Vanguards of Healthcare by Bloomberg Intelligence

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Episodes

166

Latest episode

Oct 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

Vanguards of Healthcare is a series of exclusive conversations with management teams and thought leaders discussing changes on the forefront of the industry, including innovations in medical products and technologies, advances in clinical research, new service models, wellness and regulations.

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60 recent

October 15, 202643 min

Tandem Diabetes’ Pump Portfolio Has Rubber Hitting the Floor

“If you look at the tubeless market, you know, we're seeing growth rates in excess of 25% annually,” Tandem Diabetes CEO John Sheridan explains to Bloomberg Intelligence about the growth opportunities in insulin pumps. In this episode of Vanguards of Health Care, Sheridan sits down with BI analyst Matt Henriksson for an in-depth interview about Tandem’s pending launch of Mobi Tubless, an insulin pump designed to wear on the body for discretion and the AI-powered Control-IQ Plus algorithm for simplicity. The conversation also touches on the company’s pay-as-you-go business model and future product development, including the next generation Mobi pumps utilizing Sigi technology from its AMF acquisition and a new closed loop algorithm. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

October 8, 202649 min

Cityblock Health Reimagines Care for Those Left Behind

“It’s not about the technology itself, it’s about the form factor,” says Dr. Toyin Ajayi, co-founder and CEO of Cityblock Health. She joins Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jonathan Palmer to explain how the company is redesigning care for complex Medicaid and Medicare populations around medical, behavioral and social needs. Ajayi details Cityblock’s value-based model, which rewards better outcomes and lower costs, and explains how AI is increasingly shaping care. One surprising finding: seniors and Medicaid members are willing to engage with technology when it comes through familiar channels like voice and text. The conversation also explores Cityblock’s use of real-world data to guide next-best actions and its ambition to expand nationally. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

October 1, 202650 min

Natera’s Billion-Dollar R&D Bet on the Future of Cancer Testing

“Clinical data is the key to being successful in diagnostics,” Steve Chapman, CEO of Natera, tells Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jonathan Palmer as he explains how an early bet on evidence helped turn a small genetic-testing company into a broad diagnostics platform. Chapman traces Signatera from a side project into a leading minimal residual disease (MRD) test and details Natera’s nearly $1 billion R&D investment to push into genome-based testing, early cancer detection and new indications. The conversation also explores the next layer of value from Natera’s platform — millions of longitudinal data points, AI-enhanced test results and patient experiences, more efficient biopharma trials and the potential to use neoantigen prediction algorithms to support personalized cancer vaccines. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

September 24, 202652 min

Resmed’s Expanding Within Sleep Health

“I almost think of, you know, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and these other areas as verticals. Sleep is a horizontal and it can impact all of the above,” Resmed CEO Mick Farrell explains to Bloomberg Intelligence. In this Vanguards of Healthcare episode, Farrell sits down with BI analyst Matt Henriksson to discuss how Resmed became the market leader in sleep apnea treatment and how it’s investing in assets like Noctrix Health to expand its sleep-health presence into restless legs syndrome. Farrell also goes into detail about his career path and the skills it takes to transition from being an expert in one role to managing an entire team of experts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

September 17, 202649 min

Datavant is Building the Data Layer AI Needs in Healthcare

“Only about 7% of healthcare data is available to the frontier models,” says Kyle Armbrester, CEO of Datavant. He joins Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jonathan Palmer to discuss why healthcare’s AI opportunity starts with solving its fragmented-data problem. Armbrester explains Datavant’s role connecting providers, payers, life sciences, legal and insurance customers; why scale and tokenization are critical to linking data securely; and how the company is moving beyond records and dashboards toward AI-powered finished products. He also reflects on lessons from Athenahealth, Signify Health and CVS, Datavant’s acquisition strategy and the company’s ambitions as it considers a potential public-market future. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

September 3, 202648 min

FocalTherics Incorporates Therapeutic Ultrasound Across an Expanding List of Pathologies

“HIFU (high intensity focal ultrasound) is very valuable as a therapeutic treatment, but histotripsy may have some added value. We can develop a platform that can do HIFU or histotripsy or combine the two on a single platform,” Focaltherics explains to Bloomberg Intelligence. In this Vanguards of Healthcare episode, CEO Ryan Rhodes and CFO Ken Mobeck sit down with BI analyst Matt Henriksson for an in-depth interview to talk about how the Focal One robot uses high-intensity focused ultrasound, or HIFU, to ablate prostate cancer without needing an incision or removing the whole prostate. We also dive into how the team plans to expand into other cancerous and benign diseases, including benign prostate hyperplasia and endometriosis, and develop histotripsy — a focused-ultrasound technique that mechanically destroys targeted tissue — capabilities into the platform. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

August 27, 202655 min

Stryker Recipe For Market Leading Growth Starts With Its Culture and Learnings

“Whenever you look at these adjacencies…these are areas that we think plays to Stryker’s strengths, we have some innate know-how or some ability to be able to think to win with our commercial offense and the way we’re organized”, CEO Kevin Lobo and COO Spencer Stiles explain to Bloomberg Intelligence. In this Vanguards of Health Care podcast episode, Lobo and Stiles sit down with BI analyst Matt Henriksson for an in-depth interview on Stryker’s robust M&A track record, and key steps to successfully integrate all kinds of acquisitions as part of the long-term strategy for above market growth. One of the key factors is Stryker’s corporate culture, which combines the insight and learnings built from over 60 deals as well as an appetite for risk and pure grit to achieve what other peers have not been able to duplicate. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

August 20, 202638 min

Think Surgical Miniaturizes it Robot to Broaden Its Use in Knees

“Our approach is to miniaturize the robot, make it more economical and make it more seamless in terms of how it integrates into the operating room environment,” Think Surgical’s CEO Stuart Simpson tells Bloomberg Intelligence. In this Vanguards of Healthcare episode, Simpson sits down with BI analyst Matt Henriksson to discuss how the company developed the TMini robot based on understanding what the surgeon was trying to achieve and working backward. This resulted in a handheld robot that provides optionality over the large form factors of other robotic systems while giving surgeons the choice of knee implant. Both features are well suited for the shift of knee replacement procedures to the ambulatory surgical setting. We also dive into the planned launch of Think Surgical’s TMini 2.0 in the first quarter of 2027. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

August 18, 202658 min

Novartis Puts Biology Before Modality in Its Next R&D Chapter

“We don't want to follow the crowd, we want to steer our own path into what we think are the most exciting opportunities for patients.” says Fiona Marshall, President of Biomedical Research at Novartis, joins Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Sam Fazeli to explain the biology-first, modality-second philosophy shaping R&D. Marshall details how Novartis is building radioligand therapy beyond Pluvicto into a broad portfolio across tumor types, while treating delivery as the bottleneck for expanding siRNA beyond the liver. The discussion also explores neuroscience as a growth bet built on earlier diagnosis and intervention, plus why AI productivity depends on embedding data scientists across the organization and training models on Novartis's proprietary data. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

August 13, 202650 min

Innovaccer’s Bet on the Data Layer Powering Autonomous Healthcare

“Your doctor has more outdated technology than your Uber driver does,” Abhinav Shashank, co-founder and CEO of Innovaccer, tells Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jonathan Palmer in this episode of the Vanguards of Healthcare podcast. Shashank explains why fixing healthcare’s fragmented data infrastructure is the foundation for the industry’s AI future and why long-term value will accrue to companies that own the data layer rather than the user interface. He also traces Innovaccer’s evolution from a data startup into a platform spanning 80 million patient lives, and argues that “autonomous healthcare” could strip hundreds of billions of dollars of administrative waste. The conversation explores the economics of AI, the danger of poorly designed automation, how acquisitions are filling gaps and Innovaccer’s ambition to reach $1 billion of annual recurring revenue. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.