2020April 11, 2020 at 8:57 am

Much of the current focus in health care is rightly on the near-term challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. But beyond the current crisis, health care technology veterans are already seeing… Read More

Podcast

As hospitals run low on protective gear, tech workers are on a quest to help fill the shortage

by Monica Nickelsburg on March 26, 2020March 26, 2020 at 4:02 pm

The coronavirus outbreak in Washington state has not yet reached the “peak” that some public health officials anticipate, but already ICU physicians like Mike Holmes are grappling with a dearth… Read More

Podcast

AI vs. Coronavirus: How artificial intelligence is now helping in the fight against COVID-19

by Todd Bishop on March 17, 2020March 17, 2020 at 8:31 am

Artificial intelligence often raises concerns about privacy, bias and trickery in areas such as facial recognition and deep fake videos. But amidst the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, some technology… Read More

Podcast

Coronavirus and the future of vaccines: Inside the quest to develop faster responses to epidemics

by Todd Bishop on March 5, 2020March 5, 2020 at 3:21 pm

As part of his work in global health, Bill Gates has warned for years about the potential for an unchecked epidemic to kill millions of people around the world. “An… Read More

Podcast

Interview: New Fred Hutch president on the fight against cancer, and the tech industry’s central role

by Todd Bishop on February 5, 2020February 5, 2020 at 9:21 am

Dr. Thomas Lynch is in his first week as the new leader of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, but he already has a four-point plan to help guide the… Read More

Podcast

Scientists pursue new genetic insights for health: Inside the world of ‘deep mutational scanning’

by Todd Bishop on January 10, 2020January 10, 2020 at 11:28 am

It has been nearly two decades since scientists accomplished the first complete sequencing of the human genome. This historic moment gave us an unprecedented view of human DNA, the genetic… Read More

Podcast

DIY AI: One mom’s quest to use machine learning to help others detect a rare fetal condition

by Todd Bishop on December 11, 2019December 14, 2019 at 11:38 am

Melissa Mulholland was 16 weeks pregnant with her second child when her doctor noticed something unusual in an ultrasound scan. It was a rare fetal condition called posterior urethral valves,… Read More

Podcast

Meet the hacker professor who’s saving lives with smart devices and sonar

by James Thorne on October 29, 2019October 29, 2019 at 10:13 am

Shyam Gollakota has come a long way since his first day as a university undergraduate. “I didn’t know how to program. In fact, I didn’t even know how to type,”… Read More

Podcast

Doctor Bot: How artificial intelligence is already changing healthcare, and what’s coming next

by Todd Bishop & James Thorne on September 19, 2019September 24, 2019 at 7:48 am

Artificial intelligence is at the center of many emerging technologies today, and perhaps nowhere are the implications more meaningful than in healthcare. So where is AI making an impact in… Read More

Podcast

Why this cancer researcher (and survivor) is climbing Kilimanjaro to raise money to study cancer

by James Thorne on July 6, 2019July 6, 2019 at 10:51 am

Kristin Anderson has already fought cancer in more ways than one. She’s a cancer survivor whose battle with breast cancer started when she was just 28 years old and pursuing… Read More

Podcast

Can virtual assistants make healthcare more human? Startups create voice tech for doctors and patients

by James Thorne on June 25, 2019June 30, 2019 at 8:38 am

Peek into a random hospital room in the U.S. today, and you might see something that makes you cynical about technology. The classic scene is of a provider talking with… Read More

Podcast

Paging Dr. Alexa: Hospitals call on voice assistants, envisioning ‘massive’ impact on healthcare

by James Thorne on May 23, 2019May 24, 2019 at 10:38 am

Voice assistants are coming to the hospital. Last month, Amazon Alexa announced a new skill that made the platform compliant with HIPAA, a set of privacy rules that govern patient… Read More

Podcast

Big eye drops are a giant problem, and this student startup is challenging the industry with its solution

by James Thorne on April 16, 2019April 16, 2019 at 10:32 am

Nanodropper, a medical device startup founded by a group of University of Washington students, has developed an adapter that makes eye drops smaller. It’s a way for people with glaucoma… Read More