Alexander Saint-Amand, cofounder and CEO of Topography, reflects on his journey from leading Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG), a pioneer in expert networks, to tackling systemic barriers in clinical trials at his current company, Topography. Inspired by personal experiences, Alexander’s mission centers on democratizing access to clinical research by transforming community-based practices into thriving hubs for trials. Alongside a16z Bio + Health general partner Julie Yoo, he discusses the pervasive ch...
Jan 28, 2025•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Rajaie Batniji, MD, PhD, Afia Asamoah, JD, and Sanjay Basu, MD, PhD, cofounders of Waymark, join Vineeta Agarwala, MD, PhD, a16z Bio + Health general partner, to discuss their transformative approach to Medicaid care delivery. This episode dives into their rising risk signal prediction framework, where cutting-edge machine learning predicts patient needs and enables community-based care teams to reduce preventable ER visits and improve health outcomes at scale. The team recently published their ...
Jan 14, 2025•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hippocratic AI cofounder and CEO Munjal Shah joins a16z Bio + Health general partner Julie Yoo to explore the incredible potential of generative AI in transforming healthcare delivery. Together, they discuss the emerging "voice renaissance" in healthcare, the nuances of designing safe and empathetic AI interactions, and how Hippocratic AI is addressing safety concerns with innovations like multi-LLM architecture and rigorous training with thousands of nurses. This episode also discusses a shift ...
Jan 09, 2025•25 min•Ep 48•Transcript available on Metacast Jeff Margolis, founder of TriZetto, joins Julie Yoo, a16z Bio + Health general partner, to share the journey of building an iconic company in healthcare infrastructure. From the early days of managed care to creating a three-pronged platform uniting computing power, software, and data analytics, Jeff reflects on TriZetto’s groundbreaking model that reshaped payer-provider transactions and set industry standards. Together, they also delve into the strategic importance of scaling through acquisiti...
Dec 30, 2024•23 min•Ep 46•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Matt Wilsey joins Jorge Conde to share the profound personal story of his daughter Grace's diagnosis with NGLY1 deficiency and how it catalyzed his journey to founding a biotech startup, Grace Science, aimed at developing a cure for his daughter’s condition. Matt emphasizes the importance of strategic partnerships, like his collaboration with Nobel laureate Carolyn Bertozzi, and sheds light on the search for gene therapies for rare diseases. Check out our previous episode with C...
Dec 10, 2024•23 min•Ep 45•Transcript available on Metacast Nobel laureate Carolyn Bertozzi joins Jorge Conde to unravel the concept of bioorthogonal chemistry. Carolyn traces her pioneering path from early studies in carbohydrate chemistry to how her lab developed the revolutionary ability to manipulate chemical reactions inside the human body. Together, they highlight the intersection of cutting-edge academic research and the challenges of translating discoveries into market-ready solutions. They also discuss navigating the science-to-startup journey, ...
Nov 26, 2024•31 min•Ep 44•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, a16z partners Jorge Conde and Jay Rughani sit down with Sajith Wickramasekara, CEO and cofounder of Benchling, to unpack the evolution of Benchling from idea to transformative software platform. Saji discusses his journey from software engineer to building Benchling and digitizing biotech workflows for industry giants like Sanofi. Together, they also talk about the increasing complexity of biology, the expanding role of AI in drug discovery, and the power of well-structured data...
Nov 12, 2024•27 min•Ep 43•Transcript available on Metacast Join healthcare expert Dan Rosenthal and a16z Bio + Health general partner Julie Yoo in a deep dive into the evolution of provider networks and their strategic importance in the health insurance ecosystem. Dan discusses how networks are built, managed, and optimized for both cost and quality—including the complexities of payor-provider contracts, the future impact of transparency laws, and opportunities for digital health startups to break into the network space. Dan also explores the possibilit...
Nov 05, 2024•25 min•Ep 42•Transcript available on Metacast Chris Ellis, CEO and Adam Stevenson, president, both cofounders of Thatch, join Julie Yoo and Jay Rughani of a16z Bio + Health. In early 2020, a new policy called ICHRA altered the insurance market, which had remained largely unchanged for decades. As you’ll hear in the episode, it’s been slow to catch on — but the cofounders of Thatch think it’s a game changer. Together, they discuss these key takeaways: Consumers as a growing class of payor: Traditionally employers shouldered healthcare costs,...
Oct 22, 2024•28 min•Ep 41•Transcript available on Metacast Jonathan Lim is the CEO of Erasca, but his career path took him on a fascinating journey from practicing as a surgeon to leading life science companies. In a recent conversation, Lim shared valuable insights about his transition to the biotech world, his leadership experiences, and the lessons he's learned while founding and guiding organizations through high-stakes decision making. Reflecting on a personal trip to the Galapagos Islands, Lim also drew parallels between Darwinian evolution and bu...
Oct 15, 2024•28 min•Ep 41•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Vijay Pande and Daisy Wolf of a16z Bio + Health join a16z Podcast host Steph Smith to make a provocative case for why technologists—not just medical professionals—are key to reinventing healthcare. They argue that to transform a sector representing 20% of U.S. GDP, innovation must move beyond curing diseases toward tackling healthcare’s broken systems. By likening the healthcare industry to a logistics challenge, Vijay and Daisy outline how technologists can leverage their exper...
Oct 08, 2024•42 min•Ep 40•Transcript available on Metacast Marta Bralic Kerns, founder and CEO of Pomelo Care, joins Will Shrank, MD, a16z Bio + Health venture partner. Together, they talk about the innovator’s dilemma with building in the Medicaid space, how Pomelo partners with managed care plans, and the opportunity to potentially lower costs through providing additional support to pregnant women. This is the third episode in our Medicaid Matters series. Listen to previous guests Mark Smith, MD, and Nikita Singareddy in the Raising Health feed....
Sep 30, 2024•29 min•Ep 39•Transcript available on Metacast Nikita Singareddy, cofounder and CEO of Fortuna Health, joins Will Shrank, MD, a16z Bio + Health venture partner. Together, they discuss building a useful and convenient platform for Medicaid enrollees, listening to patient feedback to improve, and the complexities of different states’ Medicaid processes. This is the second episode in our Medicaid Matters series. Listen to previous guest Mark Smith, MD, to hear about Medicaid from a provider's perspective.
Sep 24, 2024•29 min•Ep 38•Transcript available on Metacast Over the next three episodes, we’re going to talk about why Medicaid matters, and the potential for technology to make it easier for enrollees to access and utilize the program. Our first guest is Mark Smith, MD, Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCSF. He was the founding President and former CEO of the California HealthCare Foundation from 1996-2013, which is where he began his work to improve Medicaid. He experienced Medicaid from a provider perspective when he began his residency during the e...
Sep 17, 2024•27 min•Ep 37•Transcript available on Metacast Vijay Pande, PhD, founding partner of a16z Bio + Health, joins Derrick Harris, host of the AI + a16z podcast . Together, they discuss how computer science has subsumed biotech.
Sep 10, 2024•48 min•Ep 36•Transcript available on Metacast Casey Means, MD, a Stanford-trained physician, cofounder of Levels, and author of the new book Good Energy, joins Vijay Pande, PhD, founding partner of a16z Bio + Health. Together, they discuss the downsides of physician specialization, the rising tide of chronic illness in the U.S., and how tracking biomarkers might allow people to determine the best nutrition options for their unique physiology. Casey's book is available here ....
Sep 03, 2024•29 min•Ep 35•Transcript available on Metacast Greg Meyers, EVP and Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Bristol Myers Squibb, or BMS, joins Jorge Conde, general partner at a16z. This is a follow-up to their 2023 episode , where they discussed how biopharma can adapt to AI. Now, they revisit the conversation to see what’s changed and what hasn’t. Together, they chat through tech as a competitive differentiator for large companies, generative AI for drug development, and what Greg and BMS look for in potential partners. They also highlight...
Aug 27, 2024•26 min•Ep 34•Transcript available on Metacast Michael Crackower, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of Ventus Therapeutics, and Jason Burch, PhD, join Vineeta Agarwala, MD, PhD, general partner at a16z Bio + Health. Together, they talk about how Ventus approaches drug discovery and why they believe we’re in the early stages of small molecule innovation. Specifically, we’ll hear about the ReSOLVE platform, which enables the drug hunting team to more accurately design and iterate on small molecular compounds for therapeutic applications. They also...
Aug 20, 2024•37 min•Ep 33•Transcript available on Metacast Bowen Liu, PhD, investing partner, and Surya Ganguli, PhD, venture partner, join Vijay Pande, PhD, general partner of a16z Bio + Health. Together, they detail different methods through which AI could assist drug development, the opportunity for AI to flag new targets and compounds for scientists to investigate, and the science fiction-sounding notion of developing a foundation model that untangles biology. This is an in-depth conversation from three AI experts and biologists, so we’ll also publi...
Aug 13, 2024•30 min•Ep 32•Transcript available on Metacast Bruce Levine, PhD, the Barbara and Edward Netter Professor in Cancer Gene Therapy at the University of Pennsylvania, joins Jorge Conde, general partner, and Ginger Liau, partner at a16z Bio + Health. Bruce talks about how his time working in a lab at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia inspired him to work on translational therapies. Together, they also discuss barriers to access for cancer therapeutics and how the fight against cancer is progressing. Additional disclosures for Bruce include...
Aug 06, 2024•31 min•Ep 31•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, a follow-up to our episode Grand Challenges in Healthcare AI, Julie Yoo and Vijay Pande, a16z general partners, answer audience questions about AI applications in healthcare. Together, they dive into cost and implementation challenges, the data landscape, and what the patient experience might look like. If you liked this episode, listen to Grand Challenges in Healthcare AI here or wherever you get your podcasts....
Jul 30, 2024•35 min•Ep 30•Transcript available on Metacast John Crowley, President and CEO of Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), joined Jorge Conde, general partner at a16z Bio + Health. Together, they talk about John’s entry into biotech and his time as a founder, all motivated by his determination to discover and develop a treatment for his children, who have Pompe disease. They also talk about John’s priorities as head of BIO and how that could translate into policy.
Jul 23, 2024•31 min•Ep 29•Transcript available on Metacast Lawrence Ingrassia, author and journalist, joins Vineeta Agarwala, general partner, and Kris Tatiossian, editorial lead at a16z Bio + Health. Together, they discuss Larry's recently published book, A Fatal Inheritance: How A Family Misfortune Revealed A Deadly Medical Mystery . In the book, Larry recounts the story of the p53 cancer suppressor gene, also known as the “guardian of the genome.” Mutations in this gene, which can be inherited, remove a natural tumor defense, making it more likely fo...
Jul 16, 2024•28 min•Ep 28•Transcript available on Metacast Jonathan Swerdlin, cofounder and CEO, and Mark Hyman, MD, cofounder and Chief Medical Officer of Function Health join Vijay Pande, general partner, and Daisy Wolf, investment partner of a16z Bio + Health. Together, they discuss their personal health journeys that led to founding Function, how they’re planning to scale Function, and what the future could look like.
Jul 09, 2024•33 min•Ep 27•Transcript available on Metacast Jonathan Bush, founder and CEO of Zus Health, and Chris Severn, cofounder and CEO of Turquoise Health, join Julie Yoo, general partner, and Colin Rom, head of public policy for a16z Bio + Health. We’ve long believed that regulatory change can be a catalyst for company creation. In this episode, Jonathan and Chris detail how that was true for them. They also outline a few key takeaways for founders hoping to leverage regulatory change themselves....
Jun 25, 2024•37 min•Ep 26•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, originally recorded for the a16z Podcast, host Steph Smith interviews Pushmeet Kohli, DeepMind's VP of Research focused on AI for science. They are joined by a16z Bio + Health founding partner Vijay Pande. Together, they discuss AI at scale, and its power to transform science.
Jun 18, 2024•56 min•Ep 25•Transcript available on Metacast Chronis Manolis, SVP and Chief Pharmacy Officer of UPMC Health Plan, joins Julie Yoo, general partner, Daisy Wolf, investment partner, and Will Shrank, venture partner, of a16z Bio + Health. Together, they discuss how payors and providers are thinking about anti-obesity medications, as well as pricing and prior authorization considerations. This is the third episode in our series on the science and supply of GLP-1s. Listen to last week’s episode to hear from Brooke Boyarsky Pratt, founder and CE...
Jun 11, 2024•32 min•Ep 24•Transcript available on Metacast Brooke Boyarsky Pratt, founder and CEO of knownwell, joins Vineeta Agarwala, general partner at a16z Bio + Health. Together, they talk about the value of obesity medicine practitioners, patient-centric medical homes, and how Brooke believes the metabolic health space will evolve over time. This is the second episode in our series on the science and supply of GLP-1s. Listen to last week's episode to hear from Carolyn Jasik, Chief Medical Officer at Omada Health, on GLP-1s from a clinical perspect...
Jun 04, 2024•43 min•Ep 23•Transcript available on Metacast Carolyn Jasik, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Omada Health, joins Vijay Pande, founding partner of a16z Bio + Health. As Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound capture the healthcare spotlight, we’ve developed a series of episodes that go beyond the headlines and take you into conversations with the specialists. Our first guest is Carolyn Jasik, Chief Medical Officer at Omada Health. She gives us an overview of the science of satiety, the perspective from obesity-focused physicians, and the somet...
May 28, 2024•30 min•Ep 22•Transcript available on Metacast Vineeta Agarwala, MD, PhD, joins Luke Timmerman's The Long Run podcast on stage at the Life Science Innovation Northwest Conference. They discuss everything from AI for drug discovery to Vineeta's ongoing clinical work as a physician and how that influences her perspective.
May 21, 2024•57 min•Ep 21•Transcript available on Metacast 
