We discussed a few things including:

1. Their career journeys

2. The mental health crisis

3. Jen's vision/promly

4. Danielle's research and vision for Thrive Genetics + The Child Code

5. Trends, challenges and opportunities in health

Jennifer Libby has been a psychotherapist for over 20 years treating at-risk adolescents. Jennifer has been sounding the alarm for many years about the rapidly emerging youth mental health crisis exacerbated by less than responsible social media platforms. Frustrated by the slow movement by the social media industry to “do better” for kids, and in response to her own family tragedy, Jennifer founded Promly as a healthier alternative to legacy social media.

Jennifer’s advocacy for better treatment of youth by Big Tech was well received recently in Washington, D.C. where she spoke to a large group of U.S. House Representatives regarding her on-going efforts (informed by client experience and Promly’s Gen Z advisory board) to have YouTube remove and/or disrupt the algorithm for the “how to tie a noose” and “how to hang yourself” videos that provide step by step video instructions often created by teens themselves. Of note, suicide by hanging in children and teens has increased by exponential numbers in the last 10 years. It is examples like this that drive Promly to re-imagine how social media can “do better” for teens.

Jennifer also speaks publicly on a variety of other mental health concerns impacting teens and has provided consultation with numerous agencies including Center for Humane Tech (producers of the “The Social Dilemma”) on best practices for teens and tech.

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Danielle Dick, Ph.D. is the Greg Brown Endowed Chair of Neuroscience and a Professor of Psychiatry at Rutgers University, where she directs the Rutgers Addiction Research Center. She is an internationally recognized and award-winning expert on genetic and environmental influences on addiction, child development, and human behavior.

She has led and contributed to more than 20 grants from the National Institutes of Health, with grant funding totaling 55 million dollars. She has 450 peer-reviewed publications and has won numerous national and international awards for her work. She has been named one of the most highly cited researchers in the world across all fields of science.

Her first book "The Child Code: Understanding Your Child’s Unique Nature for Happier, More Effective Parenting" was published by Penguin Random House in September 2021.

#podcast #AFewThingsPodcast

On Jan 30, 2024 we discussed a few things including the latest state of AI in #healthcare and #pharma.

Panelists include:

Kash Patel is the Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Information Officer, Hackensack Meridian Health, New Jersey’s largest and most comprehensive health network. Mr. Patel has more than 25 years of experience in technology leadership, ranging from start-ups to multinational corporations and is a seasoned leader in health care with a strong focus on innovation and building great teams. Before HMH, Kash was the Vice President and Chief Digital Technology Officer at Penn Medicine.

Donna Conroy has 25 years’ pharmaceutical industry experience as both a Fortune 500 pharma executive and entrepreneur. Her career has focused on bringing science to patients. First as a microbiologist, then at Schering-Plough, where she led sales and marketing teams and built a $1.2B line of business.
Named one of NJ’s Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs, Donna led SciMar’s acceptance into the Merck Digital Science Studio 2023 cohort and 2021 acceptance into Microsoft for Startups. She is a graduate of Microsoft’s prestigious Women in Cloud Accelerator and was named 2021 Top 10 Most Successful Women in Cloud Entrepreneurs.

Rohit Vashisht is the co-founder and CEO of WhizAI, a generative AI-powered analytics platform purpose-built for Life Sciences and Healthcare. WhizAI was recently recognized by Inc Media as one of the 500 fastest-growing private companies in the US. He has over 20 years of experience in enterprise software sales, product management, development, and strategy. As a tech entrepreneur, Rohit has built successful businesses and was CEO and co-founder of Sverve – an influencer marketplace that was acquired by Bloglovin and rebranded as Activate.

#lifesciences #drugdiscovery #innovation

#podcast #AFewThingsPodcast

On Jan 31, 2024 we discussed a few things including the latest state of #entrepreneurship, #funding and #acceleration.

Speakers included:

Kange Kaneene, is the Vice President of SAP.iO Foundries North and Latin America and Caribbean, SAP’s global network of no-equity ask external startup accelerators. SAP.iO Foundries provide technical and go-to-market support to help startups integrate into SAP’s portfolio and accelerate entry into SAP’s ecosystem to be easily accessed and deployed by SAP customers. In her role she has overseen sourcing for 6 cohorts and has accelerated 38 startups, 66% of which are led by underrepresented individuals. This has resulted in 1 exit and $570M+ raised by the startups collectively.

Gary Stewart is the Managing Director of the Techstars New York City Accelerator powered by J.P. Morgan. Born in Jamaica, he grew up in the Bronx, where he attended the Bronx High School of Science before attending Yale College and Yale Law School. He is a VC-backed, exited serial entrepreneur; an early-stage investor that managed a $1.6 billion start-up portfolio; a professor who has taught entrepreneurship at Yale Law School and IE Business School in Madrid, and been invited to speak at Cambridge, Oxford, Stanford and INSEAD; and a former contributor to Forbes Magazine. He is passionate about ensuring that underrepresented and overlooked founders get access to the social and financial capital that they need and deserve.

The co-founder of Cela Innovation, John Lynn is a globally recognized expert and industry leader in startup accelerators. John has spoken on the topic at the World Economic Forum in Davos as well as in multiple locations within China, throughout Japan, Haiti, Aruba, and the USA. His work has been published in Forbes, TechCrunch, Business Insider, and at the Nasdaq. Cela builds startup accelerators with the world’s most influential institutions. Corporations, universities, venture capital groups, and governments all work with John and his team to set up their innovation and entrepreneurship programs. Cela is a venture-backed company, with an active list of corporate, university, and government client partnerships.

#podcast #AFewThingsPodcast