Intellimedix and Life University

Posted on April 1, 2015April 3, 2015

Intellimedix and Life University

This week we sat down with experts from Intellimedix and Life University. Intellimedix is an Atlanta-based company that uses high-powered computing algorithms, coupled with genetic testing to identify existing medications that could potentially be re-purposed to effectively treat illnesses other than the ones they were originally designed to treat. One of the company’s founders has a child who suffers from a severe form of epilepsy. Unfortunately, there are limited treatments known to be available that will provide relief from this debilitating condition. His daughter’s story influenced the decision to focus the company’s initial efforts on uncovering existing medications that could be successfully re-purposed to help folks dealing with this type of epilepsy and other neurologic disorders.

Chief Science Officer, Jeff Skolnick shared the example of how a blood pressure medication (Viagra) was re-purposed to treat erectile dysfunction. He went on the discuss the physiology/chemistry behind why this is possible and why it makes sense to look for existing, approved medications that have the ability to improve quality of life for patients dealing with illnesses different from those the medications are initially intended to treat. This approach saves a great deal of time and money over the years-long, massively-expensive process of developing a medication from ground zero to treat a particular condition; allowing patients in need to receive access to an effective treatment sooner.

Dr. Gilles LeMarche, VP of Professional Relations at Life University came by to talk about the undergraduate and graduate programs available at their Marietta, GA-based campus. They offer a number of health, wellness, and sports-related degrees ranging from chiropractic medicine, to vitalistic nutrition, functional kinesiology, and others. He shared their approach to wellness, applying the philosphy of “vitalism” allows their graduates to help their clients/patients by helping the body to heal itself; as it is ideally capable of doing when interfering factors are removed.

Special Guests:

Steven Hickson, CFO, Intellimedix

MBA, Global Executive MBA Program, IESE Business School, Barcelona Spain
BA Accounting, NC State University
Previous Senior Auditor, Turner Broadcasting System
Former SVP, New Media & Premium Channels, Fox International Channels- Asia

Jeff Skolnick, PhD, Chief Science Officer, Intellimedix

Director, Center for Study of Systems Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology
PhD, Chemistry, Yale University
Mary and Maisie Gibson Chair in Computational Systems Biology
Associate Director, Integrated Biosystems Institute, Georgia Institute of Technology

Gilles Lamarche, DCM, VP, Professional Relations, Life University

Doctor of Chiropractic Medicine, Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College
Certified Six Advisors Coach, 6 Advisors Coaching Academy
Former Vice President, Parker College of Chiropractic
Fluent in French

Some backing music provided by: www.pacdv.com/sounds/

Liv2BGirl

Posted on March 18, 2015August 5, 2015

Podcast: Download

Tosha Marks, Cindy Abel, Diana Keough talk Liv2bGirl

Liv2BGirl

We’ve all heard the news stories about young people who have been victims of cyberbullying through social media. In some cases, kids have even gone so far as attempting or committing suicide over the experience. This week we sat down with Cindy Abel and Tosha Marks, co-founders of Liv2BGirl. It’s a social media environment they’re building as a mobile app that will give girls a social media environment exclusive to them. The site will be free from cyberbullying and negative, attacking/abusive behaviors—these being clearly prohibited when a user sets up their profile.

A recent article by Cindy and Tosha published on Momeomagazine.com states these statistics cited from dosomething.org:

Nearly 43% of kids have been bullied online
68% of teens agree that cyberbullying is a serious problem
81% of young people think bullying online is easier to get away with than bullying in person
90% of teens who have seen cyberbullying ignored it
Girls are twice as likely as boys to be victims of cyberbullying
Only 1 in 10 victims tell there parent or trusted adult of the abuse.

In this short clip, Tosha Marks shares why they are building the Liv2BGirl app:

The concept proved to have traction with girls when they launched their beta website to evaluate interest and content offerings, gaining roughly 700 users who tested the site. Cindy and Tosha quickly found that the idea of a social media space free from hurtful, hateful behaviors is appealing to girls—enough so that average time per visit was ~30 mins.

We talked about some of the troubling statistics around cyberbullying as well as negative experiences Cindy and Tosha saw their own daughters face in various social media platforms. We also discussed the resources they need to bring their app to full realization and how folks can get involved to get this source of positive peer pressure and encouragement for our daughters into their hands.

Special Guests:

Tosha Marks, Co-founder, Liv2BGirl

BS, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Middle Tennessee State University
Previous Sole Proprietor, The Silver Sak
Former Sales Representative, Dixie Packing and Seal Company

Cindy Abel, Co-founder, Liv2BGirl

BS in Management Information Systems, University of Dayton
Co-President, North Springs Charter High School
Member, Advisory Board, Hands On Atlanta
Co-founder/Owner, Abel Solutions
7 years as information technology consultant, Accenture

This program made possible by ShareWIK Media Group

Telemedicine

Posted on March 12, 2015March 16, 2015

Podcast: Download

Telemedicine

This week I sat down with the founder of MedZed, a hybrid telemedicine platform that enables parents with sick children to receive care for their child with an in-home RN who establishes a remote link with a physician. Today, there are a growing number of urgent care centers available, along with after-hours pediatric care centers. These care centers are typically better options than being seen in an emergency room where wait times and exposure to very ill patients are a concern.

However, urgent care centers also frequently come with a long wait and exposure to numerous sick persons in the waiting room as well. Telemedicine is a health care delivery model where patients interface with a provider via phone and/or face-to-face video conferencing platform that allows patient and doctor to see each other. This week’s guests joined us to talk about how they are innovating with this technology to deliver quality health care in a patient’s home.

With the MedZed platform (and soon a mobile app) parents with sick children can request an in-home examination of their children. After a phone triage conversation, a registered nurse or nurse specialist is dispatched to the home to conduct the exam. The in-home clinician links up with the patient’s physician (when that practice is a MedZed participant) or a thoroughly-vetted, experienced pediatrician on the MedZed medical staff (when the patient’s physician office is NOT a MedZed participant).

Once in the home the nurse establishes an internet connection using either the family’s connection if available or by cellular wi-fi if in-home internet is absent or inadequate. Via the communications link, the physician is able to view the results of otoscopic exams, listen to their stethoscope, and see vitals all in real time. This portal also gives the patient and family the ability to also see what is being visualized by the exam, offering educational opportunities and a decreased measure of anxiety.

We talked about the fact that as more diagnostic equipment such as radiographic devices become more mobile, the scope of care that will be able to be delivered in the home will expand dramatically. This will serve to reduce use of ER and urgent care for more acute, complex complaints. The service is offered as fee-for-service—patients pay using credit cards when the care is delivered. In some cases third party insurors will reimburse for part or all of the visit, depending on plan.

Special Guests:

Scott Schnell, CEO, Co-founder of MedZed

BGS, Accounting & History, University of Michigan
Former CPA
Previous SVP/ CFO of Simply Floored
Previous Chairman/CEO of Pike Family Nursing

Tiffany Holland, RN at MedZed

Katarina Quinterno, Parent, MedZed client

Population Health Management

Posted on March 4, 2015

Podcast: Download

Population Health Management

The notion of working to improve a population’s awareness of wellness and disease is not new. For decades we have sought to reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including reduced smoking rates, early detection for cancers, and decrease obesity (not to mention containing healthcare costs) But with improving data capabilities, interoperability between EMR’s and data systems, changing laws, and an over-arching goal of improving the general health and wellness of our population we are beginning to see ever-greater emphasis on population health management as a strategy to both contain costs and improve outcomes. Check out this week’s episode to learn more about how your company can save long-term costs while at the same time improving quality- and length of life to their employees.

As a health strategy, population health management focuses heavily on preventive care measures, coupled with making such care delivery as convenient as possible for the population involved. Additionally, procedures around work place injuries are assessed and if needed, modified to include triage that can prevent the use of ER to initiate care when such injuries/exposures occur.

We talked about how Dekalb Medical restructured their approach to their own employees’ wellness and work place injuries, successfully reducing their spend on high cost claims, ER visits, and work place injuries. They are now collaborating with businesses in the community to collaborate with them to improve the wellness/safety of their respective employees and helping them achieve the same sort of cost savings on health/risk in their enterprises. These efforts are steadily improving the aggregate health of the Dekalb Medical catchment area patients through more consistent, integrated delivery of preventive/wellness-focused care.

Dekalb Medical, a long-standing pillar of the Atlanta health systems, serving the eastern half of the metro, has proven to be an innovator and thought leaders in the concept of population health management. After a multi-year effort to reduce cost and improve outcomes for their own ~4000 employees, including decreasing work-place accidents and ER visits, they have an impressive list of successes to talk about.

And as a well-established health system with the full complement of services from acute to tertiary, diagnostic and procedural services available, Dekalb Medical is uniquely positioned to exert positive effects on the health of the large metropolitan population they serve.

About DeKalb Medical

Founded in 1961, DeKalb Regional Health System, Inc., known as DeKalb Medical, is comprised of more than 800 doctors skilled in 55 medical specialties across three campuses. The 627-bed system includes DeKalb Medical at North Decatur (451 beds), DeKalb Medical Long Term Acute Care at Downtown Decatur (77 beds), DeKalb Medical at Hillandale (100 beds), DeKalb Medical Physicians Group and the DeKalb Medical Foundation.

This week Diana Keough and I sat down with Dr. Shealynn Buck and Jim Forstner from the health system. We talked about population health management as a concept and how it was put to work as a strategy to the benefit of both its employees and the bottom line of the organization.

Dekalb Medical is now providing similar population health management services to employers within their catchment area around the east perimeter of Atlanta and beyond. They are engaging employers’ employees through gameficiation, on-site services, consulting regarding workplace safety, narrow network benefits that save costs and improve outcomes, and more. We talked about how the notion of population health management is a move from transactional, disease-focused care to a relational, wellness-focused model and how that can save both money and improve lives of employees. We also discussed some positive unintended consequences that can come through offering such a health initiative to an employee population.

The not-for-profit health care system is a HealthGrades® Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Heart Attack in 2013 and Five-Star Recipient for Peripheral Vascular Bypass in 2012, and earned the Get With The Guidelines®–Stroke Silver Quality Achievement Award from the American Heart/American Stroke Association. Their Maternity Center was selected as a participant in the Best Fed Beginnings project as part of UNICEF/WHO’s Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative. The Dekalb Medical Cancer Center received the Outstanding Achievement Award and is granted three-year approval by The Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons as a community hospital comprehensive oncology program. Their Joint Solutions Center is a metro Atlanta leader in joint replacement.

In addition, The Dekalb Medical LTAC earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® for acquired brain injury, wound care and respiratory failure services. Their WorksWell® program is dedicated to supporting employers with solutions to maximize the health, safety and well-being of their employees while improving performance and the bottom line.

Special Guests:

Dr. Shealynn Buck, MD, Executive Director, Dekalb Medical WorksWell and Medical Director of Dekalb Medical Wellness Center

Doctor of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine
Residency, Pathology, Emory University School of Medicine
Fellow, Transfusion Medicine and Cellular Therapies
Former Assistant Medical Director, American Red Cross

Jim Forstner, SVP & Senior Strategy Officer of Dekalb Medical

>10 years service on Dekalb Medical executive team
Previous Executive Director for Contracting, Physician and Ambulatory Ventures, Dekalb Medical
Previous Director, Patient Financial Services, Dekalb Medical

National Parkinson Foundation

Posted on February 18, 2015

Podcast: Download

National Parkinson Foundation

This week we sat down with the President and CEO of National Parkinson Foundation, Joyce Oberdorf and Larry Kahn, CEO/Founder of PD Gladiators, a man who develoed early-onset Parkinson disease. Approximately 1 Million people are living with Parkinson disease in the US today. The National Parkinson Foundation’s website describes Parkinson disease this way, “Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic and progressive movement disorder, meaning that symptoms continue and worsen over time. Nearly one million people in the US are living with Parkinson’s disease. The cause is unknown, and although there is presently no cure, there are treatment options such as medication and surgery to manage its symptoms.

Parkinson’s involves the malfunction and death of vital nerve cells in the brain, called neurons. Parkinson’s primarily affects neurons in the an area of the brain called the substantia nigra. Some of these dying neurons produce dopamine, a chemical that sends messages to the part of the brain that controls movement and coordination. As PD progresses, the amount of dopamine produced in the brain decreases, leaving a person unable to control movement normally.”

Joyce came by to talk about research the National Parkinson Foundation is supporting that is aimed at improving the quality of life of patients living with the disease today. They seek to share best practices that show promise among providers, with regard to the pace of progression and/or severity of symptoms so these persons can enjoy life more fully, longer.

She brought Larry Kahn, founder of PD Gladiators, a boxing gym exclusively for PD patients that was launched after Larry learned about and experienced the benefits of vigorous exercise on his symptoms. He shared his poignant story about learning he has PD (after having had it missed over a year earlier by his initial doctor), how he and his wife approached the diagnosis, and how/why he started PD Gladiators. Larry and Joyce talked about research that has shown the benefits of vigorous exercise on cognitive function among ALL of us, including PD patients. They endeavor to share that information widely so that more PD patients can receive the reparative benefits themselves.

We talked about the resources needed by the National Parkinson Foundation and Larry that will enable them to further advance awareness and quality of life among Parkinson disease patients. We hope you share this podcast, as the information they shared will very likely help someone you care about who’s suffering with Parkinson today.

Special Guests:

Joyce Oberdorf, President and CEO, National Parkinson Foundation

Larry Kahn, Founder, CEO, PD Gladiators

GeorgiaSHAPE

Posted on February 12, 2015February 12, 2015

Podcast: Download

GeorgiaSHAPE

The Centers for Disease Control published these striking statistics about childhood obesity in the US:

Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years.^{1, 2}
The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2012. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to nearly 21% over the same period.^{1, 2}
In 2012, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese.¹
Overweight is defined as having excess body weight for a particular height from fat, muscle, bone, water, or a combination of these factors.³ Obesity is defined as having excess body fat.⁴
Overweight and obesity are the result of “caloric imbalance”—too few calories expended for the amount of calories consumed—and are affected by various genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors.^5,6

Clearly, the trends are alarming and we must act now to reverse them or we will face enormous human and financial costs in a variety of health issues that tend to increase among obese patients. Obese persons face higher rates of developing diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer, poor healing, and other challenges. In addition to the health concerns associated with obesity, research has revealed connections between physical activity and academic performance.

We sat down with several key team members from the multifaceted task force whose goal it is to tackle the problem of obesity and caloric imbalance among our youth. Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, MD, serves as the Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) and State Health Officer. In addition to her numerous duties, she oversees a program put forth by the governor called, “GeorgiaSHAPE“. This program, a public-private partnership, provides research-supported recommendations for Georgia schools to incorporate an additional 30 minutes of physical activity in the course of the day (often within the classroom itself during brief breaks from academic work). See: Pledge to Power Up for 30 The goal is to enroll the roughly 1300 state-wide grade schools into the program to help reduce obesity and improve academic performance. Participating schools receive funds to support the program and also gain access to grants through philanthropic organizations such as the Atlanta Falcons Youth Foundation.

Along with Dr. Fitzgerald we hosted experts from the Georgia Department of Education, Georgia State University’s Public Health Policy Center, HealthMPowers, the Atlanta Falcons Youth Foundation, and an educator and student from Carrollton Elementary Schools (one of the early adopters of the program). They shared research findings regarding the value of physical activity as it relates to brain function and, correspondingly, math, reading, and spelling performance among young students. We talked about the fact that currently, only ~1/3rd of Georgia’s schools are enrolled to participate in this important program that has clear, far-reaching benefits to our young people and our collective community health.

“You need to remember that yes, there had been an increase throughout the country [in childhood obesity]. But, Georgia, as far as childhood obesity—we were the second worst state in the entire country,” according to Dr. Fitzgerald. “. . .We now have three years of measurements from looking at Georgia’s children. . .Here are the numbers: 40% of the children in our school systems are not at a healthy weight. . .Here’s the one that scares me. We looked at a variety of things—not just weight. But also, it’s called ‘aerobic capacity’. And we looked at flexibility and we looked at muscle strength. And, the tests are not trying out for the Olympics. It’s not even trying out for the football team. It’s walking a mile and touching your toes. And only 19% of Georgia’s children were able to do all tests. . . So, clearly, this became the governor’s main interest because we knew unhealthy kids, of course, would lead to unhealthy adults.”

Panelists:

Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, MD, Commissioner of Georgia Department of Health

Dr. John Bare, PhD, Vice President of Programs, Arthur M. Blank Foundation and Atlanta Falcons Youth Foundation

Dr. Emily Vall, PhD, Obesity Project Manager, GeorgiaSHAPE

Diana Keough, CEO/Founder, ShareWIK Media Group

Deborah Kibbie, Georgia State University Public Health Policy Center, Chief Evaluator of GeorgiaSHAPE

Therese McGuire, Health and Physical Education Program Specialist at Georgia Department of Education

Wendy McDowell, Educator, Carrollton County Elementary Schools

Colt Shadrix, 3rd Grade Student, Carrollton Elementary Schools

Innovations in Heart Health

Posted on February 4, 2015

Podcast: Download

Innovations in Heart Health

This week, for Week 5, we focused on innovations in heart health. Emory physician, researcher, and professor, Dr. Omar Lattouf came by to share about research he’s been working on developing new techniques for some challenging heart disorders, and an exciting project he’s working on that is aimed at reducing the number of patients who die from cardiometabolic syndrome. Dr. Lattouf’s work on how conduction problems are treated by insertion of pace makers using a minimally-invasive approach has helped improved outcomes for countless critically-ill patients. Dr. Lattouf talked about their soon-to-launch study on an application designed to help patients with, or at risk for, cardiometabolic syndrome. The application will empower patients to track key vital signs and other health information and make decisions that will improve key factors such as cholesterol, blood pressure, weight, and more. As Dr. Lattouf shared his personal story about his own family’s experience with heart disease, his passion for helping fight heart disease, which in large part is preventable, was obvious.

Robert Arkin, CEO and Founder of Sensiotec joined us to talk about the way they are using technology and health data to provide clinicians the ability to monitor key vital signs and patient movement patterns in a hands-off way. He talked about how he has long held a desire to help his community on a large scale that he knew that being involved in developing healthcare innovations provides the best way to do that. Robert described how their device uses a special radar technology that is able to measure body movements and even internal organ function, providing real-time vital signs and patient movement patterns. Their technology’s algorithms enable providers to get a degree of predictive information that could potentially help avoid patient falls/injury, or even detect troublesome trends in vital signs that could enable proactive care decisions that could prevent a serious cardiovascular event.

These two health innovators discussed the additional resources they need that could facilitate the acceleration of their respective work with regard to making their solutions available to patients on a larger scale. We are pleased to support their work by helping them tell their story.

Special Guests:

Dr. Omar Lattouf, MD, of Emory University School of Medicine

Doctor of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine
Board Certified, American Board of Surgery, American Board of Thoracic Surgery
Performed Georgia’s first domino heart transplant
He and a colleague implanted the state’s first Abiomed biventricular assist system to support the failing heart of a patient suffering from post-cardiotomy shock

Robert Arkin, CEO of Sensiotec

Juris Doctor, University of Virginia School of Law
Recipient, 2012 Atlanta Business Chronicle Healthcare Heroes Award for Healthcare Innovation
Fomer CEO, Chairman, Modavox, Inc.
Former Member, Board of Directors, Frontline Healthcare Workers Safety Foundation

Alzheimer’s Research

Posted on January 28, 2015

Podcast: Download

Alzheimer’s Research

This week we sat down with experts in neurologic diseases and alzheimer’s research. According to the CDC,

In 2013, as many as 5 million Americans were living with Alzheimer’s disease.¹
The symptoms of the disease first appear after age 60 and the risk increases with age.
Younger people may get Alzheimer’s disease, but it is less common.
The number of people with the disease doubles every 5 years beyond age 65.
By 2050, this number is projected to rise to 14 million, a nearly three-fold increase.¹

This devastating disease currently has no cure. In our ongoing mission to get the word out about important research and health solutions available in our community we focused this week on studies and solutions that will likely have a marked impact on patient outcomes.

We were joined by Dr. Marshall Nash, a neurologist whose practice is focused on investigating a variety of diseases of the brain, including alzheimer’s disease, stroke, Parkinson’s disease and others. He shared his personal story of how as a teenager he learned a family member was developing dementia and at the time there was essentially nothing that could be done for them. He talked about how the experience potentially influenced his decision to focus on neurology as his clinical field in medical school. His practice has transitioned from a neurology practice to one focused on research. We discussed the Tommorrow Study, in which they are looking to find older adults from 65-83 who are in essentially good health that they can evaluate for potential to develop dementia/alzheimer’s as well as effectiveness of medications to slow/prevent progression if it does occur.

We also spoke with a gentleman in studio whose wife has been a participant in a study with Dr. Nash’s practice, and who has since learned that he also carries genetic markers that place him at risk for alzheimer’s/dementia. He shared his perspective on how being a part of Dr. Nash’s research helped him and his wife. He gave advice to folks in the community to talk about changes in mental function/memory with their physicians and his view on the value of knowing if you or a loved one is at risk for developing alzheimer’s/dementia.

Jim Schwoebel, co-founder of Neurolaunch came by to talk about their organization that serves as an incubator/accelerator for start-ups focused on addressing neurologic diseases. Neurolaunch helps device companies, emerging pharma, and researchers commercialize their ideas to help get them to the community more quickly. Jim talked about how long it can take to go from idea/research to a product or medication to reach the community in need these solutions serve. He introduced us to Alex Turjman, CEO of Cognition Medical.

Cognition Medical is a company developing a device to be used in treating acute strokes. We know that during the acute phase of stroke, the area of damage can be extended in some patients when blood flow is re-established quickly (called reperfusion injury). Their device helps modulate the rate that blood flow is resumed to the injured area of the brain, preventing the reperfusion injury from occurring. Alex shared how interfacing with Neurolaunch has helped them make progress on the development of their device, bringing them closer to making the device available to patients in need.

Special Guests:

Dr. Marshall Nash, MD, of Neurostudies.net

Jim Schwoebel, Co-founder of Neurolaunch

Alex Turjman, CEO of Cognition Medical

Bob B., Significant Other of an Alzheimer’s patient

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