Vanguards of Healthcare by Bloomberg Intelligence

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Episodes

170

Latest episode

Nov 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

November 12, 202640 min

Biolinq Introduces New Microsensor Tech For Next Chapter of Glucose and Analyte Detection

“I think we should do everything possible to lower the barriers for everybody to learn about glucose and metabolism,” Biolinq CEO Rich Yang tells Bloomberg Intelligence. In this Vanguards of Healthcare podcast episode, Yang sits down with BI analyst Matt Henriksson for an in-depth interview about Biolinq and how it has been able to develop microsensors using novel silicon semiconductor technology to detect glucose and other potential biomarkers, including lactate. The two also explore the commercial strategy targeting patients with type 2 diabetes following FDA approval for over-the-counter sale of the sensor. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

November 5, 202645 min

Akido Bets AI Can Break Healthcare’s Scarcity Problem

“In five years in healthcare, every single person in America will have the same kind of quality of healthcare that Jeff Bezos has.” Akido Labs co-founder and CEO Prashant Samant joins Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jonathan Palmer to explain why AI could turn concierge medicine from a luxury into a mass-market model. Samant traces Akido’s evolution from a health-data platform into a full-stack care-delivery system serving roughly 1 million patients, and details how Scope AI is designed to expand clinician capacity without removing physicians from the loop. The conversation explores Akido’s street-medicine work, value-based care, plans to enter 50 markets and why Samant believes the era of waiting months for a specialist could soon look obsolete. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

October 29, 202650 min

Happy Health Develops a Wearable that Can Drive Healthcare Decision Making

“We wanted to be kind of the catalyst of collision between these two worlds, bringing wearable devices with all of their simplicity and the delightfulness of the experience with medical devices, with their accuracy and their ability to actually drive better health outcomes,” Happy Health co-founder and CEO Dustin Freckleton says of the Happy Ring. In this Vanguards of Healthcare episode, Freckleton sits down with BI analyst Matt Henriksson for an in-depth interview about the Happy Ring and how the company miniaturized multiple sensor technologies into a ring that combines a consumer-friendly form factor with healthcare decision-making capabilities. The discussion also covers the company’s expansion path following its recent FDA approvals and Series A financing, as well as lessons learned from past experiences as it seeks to keep the process simple while developing the Happy Ring. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

October 22, 202654 min

Field Medical Develops New PFA Tech to Treat More Patients

“We don’t have any purpose-built technologies for the treatment of VT (ventricular tachycardia), and when I had a chance to look at what Field was building and the opportunity here to build out a new space and a new sector, it was very exciting to me,” Field Medical CEO Mark Turco explains regarding new areas for pulsed field ablation (PFA) innovation. In this episode of the Vanguards of Healthcare podcast, Turco and Field Medical Founder Steven Mickelsen sit down with Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Matt Henriksson for an in-depth interview about the potential benefits of the company’s next-generation PFA technology and how it’s designed to address the more demanding areas of cardiac arrhythmias, starting with VT. They dive further into the commercial strategy for its VERITAS VT and FIELD-PULSE pivotal studies, after promising first-in-human trial results. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.