Raising Health

Rosana Kapeller, CEO of Rome Therapeutics, and Marty Taylor, physician-scientist at Harvard Medical School, join Vineeta Agarwala, general partner, and Bryan Faust, investment partner at a16z Bio + Health.

Together, they discuss Rosana and Marty's recent publication regarding a virus-like element in our genome known as LINE-1. LINE-1, part of our "dark genome," was ignored as junk DNA for years, but is increasingly recognized to contribute to the pathology of autoimmunity, cancer, neurodegeneration, and aging. Rosana and Marty discuss how the discovery was made as well as how Rome Therapeutics is developing a platform to target LINE-1 and other factors that are part of the "dark genome" for the treatment of disease.

Additional reading:

Vijay Pande, founding partner of a16z Bio + Health, dives deep with a16z Podcast host Steph Smith into the potential of DNA as a data storage mechanism.

This episode, a cross-post with the a16z Podcast, draws parallels between Moore's Law and the race for "Moore's Law for DNA." Vijay discusses the density, longevity, and ubiquity of DNA, and how this could be leveraged into a data storage solution. Vijay and Steph mix technical advancements with futuristic speculation as they talk about what the future of biotech might look like.

Julie Klapstein, founding CEO of Availity, long-time healthcare executive, and a16z Bio + Health's newest advisory partner, joins Julie Yoo, general partner at a16z Bio + Health.

Together, they delve into Julie Klapstein's rich career journey, which has spanned several decades of progress in healthcare. They also discussed building Availity, her time at MultiPlan, and the network effects undergirding both businesses. Finally, they talk about how AI could impact healthcare?for payors, providers, and the network businesses in between.

Scribe Therapeutics cofounder and CEO Benjamin Oakes, PhD, joins a16z Bio + Health founding general partner Vijay Pande.

In this episode, Benjamin traces his journey from PhD student to pioneering CEO in genome editing. Benjamin discusses his early exposure to CRISPR technologies, his hands-on experience of transforming these bacterial immune systems into "genome editing scalpels," and the founding of Scribe. The conversation sheds light on the challenges of engineering these molecules, as well as the potential for life-changing therapeutics.

Josh Clemente, cofounder and president of Levels, joins Vijay Pande, founding general partner, and Daisy Wolf, investment partner at a16z Bio + Health.

In this episode, engineer-turned-entrepreneur Josh charts his journey from SpaceX and Hyperloop to cofounding metabolic health-focused company Levels. With a relentless drive for data-led health monitoring, Josh highlights the potential of wearable tech for tracking various biomarkers. Josh, Vijay, and Daisy also discuss how AI can simplify complex wearables data into a comprehensible and actionable health profile, with the potential to democratize healthcare technology.

Former gymnast and current investor Aly Raisman joins general partner Julie Yoo and investment partner Daisy Wolf of a16z Bio + Health.

In this episode, Aly Raisman shares her quest for healthier living?physically, mentally and financially?on her journey from gymnast to a business investor. Having herself transitioned from an intensely structured routine, Aly emphasizes the need for more open conversations about mental health and financial literacy. She speaks passionately about the gap in women?s health solutions and hopes to inspire entrepreneurs to create impactful businesses. Aly?s experiences as a patient, survivor, and global figure adds a unique dimension to her perspective as an investor. This candid conversation with both Aly and Julie Yoo sheds light on Aly?s passion for more education within the investment space  offering invaluable insights for entrepreneurs, particularly in biotech and healthcare.

Max Cohen, cofounder and CEO of Sprinter Health, and Eren Bali, founder and CEO of Carbon Health, join Julie Yoo, general partner at a16z Bio + Health.

Together, they talk about becoming healthcare entrepreneurs despite non-healthcare backgrounds and what they had to learn along the way. They also discuss finding product-market fit, how they track PMF using KPIs, and the evolving investor landscape as the digital health space expands and matures.

Additional reading:

In this episode, Joe Grogan, a senior fellow at the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics and a former senior government official, joins Vijay Pande, founding partner of a16z Bio + Health to discuss all things regulation.

Together, they dive into Joe?s experience working in the early days of the Covid pandemic, how he thinks about the Inflation Reduction Act?s effect on pharmaceutical R&D, and the future of AI regulation.

Additional reading:

Check out Joe's latest op-ed here, his own podcast here, and his Twitter account here.

Today's episode features the CEO of Tome Biosciences, Rahul Kakkar, alongside John Finn, CSO of Tome. They are joined by Jorge Conde, general partner at a16z Bio + Health.

Together, the three of them discuss the technology underlying Tome's work, known as PASTE, a genome editing technique. They also dive deep into how this technology could be applied to help patients, making cell therapy more accessible for more people.

Editorial note: We mistakenly identified Rahul Kakkar and John Finn as the co-founders of Tome Biosciences. In reality, Rahul serves as the CEO, and John is the CSO of Tome. The actual co-founders of Tome Biosciences are Jonathan Gootenberg and Omar Abudayyeh.

Bio Eats World is now Raising Health!

Vijay Pande, founding partner of Bio + Health, is joined by Daphne Koller, Andrew Ng, Aviv Regev, and Jakob Uszkoreit.

Vijay leads us on a reflective journey through the monumental achievements in AI from the 1980s to today, with a focus on the progress in healthcare and life sciences. This episode is drawn from the episodes we recorded in 2023 with Daphne Koller, Andrew Ng, Aviv Regev, and Jakob Uszkoreit, which are linked below.

This blend of expert commentary and firsthand insights explores the burgeoning impact of AI on healthcare innovation and how it's reshaping the future of health.

Bio Eats World is now Raising Health!

On this first episode of Raising Health, Sean Duffy, cofounder and CEO of Omada Health, joins Vijay Pande, founding partner of Bio + Health.

Sean and Vijay discuss the building and growth of Omada, from the early days to now. As the cofounder of one of the original digital health companies, Sean has unique insight into the growth of both the digital health field and the changing venture capital environment.  They also talk about the future of AI, how Omada is leveraging AI, and the challenges that might arise with using a technology in a caregiving environment.

Pranav Rajpurkar, PhD, joins Vijay Pande, founding partner of a16z Bio + Health.

In this episode, Pranav and Vijay discuss a future with generalist medical AI. This is the idea of a medical AI that isn?t narrowly tailored to one specific task. As Pranav notes in the episode, the research and development process in medical AI development so far has been siloed by specialty, but generalist medical AI exists outside those siloes. If generalist medical AI is successful, it could act as a dynamic support system to a physician, almost like a medical resident.

Jordi Mata-Fink, PhD, cofounder of Gate Bioscience, joins Vineeta Agarwala and Ben Portney of a16z Bio + Health.

In this episode, Jordi discusses how he and his cofounders are working to commercialize a novel class of therapeutics, termed 'molecular gates.' His company, Gate, is working to exploit a previously uncharted avenue in cell biology?the secretory translocon?for therapeutic intervention. This approach has the potential to combat diseases otherwise resistant to existing therapeutics.

Jordi also imparts valuable insights on the power of platform-based problem-solving and team building.

Mario Schlosser, cofounder, former CEO, and current President of Technology at Oscar Health, joins Julie Yoo of Bio + Health.

The conversation explores how AI advancements can revolutionize traditional healthcare models by enhancing efficiency, personalizing care journeys, and integrating real-time data insights. Mario also discusses "benefit-less" benefit designs, where healthcare plans learn from and adapt to individual consumer patterns, at least theoretically leading to the holy grail of better health outcomes and cost savings.

Miriam Vogel, President and CEO of EqualAI, cohost of the podcast In AI We Trust?, and Chair of the National AI Advisory Committee, joins Vijay Pande of Bio + Health.

Miriam offers pragmatic insights for founders on ethical integration of AI. She also outlines concrete steps to build trustworthy AI. Finally, she discusses the regulatory landscape and the state of politics around AI today.

AI trailblazer Suchi Saria, in conversation with Vijay Pande, sheds light on the winding path that led her to launch Bayesian Health, a bold effort to infuse intelligence into clinical workflows. With infectious optimism, Suchi describes her vision to create "clinical copilots" that augment human capabilities and unburden care teams. Yet she acknowledges the delicate balancing act required to implement AI ethically, emphasizing the need for continuous monitoring and oversight to build trust. For founders navigating uncertain regulatory seas, Suchi offers a lifeline, suggesting that regulation done right may actually accelerate adoption by fostering confidence. Through candid reflections on lessons from the trenches, Suchi provides a rare glimpse into the mind of an innovator who has one foot planted in research rigor and the other striding towards real-world impact. Steeped in over 20 years of experience, her insights map guideposts for founders aspiring to positively disrupt healthcare with AI.

Fei-Fei Li, PhD,  Professor in the Computer Science Department at Stanford University, and Co-Director of Stanford?s Human-Centered AI Institute, joins Bio + Health founding partner Vijay Pande.

In this candid conversation, Li unfolds her transformation from a young immigrant to an influential figure in AI. The conversation explores the birth of ImageNet, a pivotal step that bridged the gap between visual intelligence and accessible AI technology. They delve into the notion of a 'Dignity Economy,' hinting at a future where technology serves to elevate human experience rather than undermine it. Li also touches on the delicate balance between relentless innovation and life's humble pursuits. This episode peels back the layers on the human side of AI, offering a rare glimpse into the personal and professional realms of a pioneer shaping the AI landscape.

Check out her new book, out November 7, 2023, here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250897930/theworldsisee

Evan Feinberg, PhD, founder and CEO at Genesis Therapeutics, joins Vijay Pande of Bio + Health.

Together, they talk about how Evan?s work in the lab (ironically, Vijay's lab at Stanford!) translated to the creation of Genesis, which is tackling the problem of drug discovery through AI. They also discuss how the Genesis team is building specifically to carry on work at the intersection of ML, biotech, and chemistry.

Olga Troyanskaya, a professor in the department of computer science at Princeton and Deputy Director for Genomics at the Flatiron Institute's Center for Computational Biology, joins Vijay Pande, founding partner of a16z Bio + Health.

Together, they talked about Olga's background and how she got involved in genomics, as well as how evolving biotechnologies have improved scientists? ability to see different views of the cell. They also discussed social determinants of health, and how, in the future, studies of genomics and SDoH might pave the way to treatment options.

Peter Shalek, a Chief Product Officer, currently at Stellar Health and formerly at AbleTo, and Reena Pande, currently a strategic advisor and formerly the Chief Medical Officer of AbleTo, join Julie Yoo and Justin Larkin of a16z Bio + Health. 

As Julie mentions during the episode, there?s international relations, and then there?s CMO/CPO relations. Peter and Reena talked about working together to improve their relationship and the outcomes of their teams, and they get granular about what worked and what didn?t.

Today?s podcast is for healthcare builders who are struggling to balance clinical with product. They talk through real examples and tactical advice.

Note that due to technical difficulties, the audio quality of this episode may vary.

Surya Ganguli, PhD, an associate professor at Stanford University and a neural dynamics researcher, joins Vijay Pande of Bio + Health.

Together, Surya and Vijay chatted about the interpretability of AI and how the AI black box could someday become a "clear box." They also talk through a future of AI-augmented humans, and where humans might excel compared with AI. 

This episode is live from our recent AI Revolutionaries (AIR) conference. In this episode, Daphne Koller, founder and CEO at insitro and AI expert, chats with Vijay Pande of Bio + Health.

You can check out the full conversation with video and transcript at https://a16z.com/digital-biology/. 

Today's episode features Aviv Regev, PhD, the Head and Executive VP of Genentech Research and Early Development, and founding co-chair of the Human Cell Atlas. She is joined by Vijay Pande of Bio + Health.

Together, Aviv and Vijay talk about how Aviv's love of both abstractions and details led her to biology, how CRISPR really set the field into motion, and how AI could transform the process of biological and medical discovery.

Andrew Ng, PhD, a distinguished authority in the field of AI, is known for founding DeepLearning.AI and multiple other ventures. He also co-founded and led Google Brain and serves as an Adjunct Professor in Stanford University's Computer Science Department. In this episode, he is joined by Vijay Pande, founding partner of a16z Bio + Health.

Andrew has thought deeply about the implications of integrating AI into many areas of our lives, going so far as to put out a public social media call for people who believe AI is dangerous to speak with him. He and Vijay discussed this, as well as how AI could become foundational to many industries ? and what needs to happen to make that future a reality.

Carl June, MD, an immunologist and oncologist at the University of Pennsylvania, joins Jorge Conde, general partner at a16z Bio + Health.

Together, Carl and Jorge talked about Carl's pioneering work in CAR T therapy ? including the terrifying moment where he thought he had accelerated one of his patient's deaths, how he started working in human immunology, and his take on where cancer treatment is headed next.

Dan Nomura  is a distinguished professor at UC Berkeley and an Investigator at the Innovative Genomics Institute, specializing in Chemical Biology and Molecular Therapeutics. He serves as the Director of the Novartis-Berkeley Translational Chemical Biology Institute and founded Frontier Medicines and Vicinitas Therapeutics. He?s also a16z Bio+Health?s newest advisory partner.

In this episode, Dan joins general partner Jorge Conde and investment partner Becky Pferdehirt to discuss how he got started working in chemical biology and chemoproteomics and his  experience founding companies, along with leading lab and pharma collaborations.

In this exclusive conversation from the Bio + Health BUILD summit, founding partner Ben Horowitz sits down with general partner Jorge Conde. They discuss everything from the inspiration behind Ben?s book The Hard Thing About Hard Things, how the open Internet was secured, the difference between wartime and peacetime CEOs, scaling culture, and understanding how bio and healthcare differs from other forms of technology.

Together, Lloyd and Vijay chatted about how AI could change the practice of medicine, and what the implications are for medical students now and in the future. 

join Lloyd and Vijay as they discuss AI and medical education?from how students learn to how doctors become licensed.

Together, Margaret and Julie chatted about Margaret?s background ? and how she taught herself to program ? her time at Devoted, and the advice she gives to healthtech CEOs.

Join Margaret and Julie as they discuss building a developer-friendly environment in healthcare, introducing engineers to the complexity of the industry, and how AI might affect engineering in healthcare.

Together, Vijay and Zak talked about having been through AI winters and hype cycles before, and why they think this time could be different. They also talked about how AI could revolutionize the healthcare model ? what Zak calls the ?flipped clinic.?

Join Zak and Vijay as they talk about how AI could flip the clinic, how foundation models could quickly transform the discovery and development of drugs, and how Zak thinks about the future.

Dan Rosenthal, a provider network expert and the newest advisory partner for a16z Bio + Health, joins Julie Yoo, general partner.

Together, they talk about the 101 and 201 of provider networks, tactical advice for digital health builders, and how AI could theoretically change the way networks are constructed.

The holy grail of company building is finding product-market fit. But what most people don?t tell you is that once you?ve found it, product-market fit brings its own set of challenges, particularly when it comes to scaling rapidly and hiring the right executives at the right time.

Drawing from their extensive experiences, a16z cofounder Ben Horowitz and Databricks cofounder and CEO Ali Ghodsi sit down with Steph Smith of the a16z podcast to talk about the hardest things about executive hiring and firing, and what is at stake.

They dive into the common reasons an exec fails, why sometimes micromanagement is a good idea, and the difference between someone who has written a playbook and someone who has only run one.

When Greg started out in science, he heard other researchers referring to certain targets as ?undruggable.? In response, he?s devoted his life to drugging the undruggable, cofounding the field of chemical biology along the way. After a robust career founding multiple biotechs and serving as the cofounder, chairman, and CEO of FogPharma, he is the newest venture partner at a16z Bio + Health.

Join Greg, Vineeta, and Jorge as they talk about Greg's upbringing and career, and how he thinks about the field today.

After his own health scare, Jeffrey got obsessed with how MRIs work?and decided that they were too unscientific to really track human health over time. In response, he built a new kind of imaging, creating a ?digital twin? that can be tracked over time. And if health can be tracked over time, in theory it could eventually become as forecastable as the weather.

Join Jeffrey and Vijay as they talk about human imaging, health forecasting, and how a digital twin could change healthcare.

AI has the potential to save the world ? that?s the thesis of Marc?s most recent article, linked below. This episode was recorded right after Marc published his article, live from a16z Bio + Health?s first summit.

Join Marc and Vijay as they talk about how AI can save the world, and where it can go wrong.

Additional reading:

AI is not just a sci-fi concept anymore; it's being woven into the fabric of healthcare, revolutionizing everything from research to patient care. It has the potential to create more streamlined and efficient processes. The challenge now is how we adapt and regulate this ever-evolving technology, while ensuring safety and trust.

Amy Abernethy, former Principal Deputy Commissioner at the FDA and now the President of Product Development and Chief Medical Officer at Verily Life Sciences, joins Vijay Pande, founding partner of a16z Bio + Health, to discuss.

In this episode, taken from a live a16z event, Bio + Health general partner Vineeta Agarwala moderates a panel of UCSF faculty founders, including Michelle Arkin, Jimmie Ye, and Natalia Jura (full bios below). Together, they discuss fundraising, the decision to stay in or leave  academia after founding a company, and their tips for managing the IP process. 

Michelle Arkin is a professor of pharmaceutical chemistry at UCSF, chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, and a co-director of the Small Molecule Discovery Center at UCSF. Professor Arkin is also a cofounder of both Elgin Therapeutics and Ambagon Therapeutics.

Jimmie Ye is an associate professor of medicine at the Institute for Human Genetics at UCSF and an affiliate investigator at Gladstone Institutes. He is also the cofounder of Dropprint Genomics and Survey Genomics.

Natalia Jura is a professor in the Department of Cell and Molecular Pharmacology and an investigator at the Cardiovascular Research Institute at UCSF. Professor Jura is also an associate director of the Quantitative Biosciences Institute. She is a cofounder of Rezo Therapeutics.

Today?s episode is with Mark Cuban, founder of multiple businesses, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, one of the sharks on Shark Tank, and cofounder of the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. He is joined by Vijay Pande, founding partner of a16z Bio + Health. 

Together, they talk market forces in healthcare, the importance of trust to patients, and Mark?s ideas to tackle the Gordian knot that is American healthcare.

Today?s episode is a cross-post with the a16z podcast. It features founders?Chris Severn, Florian Otto, Andrew Adams, Jade Chan, Jimmy Chen, and Fay Rotenberg?chatting with a16z podcast host Steph Smith, about how they're trying to reinvent the healthcare system, using fintech.

Additional reading:

Today?s episode is with Greg Meyers, EVP and Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Bristol Myers Squibb (or BMS). He is joined by a16z Bio + Health general partner Jorge Conde.

Together, they talk about how AI could transform drug discovery and development at a large biopharma company?and how a company might have to adapt to harness AI; modalities they?re excited about; and Greg?s do?s and don?ts for startups looking to partner with a company like BMS.

Healthcare payments are difficult, confusing, and opaque. But Julie and David discuss the ways that technology could change that for the better, and where they see the greatest opportunity for founders to solve big challenges.

Additional reading:

In this episode, a16z Bio + Health investment partner Becky Pferdehirt chats with Robbie Majzner, an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at Stanford, and co-founder of Link Cell Therapies.

Together, they discuss Robbie's recent paper published in Nature. The paper outlines a new approach to develop logic gated intracellular network, or LINK CAR T cells, as a means to simultaneously enhance both the safety and efficacy of these novel cell therapies.

Additional reading:

Today?s episode is with Magi Richani, founder and CEO of Nobell Foods. She is joined by a16z Bio + Health general partner Vijay Pande.

Together, they talk about the details of engineering plants to create the future of food, why Nobell started with soybeans to produce their cheese, and her dream of finding a cheese pizza?with Nobell cheese?at any pizza shop across the country.

This is a crossover episode with The Bioverge Podcast, hosted by Neil Littman. Neil is joined by Vineeta Agarwala, general partner at a16z Bio + Health. Together, they chat about Vineeta's dual role as a clinician and investor, the adoption curve of digital therapeutics, how Vineeta thinks about platforms and a modular, engineering-driven approach to biotech, and much more.

Today?s episode is with a16z?s American Dynamism team: Katherine Boyle and David Ulevitch. Katherine is a general partner focused on national security, aerospace and defense, public safety, housing, education, and industrials. David is a general partner focused on companies promoting American dynamism, as well as enterprise and SaaS companies. They are joined by a16z Bio + Health general partner Vijay Pande, and editorial lead Olivia Webb.

Together, we talk about the idea behind American Dynamism, how the American Dynamism team thinks about building within highly regulated industries, how trust is key to the procurement process, and how the team thinks about the regulation of AI.

Today?s episode is with Sean Duffy, cofounder and CEO of Omada Health. He is joined by a16z Bio + Health general partner Julie Yoo and investment partner Jay Rughani. Together, they talk about Sean?s three rules of partnerships, how Omada plans for large-scale implementation, and how Sean thinks about structuring the economic model of the partnership.

This episode was recorded as part of our research into our forthcoming Go to Market Playbook, focused on channel partnerships. Stay tuned for that, which we?ll be releasing in the coming days at a16z.com/digital-health-builders.

This week, we?re releasing two episodes about all things channel partnerships. Today?s episode is with Florian Otto, cofounder and CEO of Cedar. He is joined by a16z Bio + Health general partner Julie Yoo. 

In today?s episode, Florian and Julie talk about how Cedar began engaging with channel partners, what happens when things go wrong, and how the Cedar team is structured to implement and nurture these partnerships.

This episode was recorded as part of our research into our forthcoming Go to Market Playbook, focused on these partnerships. Stay tuned for that, which we?ll be releasing in the coming days at a16z.com/digital-health-builders. 

In this episode, Daphne Koller, founder and CEO of insitro?as well as the co-founder of Coursera, a MacArthur Award winner, and a former professor in the department of computer science at Stanford University?chats with a16z Bio + Health founding partner Vijay Pande. 

Together, they talk about Daphne?s career journey, how Daphne thinks about the last few decades of progress in AI, and how insitro leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to explore biology through new models of discovery.

Today marks the reboot of our journal club series, so you can look forward to seeing these episodes as part of our regular feed. 

This episode is a scientific deep dive on recent research published by Ben Cravatt, Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the Scripps Research Institute and co-founder of a diverse suite of chemoproteomic companies such as Vividion and Belharra Therapeutics, and Gene Yeo, Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of California, San Diego and co-founder of Locana Bio, Eclipse Bio, and Trotana Therapeutics. 

Ben and Gene are joined by Vineeta Agarwala, general partner at a16z Bio + Health, and bio deal team member Bryan Faust. 

Together, they?ll discuss some unexpected mechanistic results of finding covalent binders to a class of proteins that we are just starting to understand ? RNA binding proteins ? and the subsequent translational implications that they described in a recent paper published by the Cravatt and Yeo labs in Nature Chemical Biology. The paper outlines a potentially new therapeutic approach that uses small molecules to fundamentally rewire transcriptional networks in cancer cells.

Additional reading: