In this episode, I sit down with Kate Musler, Chief Financial Officer of Highmark Health Plan, to talk about the incredibly complex puzzle of modern healthcare—where affordability, access, and quality must all coexist. Kate walks us through her path into the field and what has kept her here: the challenge of finding real solutions in a system that impacts every one of us.

We dig into the pressures of rising costs, the tough negotiations between payers and providers, and how Highmark approaches these conversations with patients at the center. Kate highlights the financial balancing act she oversees: keeping the organization stable and sustainable while ensuring people get the care they need when they need it. It’s a candid, eye-opening look at what it means to manage health insurance in a world where even small changes have massive ripple effects.

We also dive into the shift toward value-based care, where providers are paid for outcomes instead of volume. Kate explains why this model is essential—not just for reducing unnecessary treatments and lowering costs, but for building healthier communities over the long term.

But as she points out, transitioning to VBC isn’t easy; it requires visionary leadership, true partnership between payers and providers, and the financial flexibility to support those changes without sacrificing quality.

We explore how technology, community programs, and reinvestment strategies are helping bridge the gap between financial responsibility and compassionate care. And through it all, Kate shares her hope that collaboration, transparency, and innovation will move healthcare toward a future where both patients and providers can thrive.

About

In March 2025, Kate Musler was promoted to the C-suite of Highmark Health Plan, the health insurance arm of Highmark Health. In this role, Kate is responsible for providing strategic financial leadership for the Highmark Health Plan. She is responsible for developing, implementing, and maintaining targeted efforts to ensure the economic stability and viability of the Highmark Health Plan, including the transformation necessary to operate as a successful integrated delivery and financing system.

She first joined Highmark in 2019 as senior vice president of underwriting and swiftly moved up the ranks. During her tenure at Highmark, Kate has overseen various functions and ensured the financial stability of the health plan. In her previous role, she oversaw actuarial, underwriting, and provider network functions covering 7 million members. She was also responsible for efforts to create an advance payment program following the Change Healthcare cybersecurity breach that rocked the sector in 2024.

Her areas of expertise include underwriting, actuarial services, medical cost analysis, networking contracting and operations, and regulatory advocacy.

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In my recent discussion with Christina Lopes, founder of FidoCure and fellow Young Global Leader, we examined a troubling but under-discussed reality: cancer incidence in companion animals is rising sharply. The trend mirrors human oncology—rooted in extended lifespans, environmental exposures, and improved detection—and raises critical questions for both veterinary and human medicine.

The epidemiological data are compelling:

• 1 in 4 dogs will develop neoplasia during their lifetime.
• Nearly 50% of dogs over 10 years old receive a cancer diagnosis.
• An estimated 6 million canine cancer cases are identified annually in the U.S.
• Breed-specific predisposition is pronounced; purebred dogs are almost twice as likely as mixed breeds to develop certain cancers, with high-risk breeds showing onset as early as 5–7 years, compared to a median of 9 years in mixed breeds.

Christina’s work at FidoCure is predicated on a big-data, precision-medicine model for veterinary oncology. By aggregating and analyzing genomic, clinical, and longitudinal health data from thousands of dogs, her team is building predictive algorithms capable of identifying at-risk individuals before symptomatic disease emerges. The vision is a transparent, owner-facing platform—one that transforms the “four-legged life course” into a navigable, data-informed journey that prioritizes prevention over reaction.

From a translational science perspective, this work has profound implications. Comparative oncology—the study of naturally occurring cancers in animals to inform human health—benefits enormously from canine genomic data.

Recent research underscores the potential:

• The largest canine tumor sequencing study to date (671 dogs, across over 20 tumor types) identified dozens of mutation hotspots that parallel human oncogenic drivers.
• Comparative genomic analyses have demonstrated high concordance in mutations such as TP53, PIK3CA, and BRAF, opening the door for cross-species therapeutic strategies.
• Clinical trials in dogs using targeted therapies (originally developed for humans) have yielded response patterns that closely predict human outcomes—accelerating drug validation timelines.

Christina’s mission exemplifies a systems-level approach: build robust datasets in veterinary health, leverage machine learning to forecast disease risk, and allow those insights to cycle back into both animal and human oncology. In our conversation, it became clear that advancing predictive and preventive medicine in dogs is not a niche pursuit—it is an accelerant for innovation in global cancer care.

About

Christina Lopes is the CEO and co-founder of FidoCure, a platform that utilises artificial intelligence and genomic sequencing to deliver personalised treatments for pet dogs with cancer, while also accelerating the development of lifesaving cancer therapies for humans. Under her leadership, FidoCure has expanded to over 1,350 veterinary clinics worldwide and has treated nearly 6,000 dogs afflicted with cancer.

In collaboration with the AI Health leadership at Stanford University, Christina has developed the world’s largest and most comprehensive canine cancer dataset, comprising over two billion data points collected from patients in real-world clinical settings. She has co-authored peer-reviewed research published in leading scientific journals, including Nature Precision Oncology.

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In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Edgar Engleman, a pioneering Pathologist and physician-scientist at Stanford University whose work has shaped the very foundation of cancer immunotherapy. As we face rising global cancer rates, Dr. Engleman shares his insights into the evolving landscape of cancer research and what the numbers really mean—scientifically and socially.

We dive deep into his groundbreaking research on erythropoietin (EPO) and its surprising implications in cancer biology, as well as his continued innovations in using the immune system to fight tumors. Dr. Engleman also opens up about his involvement with vee-vo Capital and offers candid thoughts on the role of venture capital in bridging science and real-world impact.

No conversation about the future of medicine is complete without exploring AI. Dr. Engleman shares his perspective on how artificial intelligence is beginning to transform cancer detection and prediction, and how it might reshape diagnostics, treatment decisions, and even drug development.

But what strikes me most is Dr. Engleman’s enduring optimism—rooted in decades of scientific rigor. Despite the challenges, he remains steadfast in his belief that with a science-backed, collaborative approach, curing cancer is not just a dream—it’s a destination. This episode is a masterclass in science, hope, and what it means to pursue truth in medicine.

About

Dr. Edgar G. Engleman, MD, PhD, is a renowned pathologist and physician-scientist who serves as Professor of Pathology and of Medicine (Immunology & Rheumatology) at Stanford University School of Medicine. He received his BA magna cum laude from Harvard in 1967 and his MD from Columbia University in 1971. Following postdoctoral training in biochemistry at the NIH and immunogenetics at Stanford, he joined the Stanford faculty in 1978 and earned tenure in 1990. Dr. Engleman founded the Stanford Blood Center in 1980 and continues to serve as its Medical Director. He also co-directs the Tumor Immunology & Immunotherapy Program at the Stanford Cancer Institute and is affiliated with several interdisciplinary research centers, including Bio-X, the Diabetes Research Center, and the Neurosciences Institute.

Dr. Engleman’s research has made pioneering contributions to the field of cancer immunotherapy. His laboratory was the first to isolate and engineer dendritic cells to stimulate anti-tumor immune responses, work that led to the development of Sipuleucel-T (Provenge), the first FDA-approved active immunotherapy for cancer. His recent work focuses on reprogramming tumor-associated myeloid cells to trigger T-cell responses against cancer, with these approaches now in clinical trials. Beyond oncology, his research explores immune mechanisms in metabolic diseases, neurodegeneration, and transplantation, influencing innovative strategies like radiation-based tolerance induction. Dr. Engleman has mentored over 150 trainees, published more than 300 scientific papers, and teaches a popular course on tumor immunology at Stanford.

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